Sheinbaum’s mañanera in 60 seconds
- 📍Miller, Ruffo and fracking: President Sheinbaum used her Tuesday press conference to respond to provocative remarks from White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller about Mexico, while also addressing the Ernesto Ruffo case and giving an update on the fracking feasibility assessment.
- 🎙️ Sheinbaum won’t debate Miller: Asked about Miller’s claim that Mexico’s justice, political and legal systems “don’t work” because parts of the country are “controlled and occupied by terrorist organizations,” Sheinbaum insisted there is “good coordination” between Mexico and the U.S. and asserted that “the people govern” in Mexico.
- 🗳️ Midterms cited as motive: Asked why the U.S. official made the remarks, Sheinbaum pointed to November’s U.S. midterm elections.
- ⚖️ Ruffo case is “criminal, not political”: Responding to a statement from 25 former Spanish and Latin American leaders — including ex-presidents Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón — who called ex-Baja California Governor Ernesto Ruffo’s prosecution “political persecution,” Sheinbaum said the signatories should read the Attorney General’s evidence, calling it purely “a matter that has to do with a crime.”
- 🔥 Fracking assessment nearing completion: Sheinbaum said the expert committee studying “sustainable fracking” has reached internal agreements and is finishing its final assessment of energy needs through 2035–2040, with results expected within one to two weeks.
Why today’s mañanera matters
Today’s mañanera was important as President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to provocative remarks made by a senior Trump administration official. Given that the Mexico-U.S. relationship is currently strained, particularly in the areas of security and trade, any friction between the neighboring countries draws heightened scrutiny.
Also of note at the Tuesday morning press conference was Sheinbaum’s response to the view expressed by 25 former Spanish and Latin American political leaders regarding the criminal charges faced by a former governor of the northern state of Baja California.
In addition, today’s mañanera was significant as Sheinbaum provided an update on an expert group’s assessment of the feasibility of “sustainable fracking” in Mexico, a practice that, if approved, could allow Mexico to reduce its heavy reliance on natural gas imports from the United States. The results of the group’s assessment were initially expected in June, but now look likely to come in August.
Sheinbaum responds to Stephen Miller’s remarks about Mexico
A reporter asked the president about the Mexico-related remarks made on Thursday by Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy and a homeland security adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump.
Miller said that Mexican criminal organizations “not only export massive death in the form of narcotics to our country, but they also export sophisticated criminal enterprises whose objective is to destabilize our democracy and to end the rule of law in our country.”
“There’s a reason why in Mexico, the justice system doesn’t work, the political system doesn’t work [and] the legal system doesn’t work. It’s because you have territory controlled and occupied by terrorist organizations who kill, extort, kidnap or murder anybody who gets in the way,” he said, referring to Mexican cartels that have been designated as foreign terrorists organizations by the U.S. government.
Sheinbaum’s first response to Miller’s remarks was a declaration that “we’re not going to get into a debate.”
She subsequently said there is “good coordination” between Mexico and the United States, and declared that “they” — i.e., Trump administration officials — know that “the people govern” in Mexico.
“Nobody else governs, the people rule,” Sheinbaum said.
“We’re a government of the people. … We work every day for security and peace in our country and there are results,” she said.
“I’m not going to get into a debate with him,” Sheinbaum added, referring to Miller.
Asked what she attributed the U.S. official’s remarks to, the president noted that midterm elections will be held in the United States in November.
“We’ve always said that Mexico should not be a defining element in their campaign,” Sheinbaum said, apparently referring to the U.S. Republican Party.
“… The United States has to look at itself, particularly with regard to the issue of drug use and the distribution [of narcotics] and money laundering in the United States,” she said.
Sheinbaum: Ruffo case is a ‘criminal issue,’ not a political one
A reporter noted that a group of former Spanish and Latin American political leaders issued a statement regarding the criminal charges faced by ex-Baja California Governor Ernesto Ruffo, who is accused of organized crime, fuel theft and tax evasion.
In the statement, the ex-leaders who belong to the “Democratic Initiative for Spain and the Americas” (Grupo IDEA) — among whom are former Mexican presidents Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón — claim that the situation of Ruffo, National Action Party (PAN) governor of Baja California between 1989 and 1995, displays “unmistakable features of a political persecution orchestrated by those in power.”
Sheinbaum said “it would be very good” if the signatories of the statement “informed themselves” about the ex-governor’s situation by reading the information released by the Federal Attorney General’s Office.
“I repeat, it has nothing to do with a political issue. It’s a criminal issue,” she said.
Ruffo is “a person who allegedly, according to all the evidence, committed serious crimes,” Sheinbaum said.
“… Those who signed [the statement] saying that it’s a political matter are mistaken,” she said.
“It’s a matter that has to do with a crime,” Sheinbaum said.
Sheinbaum provides an update on the fracking feasibility assessment
Sheinbaum told reporters that a group of experts tasked with assessing the feasibility of “sustainable fracking” in Mexico has been expanded.
“The committee was expanded with two additional points of view,” she said.
“One from people who have historically had opinions against the exploitation of unconventional gas,” Sheinbaum said.
She said that another “group of people from different academic institutions” was added to the fracking assessment committee in order to develop an “energy planning scheme considering other sources of energy.”
Mexico weighs ‘sustainable fracking’ to cut dependence on US natural gas
“This second part is what has slightly delayed the committee’s ability to come to the mañanera to provide a result [of the fracking assessment],” Sheinbaum said.
She said that the committee has made a lot of progress, adding that its members have “even reached “agreements” among themselves.
“What’s missing is the final assessment regarding the growth of energy use and energy sources to 2035, 2040,” Sheinbaum said, explaining that the assessment considers how natural gas can be replaced by “other energy sources.”
She said that assessment is likely to be completed next week.
Sheinbaum said that next week or the week after next, the government will be in a position to announce the committee’s “guidance” regarding the feasibility of sustainable fracking in Mexico.
The president said she believed that the committee’s conclusions will be “satisfactory for everyone.”
The experts, she added, “will also propose that other studies are needed.”
Sheinbaum said those studies would be carried out this year.
The president has acknowledged her previous opposition to fracking, but now asserts that it can take place safely via the use of new technologies.
A decision to allow fracking in Mexico — a practice that was largely paused by former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador — would increase domestic production of natural gas, a fuel that Mexico currently imports from the United States in large quantities.
