President Claudia Sheinbaum visited Mexico’s Mixtec region on Saturday to discuss the progress of the Lázaro Cárdenas Plan, detailing investments of 6.212 billion pesos (US $335.6 million).
The plan, launched last year in coordination with Oaxaca’s state governor, Salomón Jara Cruz, supports economic and social development in one of Mexico’s poorest areas.
“Roads and infrastructure projects cease to be mere material acts and become great acts of dignity and hope,” Jara Cruz said during the event. “That is the essence of Mexican humanism: love for the people and attention to the poorest.”
Plan Lázaro Cárdenas — named after Mexico’s president from 1934 to 1940, who was known for his agrarian reforms and focus on social justice — seeks to strengthen the region’s roads, healthcare systems, agricultural productivity, educational opportunities, environmental sustainability and cultural heritage.
“It’s been almost a year since we were here in La Mixteca with all of you,” said Sheinbaum in a speech. “I promised then that we would pave roads, that we would build new roads. Did we keep our promise? Yes. We still have work to do, but here’s the commitment: we’re not going to leave La Mixteca for the entire six-year term; we’re going to be right here.”
Regresamos a la Mixteca oaxaqueña para informar avances del Plan General Lázaro Cárdenas del Río. Son casi 900 kilómetros de reconstrucción de caminos; vamos por la misma cantidad el próximo año. Además, rehabilitamos escuelas, construimos centros de salud y obras de agua. pic.twitter.com/s3sygNNUBk
— Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (@Claudiashein) November 22, 2025
Some of the main achievements of the Lázaro Cárdenas Plan over the past eight months include:
- The construction or rehabilitation of 1,100 kilometers of highway infrastructure
- 36 projects related to drinking water, sanitation and agricultural support by the National Water Commission (Conagua): 203 million pesos (US $11 million)
- An annual investment of 120 million pesos ($6.5 million) in forest restoration through the National Forestry Commission (Conagua)
- The launch of the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples’ (INPI) Justice Plan for the Chocoltec People in 19 municipalities and 70 Indigenous communities, benefiting 19,961 people: 300 million pesos ($16.2 million)
- The soon-to-be-implemented Justice Plan for the Mixtec People, covering 87 municipalities and 377 Indigenous communities, benefiting 196,752 people
- More than 3,800 ApoyARTE micro-loans granted to local women artisans
- Support from “The School is Ours” program in 2,875 under-resourced schools
- 5,276 new beneficiaries of the “Sowing Life” reforestation initiative
- An initial investment of 18 million pesos ($972,000) for the construction of the Casa Odriozola School of Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage in Teposcolula
Meanwhile, the IMSS-Bienestar arm of the program, as presented by the ministry’s director Alejandro Svarch Pérez, will:
- Provide for the replacement of the Huajuapan de León Hospital by December 2026
- Launch the Margarita Maza Brigades to prevent, detect and diagnose breast cancer
- Renovate three local health centers into Comprehensive Health Centers (CESSA)
- Hire 23 specialist physicians and 99 nurses
- Launch ten mobile medical units with telemedicine services
- Create a High-Priority Maternal Response Network with four new obstetric ambulances
Protests disrupt the event
A group of professors with Section 22 of the national teachers union (CNTE) used megaphones to express their discontent during Sheinbaum’s presentation at the Marco Antonio Ramírez Sports Complex in Teposcolula on Saturday.
Protesters shouted slogans such as “Claudia, you lied about repealing the ISSSTE law” and “Claudia said everything would change.”
Earlier that day, Sheinbaum had also faced demonstrations from Section 22 at an event in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The protests in Oaxaca came just one day after teachers from CNTE Section 7 in Chiapas briefly detained the president’s vehicle in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, demanding she sign a written commitment to restart discussions concerning the ISSSTE law and education reform.
