President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum will follow in the footsteps of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and make her residence in the National Palace.
“Yes, I’m going to live in the Palace, that’s the news of the day,” she told reporters on Monday.
Sheinbaum, who will be sworn in on Oct. 1, said she wouldn’t immediately move into the colonial-era building located opposite Mexico City’s central square, the Zócalo.
“I’m going to give space to President Andrés Manuel and his family. They’re going to be there until, I don’t know, … the night of the 30th [of September] or the first [of October],” she said.
“…Obviously they’re living there so for a while I’m going to stay in my apartment that I rent,” said the former Mexico City mayor, explaining that she would remain in her home in the borough of Tlalpan until December.
Between 1934 and 2018, the official residence of the Mexican president was Los Pinos, a residential complex within Chapultepec Park.
López Obrador, who took office in late 2018 after winning the presidency at his third attempt, decided to turn Los Pinos into a cultural center that is open to the public.
In mid-2019, AMLO, his wife Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller and their son Jesús Ernesto moved from their home in southern Mexico City to an apartment within the walls of the National Palace. He portrayed his decision to live there as an austerity measure.
The president holds his weekday morning press conferences in the building, making it a very convenient place for him to live.
Sheinbaum said last month that she too will hold 7 a.m. morning pressers in the National Palace. At the time, she said that she and her husband were discussing whether they would live in the historic building.
On Monday, the president-elect said that living in the National Palace would allow her to use her time more efficiently.
“I decided [to live] there because at the moment I don’t have my own house, … but the first thing is … that if you work in the Palace and live there, it allows you to make better use of your time,” she said.
“… I wouldn’t return to live in Los Pinos nor in Chapultepec Castle,” Sheinbaum joked, referring in the latter case to the official residence of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico and his consort Empress Carlota, as well as late 19th century and early 20th century presidents.
Although she is very close to the president, Sheinbaum said she had never been inside his National Palace apartment.
“I’ve seen it from the outside, but I haven’t gone in,” she said.
With reports from Reforma, El Universal and El Financiero
