A small group of Morena party politicians apparently believed it was a reasonable request: they asked President Claudia Sheinbaum to pose for a photo with them at an event in the municipality of San Quintín, Baja California, on Saturday.

But instead of a photo, the ruling party politicians got a public dressing-down from a visibly angry president.

Pdta #ClaudiaSheinbaum regaña a legisladores de Morena en #SanQuintín: “¡A trabajar más con la gente!”

La presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum protagonizó un momento de tensión durante su visita a San Quintín este 31 de enero, cuando reprendió públicamente a legisladores y funcionarios… pic.twitter.com/HazKVxX7Bl

— Jaime Guerrero (@jaimeguerrero08) February 1, 2026

“You need to work more with the people, all of you. Work more with the people. Stop being there and … [spend time] in your territory,” exhorted Sheinbaum in a rebuke that was caught on camera and subsequently went viral on social media.

On the receiving end of the presidential reprimand were federal Senator Armando Ayala Robles, Baja California Deputy Evelyn Sánchez and San Quintín Mayor Miriam Cano, among other Morena party politicians.

Prior to scolding the politicians, Sheinbaum had engaged with San Quintín locals and heard complaints about the poor condition of highways, abandoned hospitals and medicine shortages, among other issues.

‘A warm scolding’ 

Asked at her Monday morning press conference about the message she conveyed to the Morena party politicians in San Quintín, Sheinbaum said her words amounted to “un regaño caluroso” (a warm scolding), even though her demeanor at the time was certainly not friendly or affectionate.

Asked about the “context” of her remarks, the president responded that San Quintín is “an area of many shortcomings” where agricultural workers from all over Mexico primarily live in irregular settlements.

“So, it’s a situation of poverty. The agricultural day workers are residents of our country — internal migrants. Some go to Sonora, others to Sinaloa [and] in this case to Baja California. They have many deficiencies [in their lives],” Sheinbaum said.

“We are developing a comprehensive plan [to remedy the situation], it began with president [Andrés Manuel] López Obrador — the San Quintín Justice Plan,” she said.

“… We’re going to finish a hospital, expand the one that is there. We’re going to improve the health care centers. We’re going to improve the schools. We’re going to build more high schools. We’re going to improve the roads. And we’re going to install an integrated [service] center where the government of Mexico is present,” Sheinbaum said.

Sheinbaum: The photo request was incongruous with the local circumstances 

Sheinbaum told reporters that “some deputies” called out “photo, photo, photo!” to her as she passed them at the event at which she presented the Justice Plan for San Quintín Agricultural Workers.

“It seemed to me that one thing didn’t go with the other, right? A photo of the president [and Morena politicians] with the circumstances we were experiencing,” she said.

“So, that’s why, a little annoyed, I said to them: … ‘Don’t just stay in Congress [or] here in the city. Go out to the land, be close to the people,'” said Sheinbaum, who — following in the footsteps of López Obrador — spends most weekends outside Mexico City on tours that allow her to get up close and personal with Mexicans from all parts of the country and all walks of life.

“That is what all of us from this movement have to always keep in mind, and even more so when you see such significant needs in a town,” she said.

Sheinbaum added that she will “always” be “grateful” to the nation’s deputies and senators “because they have approved a lot of very important reforms for the country and for the advancement of the transformation” — a reference to the so-called “fourth transformation” Morena says it is carrying out in Mexico.

“But this is a call to everyone [in Morena] to be close to the people, especially the humble people, who need us the most,” she said.

Asked how the Morena politicians took her scolding in San Quintín, Sheinbaum responded:

“You’ll have to ask them that, right? But I think it’s a wake-up call for everyone in the face of such circumstances.”

With reports from Reforma and El Financiero