President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke about two “Ts” at her Wednesday morning press conference — not tacos and tortas, but rather the far less appetizing terrorism and taxes.
She also spoke about her own salary and her past and present living arrangements.
Here is a recap of the president’s Aug. 13 mañanera.
Sheinbaum responds to US terrorism warning for Mexico
A reporter highlighted that the United States Department of State updated its travel advisory for Mexico, and is now warning of the risk of “terrorism” in 30 of 32 federal entities.
Yucatán and Campeche are the only states where the State Department advises U.S. citizens to “exercise normal precautions.”
It now warns of the risk of “terrorism” in all the “Level 4 Do Not Travel” states (Colima, Guerrero, Michoacán, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas) as well as the “Level 3 Reconsider Travel” states and the “Level 2 Exercise Increased Caution” states.
The State Department advisory also states: “Exercise increased caution in Mexico due to terrorism, crime and kidnapping. … There is a risk of terrorist violence, including terrorist attacks and other activity, in Mexico.”
Sheinbaum said that the reason for the United States’ terrorism warning is that the U.S. government designated (six) Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
“Now they use this word [terrorists] because they designated the cartels as such,” she said, referring to designations that occurred in February.
“But look, the main tourism destination for estadounidenses [U.S. Americans] is Mexico. Close to a million estadounidenses live here [in Mexico] because they like living here better, because they decided to live here,” Sheinbaum said.
Asked whether the U.S. government is wrong to warn of the risk of “terrorism” in Mexico, the president responded:
“What I’m saying is that people continue coming to Mexico.”
After the reporter said that the beauty of Mexico “saves it,” Sheinbaum said:
“Pues, como México no hay dos.”
That saying (and movie title) means there is no place like Mexico.
‘Do you live in the middle ground, presidenta?
A reporter asked Sheinbaum whether she could remind the press corps how much she earns as president of Mexico.
She responded that her net monthly salary is 133,000 pesos (US $7,140), slightly lower than the amount mentioned in 2025 budget documents.
The reporter asked the president whether she lives in the justa medianía, a term that can be translated as “the middle ground,” or “the fair (or exact) middle ground,” or “just moderation.”
Sheinbaum recently used the term to urge politicians to live modestly after several officials with the ruling Morena party faced criticism for extravagant international travel.
On Wednesday morning, the president initially tried to evade the question about whether she lives modestly (or moderately), saying, “we already spoke about that.”
“But you haven’t told us your story,” the reporter countered.
“Let’s see,” Sheinbaum said.
“I now live here in [the National] Palace, in an apartment, the same apartment where president López Obrador lived,” she said.
“Before I lived in a rented apartment in the Toriello Guerra neighborhood in [the Mexico City borough of] Tlalpan and before that I lived in a house where my children grew up, in San Andrés Totoltepec, in Tlalpan,” Sheinbaum said.
Asked again whether she believed that she lives in the justa medianía, the president responded:
“Well, I earn much more than what an average worker earns.”
Sheinbaum subsequently pointed out that the average salary of a Mexican formal sector worker is around 18,000 pesos (US $965) per month — before tax is deducted.
“As mayor [of Mexico City] I earned 86,000 pesos per month,” she added.
Sheinbaum didn’t explicitly respond to the question about whether she lives in the justa medianía, but certainly acknowledged that she is paid far more than the majority of Mexican workers.
Like her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the president is a committed public proponent of austerity. Like AMLO, she regularly flies on commercial airlines, including when she traveled to Brazil to attend the G20 Leaders’ Summit in late 2024.
Sheinbaum thanks taxpayers as collection increases
A reporter noted that Mexico’s tax collection increased 7.2% annually in the first seven months of the year to 3.27 trillion pesos (US $175.5 billion).
He asked the president how the increase was achieved.
“Firstly, thank you to everyone who pays their taxes and fees,” Sheinbaum said.
“There is good [tax] collection thanks to the fact that people are paying their taxes. And they know that we are using them well, that no one is stealing the money,” she said.
“Rather, it is being invested in welfare programs, in education, in healthcare, in housing programs and in public works, such as trains, water projects, and the highways we are building, and also in research and technological development,” Sheinbaum said.
She said that large companies, with some “exceptions,” are also paying their taxes, and highlighted that taxes and fees collected by Customs in the first seven months of the year increased significantly.
“It’s 180 billion additional pesos that they’ve collected in customs between January and July,” Sheinbaum said. “That’s also part of the tax [revenue].”
The Finance Ministry said earlier this year that the growth in tax revenue in 2025 “was mainly driven” by increases in the collection of Mexico’s value-added tax, income tax and taxes collected by customs.
It also said that the increase in tax revenue reflected “both the strength of the internal market and greater tax collection efficiency.”
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
