President López Obrador has named Labor Minister Luisa María Alcalde Luján as his new interior minister following the resignation of Adán Augusto López Hernández, who is seeking the ruling Morena party’s nomination for the 2024 presidential election.

Alcalde, a former congressional deputy who has been labor minister since the current government took office in December 2018, is set to assume the powerful interior minister role later this week.

She will be just the second woman to hold the position after Olga Sánchez Cordero, who served in López Obrador’s cabinet between 2018 and 2021. Alcalde is already the youngest female cabinet minister in the history of modern Mexico, beginning her current position at the age of 31.

López Obrador told reporters at his Monday morning press conference that he expected Alcalde to assume the interior minister role in the middle of the week, explaining that she would consult with Deputy Interior Minister Alejandro Encinas – who is currently in charge of the Interior Ministry – on the transition.

“Luisa María Alcalde Luján is young; it’s very important to think about generational change, to give opportunities to young people,” he said.

“In addition, Luisa María is a lawyer and she was already a legislator,” López Obrador said, acknowledging his labor minister’s undergraduate and postgraduate studies in law.

He said that Alcalde has performed very well in her current role, noting that she played a pivotal role in negotiations that led to annual increases to the minimum wage during the current government. The president didn’t say who would succeed her as labor minister.

Alcalde said on Twitter that she “deeply” appreciated the trust López Obrador showed in her by naming her interior minister, a position generally considered the second most powerful in Mexican politics.

“It will be without a doubt the honor of my life to accompany him … in this final fundamental stage for the consolidation of the transformation,” she wrote.

According to the federal government, the Interior Ministry “takes care of the political development of the country and contributes to the management of relations between the federal executive power and other powers … and levels of government to promote harmonious coexistence, social peace, development and the well-being of Mexicans.”

López Hernández, who stepped down as governor of Tabasco in 2021 to become interior minister, resigned last Friday to focus on winning Morena’s candidacy for next year’s presidential election.

With reports from Reforma, El Universal and El Financiero