Conflict in the Middle East and the strength of the ruling Morena party were among the issues President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke about at her Monday morning press conference.
Here is a recap of the president’s June 23 mañanera.
‘Every people has the right to decide their form of government’
A reporter asked Sheinbaum her opinion about Donald Trump’s “comment” or “insinuation” that regime change is needed in Iran.
On social media on Sunday, a day after he announced the U.S. military had attacked three nuclear sites in Iran, the U.S. president wrote:
“It’s not politically correct to use the term, ‘Regime Change,’ but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!”
For her part, Sheinbaum spoke in favor of “sovereignty” for the peoples of the world.
“That has always been the position of Mexico. Every people has the right to decide their form of government — that is the principle of the foreign policy of Mexico,” she said.
“Few countries have these foreign policy principles,” said Sheinbaum, who in a social media post on Sunday declared that “Mexico will always be a factor for peace” and highlighted eight constitutionally-enshrined principles “on which the Federal Executive must base the conduct of Mexico’s foreign policy.”
Mexico is moving toward ‘energy sovereignty,’ Sheinbaum says
The same reporter asked the president about the impact a closure of the Strait of Hormuz would have on Mexico. In retaliation for the U.S. strikes on three of its nuclear sites, Iran could potentially seek to shut down the strait, which links the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea and is an important shipping route for oil and gas.
The New York Times reported that “a quarter of the world’s oil and 20 percent of the world’s liquefied natural gas passes through the Strait of Hormuz, so mining the choke point would cause oil and gas prices to soar.”
In response to the reporter’s question, Sheinbaum first said that the increase in world oil prices “in recent days” has been “very small.”
Later in the day, oil prices fell more than 7% after Iran’s retaliatory missile strike on a U.S. airbase in Qatar “raised hopes that the conflict would not immediately disrupt oil supplies from the region,” according to The Guardian.
Sheinbaum said that Mexico is in an advantageous position because “practically” all the oil produced in Mexico is refined “in our country.”
“Dos Bocas is operating,” she said, referring to the Pemex refinery built on the Tabasco coast during the term of the previous federal government.
“… The importation of fuel has decreased a lot,” Sheinbaum said, asserting that Mexico is making significant progress toward “energy sovereignty,” including its quest to reach self-sufficiency for fuel.
Pemex CEO says Dos Bocas refinery is now processing crude oil
That progress, she said, has been possible thanks to the purchase of the refinery in Deer Park, Texas, (which Pemex previously co-owned with Shell), the construction of the Dos Bocas refinery (officially called the Olmeca Refinery) and the work that has been done to upgrade the state oil’s company’s six other refineries.
“In the face of these international changes that there could be, Mexico is protected in terms of production of its [own] fuel,” Sheinbaum said, referring to gasoline and diesel.
“We have to continue making progress on natural gas … because we import a large part of the natural gas we use from Texas,” she said.
‘The transformation movement is very strong’
A reporter from El Heraldo de México noted that the newspaper published “a series of polls” that showed that the ruling Morena party is the most favored political party in 15 of 17 states that will hold elections in 2027.
Sheinbaum described the poll results as “interesting” and declared that they are worth looking at.
“The transformation movement is very strong in the country,” she said, referring to the Morena party and the so-called “fourth transformation” it says it is carrying out in Mexico.
“And there is recognition from the people,” said Sheinbaum, who won last year’s presidential election in a landslide.
She also said that for people aspiring to be candidates of “the movement” there are “three maxims: don’t lie, don’t steal and don’t betray the people.”
In addition to being in power at the federal level, Morena governs 22 of Mexico’s 31 states and Mexico City. It is also in office in more than 700 municipalities across the country, and many candidates aligned with Morena or seen as sympathetic to the party were elected to judgeships — including positions on the Supreme Court — at Mexico’s first ever judicial elections on June 1.
Sheinbaum will turn 63 on Tuesday
The president acknowledged that she will turn 63 on Tuesday, before assuring a reporter that she hadn’t considered signing up for the pension the government is now paying to women aged 63 and 64.
Sheinbaum subsequently gave her consent for cake to be brought to her mañanera on June 24, which she noted is also the feast day of Saint John the Baptist.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
