At the start of her Thursday morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum commented that the Treasury Hall of the National Palace looked like a cornfield as it was adorned with corn plants, corn cobs and baskets of corn kernels.
The reason for the decoration was that the government presented its National Native Corn Plan, subtitled “El Maíz es la Raíz” (Corn is the Root).
The objective of the plan is to “promote the conservation, production, processing, and marketing of native Mexican corn, [while] strengthening community agri-food systems,” said María Luisa Albores González, general director of the government’s Food for Well-Being department.
Later in the press conference, Sheinbaum spoke about recent criticism she and her government have received, as well as claims that the sexual harassment she suffered last week was a “setup.”
Sheinbaum acknowledges that criticism of her government is inevitable
After a reporter asked her whether she was concerned about criticism of her government, Sheinbaum noted that Andrés Manuel López Obrador used to say that no previous president had been subject to such an “offensive” from the media and others as him.
The president subsequently asserted that she and her government are getting close to reaching the level of criticism that AMLO was subjected to during his presidency.
In an attempt to prove her point, she pointed to criticism she and her government received over the past month for its response to severe flooding in five states, and in the wake of the assassination of Uruapan mayor Carlos Manzo, who had called on the Sheinbaum administration to ramp up the fight against organized crime.
Referring to the criticism over the government’s flood response, Sheinbaum asserted that a lot of it came from social media bots.
“They said [it was] half organic, half bots; Yes, but if there weren’t bots there wouldn’t be the organic [criticism] because they drive it,” she said.
With regard to criticism after the murder of Manzo, Sheinbaum said that the “offensive” against her government was “full of money,” although she didn’t specify who she believed had funded it.
She went on to say that criticism will occur no matter what she and her government do.
“They will criticize us for everything: if we do something, they will criticize us for doing it; if we don’t do something, they will criticize us for not doing it; if we do ‘A,’ they will criticize us for doing ‘A’; if we do ‘B,’ they will criticize us for doing ‘B,’ Sheinbaum said.
Sheinbaum rails against claims that the sexual harassment she suffered was a ‘setup’
Nine days after she was inappropriately touched by a man while walking in the historic center of Mexico City, Sheinbaum turned her attention to claims that the incident was a “setup” to distract attention from more serious issues, such as political violence.
Such claims came from ordinary Mexican citizens, and also from high-profile ones such as Senator Alejandro Moreno, who is also the national president of the Institutional Revolutionary Party.
Sheinbaum likened the claims to comments women commonly receive after they have suffered acts of sexual harassment or abuse.
President Sheinbaum files criminal complaint after groping incident on the streets of Mexico City
“They make us feel guilty. … [It’s] revictimization,” said the president, who also railed against newspapers that published photos of the groping she suffered on their front pages.
“… I can tell you that there is a lot of misogyny and machismo in this. They thought that because I am a woman they were going to break us. No. What keeps us going is conviction, support and fraternity with the people. That’s what sustains us,” Sheinbaum said.
Is it fair to blame Calderón for the insecurity that plagues Mexico today?
Toward the end of the mañanera, a reporter told the president that a lot of “opinion leaders” believe that she shouldn’t speak about former president Felipe Calderón, who was in office between 2006 and 2012.
Like AMLO did during his presidency, Sheinbaum often attributes blame to Calderón for the insecurity in Mexico today. She also frequently highlights that his security minister, Genaro García Luna, was convicted of colluding with the Sinaloa Cartel and is serving a lengthy sentence in a U.S. prison.
Shortly after he took office in late 2006, Calderón launched a militarized war on drug cartels, a strategy that has been blamed for dramatically increasing violence and homicides in Mexico. Homicides continued to increase during Enrique Peña Nieto’s presidency (2012-2018) and in the first half of López Obrador’s 2018-24 term.
Sheinbaum — whose government has succeeded in reducing the homicide rate — rejected the suggestion that she shouldn’t speak about Calderón, saying that “we must always remember history.”
“We must keep it in mind,” she added.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
