“The times they are a-changin’.”
Bob Dylan wrote the song in the early 1960s but its famous refrain also applies to Mexico today.
A judicial overhaul has commenced. Donald Trump is upending the trade relationship between the United States and Mexico. The use of artificial intelligence is on the rise.
President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke about all three of those topics at her Wednesday morning press conference, held just hours after the United States imposed 50% tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum. (Click here to read about Sheinbaum’s response to the measure here.)
The president also spoke about a problem that doesn’t appear likely to go away anytime soon: seasonal flooding in Mexico City.
Sheinbaum enumerates expectations of new justices
A reporter asked the president what she thought of the nine people elected as Supreme Court (SCJN) justices at Mexico’s first-ever judicial elections on Sunday.
“Very good, very good,” she said of the successful candidates, all of whom are affiliated with, seen as sympathetic to, or were at least tacitly supported by the ruling Morena party.
“The people decided, whatever the people decide,” Sheinbaum said, adding that the five women and four men elected to the SCJN are “good” choices.
Once they assume their positions, “they have to set an example … for a profound transformation of the judiciary,” she said.
“A transformation in what sense? That there is justice for everyone in Mexico,” Sheinbaum said.
“From my point of view, they have to set an example of austerity compared to the trappings of the current [judicial] power,” she said.
“They have to set an example of professionalism, of the delivery of justice. They have to set an example of change, honesty, integrity and transparency,” Sheinbaum said.
“Today, they are elected by the people. Now, from September, it’s up to them to set an example to Mexico and to the world that there can be a different system of justice, one that is not based on interest groups, on money, on providing [justice] to some and not to others,” she said.
“They have to become a group of a lot of presence … in the sense that it is noted that in Mexico, a transformation of the judiciary arrived as well. And it’s not a political matter, it’s a matter of honesty, of simplicity, of modesty, of austerity and of the delivery of justice,” Sheinbaum said.
“I think they are going to do very well, very well,” she said.
Sheinbaum empathizes with public transit users affected by flooding in CDMX
A reporter told the president that “thousands of people” had to walk more than nine kilometers in the rain, from the Guelatao metro station in the Iztapalapa borough of Mexico City to the La Paz station in México state, after service on part of Line A of the capital’s metro system was suspended on Monday evening due to flooding.
“They had to walk to get to [La Paz] to take another [form of] transport to get home. There were people who were very angry … because they said, ‘It’s the same every year,'” the reporter said.
“And among them, there was a lady who complained bitterly about you,” the journalist told Sheinbaum.
“She said ‘you were lying in bed while she was walking like a pilgrim.'”
In response, Sheinbaum said that “of course there is anger when a situation like that occurs.”
“… If you’re stuck in traffic for two hours, if you’re in a hurry to get home, yes there is frustration and anger, it’s understandable,” she said.
Sheinbaum, mayor of Mexico City between 2018 and 2023, subsequently pointed out that “several projects” have been completed to mitigate flooding in the capital, a common occurrence during the annual rainy season.
“For example, in [the borough of] Venustiano Carranza, a very important project was completed to reduce floods in several neighborhoods,” she said.
“And in this case, we’re going to attend to the issue of this flood … in this area, which has a lot of subsidence,” Sheinbaum said, referring to southeastern Mexico City.
“For that reason, as well, this flooding is caused,” she said.
Fake news and AI
A reporter asked the president about a supposed U.S. government statement that purported to identify various “political leaders in Mexico with ties to drug cartels.”
The statement, which has circulated on social media, was denounced as “false” by the United States Embassy in Mexico.
🚨 ADVERTENCIA 🚨
Esta información es falsa. pic.twitter.com/fkJczA7nGz— Embajada EU en Mex (@USEmbassyMEX) June 3, 2025
Sheinbaum took the opportunity to speak about fake news and the use of artificial intelligence to distort the truth.
She said that AI has been used to create videos that “change what I say.”
“[They use] my voice and publish it as a joke,” Sheinbaum said.
She specifically called out the news outlet Latinus for the practice.
“They use this scheme where I am talking and they change my words. They have the right to criticize [me], but why this use [of AI]? It doesn’t affect me, not in the slightest. I’m just giving an account of what happens,” Sheinbaum said.
“And then there are frauds they do, like calling [on people] to invest in something,” she said.
Early last year, Sheinbaum denounced a video that purported to show her promoting a kind of pyramid scheme as a “complete fraud.”
On Wednesday, she described claims that “one governor, another governor, another governor” have been stripped of their U.S. tourist visas as “fake news.”
More “responsibility and seriousness” is required, Sheinbaum said. “Freedom always entails responsibility.”
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
