President Claudia Sheinbaum fielded questions about a range of issues at her Tuesday morning press conference, including one on people’s perceptions of the Mexican military and another on a claim in a newspaper column that her security minister was targeted in a recent armed attack. 

Here is a recap of the president’s Oct. 28 mañanera.

Sheinbaum: ‘The people trust the armed forces of Mexico’

A reporter noted that the latest National Urban Public Security Survey (ENSU) found that more than 80% of respondents have a positive perception of the Mexican Army, Navy and Air Force. 

Asked about the reasons for their high standing, Sheinbaum said that one significant factor is the work the armed forces carry out “at the time of natural disasters,” including this month when flooding affected several states.   

“The acclaim, the affection, the recognition of the people” when the navy or army arrives to attend to the aftermath of a natural disaster is “very big,” she said. 

“And, in addition, their dedication, as I have said, is enormous,” Sheinbaum said. 

The president asserted that “the people trust the armed forces of Mexico.”

“And that is very important,” she said, adding that the same can’t be said about the military of every other country in the world.  

Sheinbaum rejected the “idea” that Mexico has been militarized, an argument that has been made for a variety of reasons, including the government’s reliance on the armed forces for public security tasks, the approval of legislation that placed the National Guard under army control and the decision to give the military control of airports and customs. 

Although the latest ENSU results show that the Mexican Army and Navy are widely trusted, the institutions are certainly not beyond reproach. Members of both the army and the navy have faced criticism and criminal allegations in recent years, including in cases involving extrajudicial killings and alleged fuel smuggling-related corruption.   

Sheinbaum describes claim that security minister was targeted in recent attack as ‘fiction’

A reporter noted that journalist and columnist Raymundo Riva Palacios claimed in a column published in the newspaper El Financiero on Monday that federal Security Minister Omar García Harfuch was targeted in an armed attack allegedly perpetrated on Sept. 14. 

He noted that García Harfuch denied that an attack targeting him had been carried out, and asked the president her “opinion about the lack of ethics, professionalism and seriousness that permeate corporate media outlets and these kinds of journalists.” 

Sheinbaum first noted that the security minister had “clarified” the situation, before saying that “we’re going to put a name” to the kind of journalism the reporter described. 

“What will it be? The commentators’ fiction novel [or] fictional short story because it doesn’t reach the level of a novel,” she said. 

“The commentators’ fiction,” Sheinbaum added.  

In his column on Monday, Riva Palacios wrote that an armed attack on a house in the Mexico City neighborhood of Polanco where García Harfuch “usually works every day” was unsuccessful because the security minister wasn’t there at the time it was carried out. 

Citing sources “very close” to García Harfuch, Riva Palacios said that “several shots were fired, some of them directly to the terrace, where … [the security minister] usually is.”

García Harfuch was wounded in a 2020 attack in Mexico City that claimed the lives of three people.  

By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)