Sheinbaum’s mañanera in 60 seconds
- 🗞️ Sheinbaum acknowledges LA Times report: Sheinbaum acknowledged a Los Angeles Times report alleging that the U.S. is investigating Sonora Governor Alfonso Durazo and Tamaulipas Governor Américo Villarreal Anaya for alleged criminal ties, including organized crime and fuel smuggling. Both men have reportedly had their U.S. visas revoked. Sheinbaum said the governors must answer for themselves, then questioned the motives behind the timing and public disclosure of the alleged visa cancellations.
- 📚 Government says dialogue is open with CNTE: Asked how the government plans to resolve the standoff with the dissident CNTE union, which has set up a protest camp in Mexico City’s historic center, Sheinbaum said teachers have legitimate demands, but indicated that a 100% pay rise is unaffordable. She said the government remains open to dialogue and is working on pension improvement mechanisms.
- ☮️ “We’re not Díaz Ordaz”: Sheinbaum rules out force against protesting teachers: Sheinbaum firmly ruled out using state force against the protesting teachers, accusing far-right agitators of trying to bait the government into repression ahead of the World Cup. She invoked Gustavo Díaz Ordaz — the president who ordered the 1968 Tlatelolco Massacre days before the Mexico City Olympics — as a symbol of what her government would not become.
- 🗳️ Sheinbaum pushes back on fears Morena will weaponize new electoral interference law: Five days after the Senate approved a reform allowing elections to be nullified on grounds of foreign interference, Sheinbaum rejected opposition claims that Morena could abuse it. She stressed it would be the Federal Electoral Tribunal — not the government — that makes any determination of foreign interference in elections.
Why today’s mañanera matters
Today’s mañanera was held just hours after The Los Angeles Times published a report under the headline “The U.S. is investigating two more Mexican governors for connections to cartels.”
NEW: The U.S. is investigating two more Mexican governors for alleged ties to cartels.
This puts new pressure on President Sheinbaum, who has slammed U.S. probes into sitting Mexican leaders as electoral interference.
With @Stevelfisher:https://t.co/IturgAvHzY
— Kate Linthicum (@katelinthicum) June 3, 2026
The newspaper used the word “more” as U.S. prosecutors have already investigated Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya and formally accused him of drug trafficking in league with the “Chapitos” faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. Rocha has taken leave as governor, but denies any wrongdoing, and has not been arrested for the purpose of extradition, as U.S. authorities have requested.
On Wednesday morning, Sheinbaum offered a brief response to the L.A. Times report, but spent significantly more time speaking about other issues, including the ongoing protests by teachers affiliated with the dissident CNTE teachers’ union.
Eight days before the start of the FIFA men’s World Cup, the president ruled out the possibility of using the force of the Mexican state against protesting teachers. That statement was not surprising given Sheinbaum’s previous comments against the use of force against protestors, but the remarks, and her framing of them, were nevertheless significant.
Also of note at today’s mañanera was Sheinbaum’s rejection of claims that the government could use a new electoral law for the benefit of Morena, Mexico’s ruling party.
Sheinbaum acknowledges report stating that US is investigating 2 Morena governors
Sheinbaum noted that The Los Angeles Times published a report that states that the United States is investigating Sonora Governor Alfonso Durazo and Tamaulipas Governor Américo Villarreal Anaya for alleged criminal offenses.
Both men have “been stripped of their U.S. visas amid criminal probes, according to people familiar with the cases,” the Times reported.
People familiar with Durazo’s case said that his visa “was canceled last year, and the U.S. is investigating him for alleged ties to organized crime,” the Times wrote.
“… The investigation into Villarreal, 68, is connected to the smuggling of pirated fuel, a lucrative illegal trade known in Mexico as huachicol, according to people familiar with the case,” the Times reported.
Sheinbaum said that the two governors — both of whom represent Morena — have to respond to the report themselves.
She subsequently questioned the intentions of The Los Angeles Times and its sources.
“What’s the point of stripping the visas and making it public? … To say to Mexicans ‘watch out, watch out, they’re going to take away your visa?'” Sheinbaum asked.
“These things can happen, but what is the interest?” she asked.
The Los Angeles Times said that Villareal “denied any wrongdoing” in a statement, calling the claims against him “false, biased and lacking evidence.” The newspaper said that “Durazo’s office did not respond to a request for comment.”
Paloma Teran, head of the Sonora government’s social communication system, said that the information published by the Times regarding Durazo is “completely false.”
‘We’re not Díaz Ordaz’: Sheinbaum rules out repression against protesting teachers
A reporter asked the president whether there is any way to solve the “conflict” between the CNTE teachers’ union — which has set up a protest camp in the historic center of Mexico City — and the federal government.
Sheinbaum said that teachers have “legitimate demands,” but stressed that it is not possible for the government to meet all of them. She has said on repeated occasions that the government can’t meet all of the protesting teachers’ demands — among which is a demand for a 100% pay rise — for budgetary reasons.
On Wednesday, she reiterated that view and highlighted that the government is always “open” to dialogue with teachers.
However, “what a lot of people want is for us to succumb to provocation,” Sheinbaum said, explaining that those people — including individuals she portrayed as “far right” agitators — want the government to use force against protesting teachers, a move that opposition parties, government critics and CNTE-affiliated teachers could use to criticize the president and her administration.
“I am against any form of repression,” she said.
World Cup prep collides with teacher protests at Mexico City’s Zócalo
“They want us to resort to repression in the lead-up to the World Cup. We’re not going to succumb to provocation; we’re not Díaz Ordaz,” Sheinbaum said, referring to Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, Mexico’s president when federal forces perpetrated the Tlatelolco Massacre, killing hundreds of students in Mexico City 10 days before the start of the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.
She said that the Interior Ministry and the Education Ministry are working to resolve teachers’ concerns, including by seeking “mechanisms to improve pensions, which is one of the big demands.”
Asked whether she would meet with protesting teachers, many of whom are from the state of Oaxaca, Sheinbaum said she didn’t think it was appropriate to do so. She stressed that Interior Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez and Education Minister Mario Delgado have all the authority required to reach agreements with teachers.
“Nothing will change if they meet with me. Nothing,” Sheinbaum said.
Sheinbaum rejects claims that government could make improper use of new electoral law
Five days after the Mexican Senate approved a controversial reform allowing the nullification of elections tainted by foreign interference, Sheinbaum responded to claims that the government could use the law improperly.
“What our adversaries and critics have been saying is that ‘because we’re authoritarians, we want to use this pretext to annul any election [Morena loses]’. It’s false, completely false,” she said.
“If it is clear that there is interference from abroad, that could be cause for nullification,” Sheinbaum said.
However, she stressed that it will be the Federal Electoral Tribunal — not the government — that determines whether foreign persons, governments or entities have interfered in Mexican elections.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
