Claudia Sheinbaum has now completed two full months as Mexico’s first female president.
And with the swearing in of Rocío Nahle as governor of Veracruz on Sunday, 13 of Mexico’s 32 federal entities are now led by women, more than ever before.
At her morning press conference on Monday, Sheinbaum heaped praise on Nahle, who served as energy minister for almost five years during the administration of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
She also commented on a New York Times report and noted that United States President-elect Donald Trump asked her how the U.S. could help Mexico with security issues.
Sheinbaum suggests NYT report was inspired by ‘Breaking Bad’
One journalist noted that The New York Times reported on Sunday that the Sinaloa Cartel has recruited chemistry students to make fentanyl.
“Do you have information about that?” inquired the reporter.
The president said that she asked members of her cabinet about the Times’ reporting before declaring that “there is no information about this.”
“… There is a [television] show … that takes place in … New Mexico, … a very well-known show that got a lot of awards about a chemistry teacher,” Sheinbaum added, referring to the Emmy-award winning series “Breaking Bad.”
“I saw some episodes, I didn’t see all of it … but maybe that’s where they got [the report] from, right?” Sheinbaum said.
“Because we don’t have information [about chemistry students making drugs for cartels]. And, in any case, chemistry students shouldn’t get involved in that, right?” she added.
‘Of course we don’t agree with an invasion’
Sheinbaum said that she and Donald Trump spoke about security issues during their telephone call last Wednesday.
“He asked me, ‘How can we help you?'” she said.
“… I explained to him that we have a very competent security cabinet, coordinated by [Security Minister] Omar García Harfuch. I even told him about Omar’s history, the attack he suffered and how he has a history of a lot of professionalism in the Mexico City Security Ministry and now at the federal level,” Sheinbaum said.
The president said she told Trump that it is very important for Mexico and the United States to share information with each other, but emphasized that they must respect each other’s sovereignty when collaborating on security issues.
“And he agreed, he said he thought … [my proposal] was very good,” Sheinbaum said.
” … Of course we don’t agree with a [U.S.] invasion [of Mexico],” she said five days after Rolling Stone magazine reported that members of Trump’s transition team were considering sending the U.S. military into Mexico to combat Mexican drug cartels.
No date set for a Sheinbaum-Trump meeting
Sheinbaum said that she Trump agreed during their call last week that they would meet in person “soon.”
“But we haven’t set a date,” she added.
“… But I am sure that we’re going to maintain a very good relationship,” Sheinbaum said.
Last Wednesday, the president rejected Trump’s claim that she had agreed to “stop migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our southern border.”
It’s time for women
Sheinbaum noted that she attended the inauguration of Rocío Nahle as governor of Veracruz in state capital Xalapa on Sunday.
She said she went to the swearing-in ceremony “simply because it’s time for women. “
Nahle, a representative of Mexico’s ruling Morena party, is “a woman of action,” Sheinbaum said.
“We already saw her building the Olmec Refinery,” she said, referring to the new Pemex facility on the Gulf coast of Tabasco.
“… And I know she will do a great job at the head of the government of Veracruz.”
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
I’m glad Sheinbaum is coming back strong with her responses toward the US goverhbment as all signs point to the fact that Trump like the rest of his presumed cabinet think women are inferior and he will most likely assume he can take advantage her with two face lies and the like. She should just tell him how good he must look in a swimsuit with that wonderful tan and hot body- that will win him over for sure and they will get along just fine.
TDS
Someone needs to break the news to him that DJT’s Chief of Staff is a woman…
Of course trump has problems with tiny d&ck syndrome. It occurs with men suffering incontinence.
What a shame that out of 50 Governorships in the US, only 12 are women, and I fear zero will end up President. It’s high time women lead while gray haired white men get put out on the porch with a lemonade.
You’re correct about needing a good qualified woman to lead the US…Laura Thump 2028!
Maybe. I think a lot higher of her than her father.
LMAO!
I like her candor during these morning press meetings. Her focus upon praising competent women of the past and today are refreshing and good for all. So far, so good.
She says she only watched some episodes of Breaking Bad. She should watch the entire series. Best show ever made.
Oh yeah? Just don’t confuse your favourite shows with reality, dude
So far, so good. President Sheinbaum seems to to well understand the best strategy for dealing with Trump as well as her/Mexico’s leverage. I think the invasion” bluster is just that – red meat for the base and racists in the MAGA congress. If an invasion” goes as well as the “wall” did, the Mexican army may have to hand out maps to invading Special Forces so they can go home and enable Trump to declare victory. Seriously, her first 2 months have gone very well. Her cabinet is well-prepared, they have their responses laid out and calibrated, she has corrected him publicly twice”and pushed back firmly without bluster. While he is only the shadow president at this point, she is handling him deftly, while moving her agenda. Now, if she could develop and implement a winning strategy regarding cartels, but that is probably an intractable problem. One thing that has not been mentioned, as least publicly is a tariff on all US guns coming into Mexico. That would be a nice counterpoint,
I have mentioned that tariff in my Facebook site. I concur with you, and the report here por la Presidenta is indicative that Trump is dealing with her in private with surprising enlightenment and deference.
The guns held by the cartels are mostly smuggled into Mexico. The Mexican army has the sole right to import guns. Some of those may find there way to criminals. A tariff on guns would not reduce those held by the cartels.
This is the first bit of garbage which I’ve noted from la Presidenta: <> A President should be wasting time on conjecture esp. when she is wrong on the issue. A chemistry student in Tecate was assassinated about a year ago for refusing drug-manufacture recruitment by a cartel. An underworld economy need not engage in assassinations of students, media, politicians, and clerics nor “play army” within is sh*thole or with the government. Somehow, there needs to be adult supervision without an U.S.A. invasion.
Yes, a rather flippant response to a serious situation. Particularly after AMLO spent much of his time denying that production was taking place in Mexico, despite reports of raids by his own military.
It is a well known fact that worldwide the cartels are forcing or coercing young people to join their cartels and in Mexico those that don’t want to join are „disappeared“.
Apart from all the other misery and suffering they are causing in their communities – this is the worst: stealing or corrupting young people‘s future and destroying the fabric of society and they are doing this everywhere: In Mexico, the US and increasingly in Europe. Governments worldwide need a smarter and more agile approach to tackling these groups and the money that is laundered back into legitimate society.
There are only three avenues through which a drug gets from the manufacturing source to the consumer: the drug is manufactured, the drug is transported, the drug is consumed. Addressing all three will not solve the problem as well as completely solving one of the problems. From the perspective of the US, the problem is consumption. The US only needs to solve why people become addicts or provide a legal avenue through controlled distribution of safe, well manufactured drugs. Then the issue of transportation and production from illicit sources goes away. Trying to stop production simply will not happen. The methods of production are too simple with a low cost to begin production and too decentralized. Solving the porous border issue is problematic as there is just way too much border and the drug is too small. Consumption is the issue that is completely in the control of resources in the US. Consumption is a social and disease pathology issue and can be addressed socially by improving the social conditions that lead to addiction, providing therapy for those wanting to treat their addiction and provide safe, clean, narcotics prescribed by professionals with instructions for how to administer, safely. Drug addicts that can purchase clean drugs are far more functional than drugs addicts living on the streets, stealing and poisoning themselves. The poor efforts at decriminalizing drugs to a free market that is not regulated is not what I am suggesting as has been tried in Portugal and several areas of the US. I treated many people who were addicted to oxycontin who were functioning executives, religious leaders, laborers, etc-so long as they got a prescription of a safe drug, they functioned. When they wanted to stop, they had access to resources for that. What went wrong was people became addicted to a narcotic by their uneducated (or, completely mislead) doctors and then doctors were not allowed to continue prescribing the medication (which, according to most research, shouldn’t have been prescribed in the first place) resulting in people having to find illegal sources. The problem is completely mismanaged on all levels and the moral attitude of “just say no” or that addicts are just “weak” play no role in a solution.
Great comments Herbert!
@herbert silver Thank you for the cogent and knowledgeable insights.