At her Monday morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum noted that just over 4,000 immigrants have been deported to Mexico from the United States since U.S. President Donald Trump took office a week ago. (Read MND’s report here.)
She also spoke about ongoing violence in Sinaloa, her administration’s desire to reach an agreement with the United States to avert Trump’s proposed 25% tariff on Mexican exports and secondary laws that will support the energy reform approved by federal Congress last year.
‘We’re working in Sinaloa’ to combat violence, Sheinbaum says
A reporter noted that citizens protested in Culiacán, Sinaloa, again on Sunday to demand peace in the northern state and the resignation of Governor Rubén Rocha, who has faced criticism for his government’s response to the rampant violence.
“We’re working in Sinaloa,” Sheinbaum responded when asked to give her opinion on the situation in the violence-plagued state.
“We have to say and remember the reasons why the terrible wave of violence in Sinaloa erupted,” she said.
Fighting between the “Los Mayos” and “Los Chapitos” factions of the Sinaloa Cartel intensified after alleged cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada was arrested in the United States last July. Zambada accused Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and one of the leaders of the “Los Chapitos” faction — or former leaders given that he too is in U.S. custody — of kidnapping him and forcing him onto a U.S.-bound private plane prior to his arrest.
Sheinbaum, like her predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has suggested that the United States government conducted a negotiation with Guzmán López that resulted in the delivery of Zambada to U.S. law enforcement authorities at a New Mexico airport near El Paso, Texas.
The president said Monday that once the new U.S. government is settled in and “we have a more fluid relationship” with it, “we’re going to continue insisting on an explanation as to how this … [alleged abduction] occurred in our country.”
“That is the origin of this wave of violence,” she said.
“I say to the people of Sinaloa that we’re working every day, that we’re aware of and regret the situation they’re going through,” Sheinbaum added.
“… More reinforcement has arrived in Sinaloa and we’re working every day to build peace in Sinaloa,” she said.
“… Our job as the federal government is to help protect the families of Sinaloa,” Sheinbaum said before rejecting calls published in “some” newspaper columns for her to dismiss Rocha as governor.
“That is not the job of the federal government,” she said. “The job of the federal government is to support families across the entire country by building peace.”
President says there will be dialogue with US over Trump’s proposed tariffs
A journalist noted that The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump, according to a senior U.S. government official, “views tariffs as an ‘effective negotiating tool’ and ‘effective punishment’ for nations that don’t hew to his agenda.”
The Journal also reported that “momentum is growing among President Trump’s advisers to place 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada as soon as Saturday,” as the U.S. president said last week his administration could do.
“We’re going to have conversations [with the U.S. government] on all issues,” Sheinbaum said Monday.
“… Obviously on the trade issue we have an agreement,” she said, referring to the USMCA free trade pact.
“… What are we looking for? To reach agreement on all issues within the framework of our sovereignty, respect and respect for our compatriots,” Sheinbaum said.
The president has expressed confidence that her government will reach an agreement to ward off the proposed 25% tariff, but time to reach a deal — if such a duty were to be imposed this Saturday — is running out.
Secondary energy laws coming soon
Sheinbaum said that the federal government will present secondary laws on Wednesday to support the energy reform approved by Congress in October.
The reform and the secondary laws are “very transcendent for the strengthening of Pemex and the CFE,” she said, referring to Mexico’s state-owned oil and electricity companies.
The secondary laws, Sheinbaum added, will “establish very clearly where there can be private participation” in the energy sector and “how” private sector investment can occur.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
