Sheinbaum Vows to Continue AMLO Legacy as She Takes Over Mexico

(Bloomberg) -- Claudia Sheinbaum was sworn in as Mexico’s first female president Tuesday, promising to safeguard foreign investment as she builds on the legacy of a popular predecessor who wasn’t always friendly to business interests.

Sheinbaum took over for outgoing leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and pledged to continue her partymate and political mentor’s efforts to improve the lives of Mexico’s poorest people as she delivered her inaugural address in congress.

“I am a mother, grandmother, scientist and a woman of faith, and as of today, by the will of the people of Mexico, the constitutional president of the United Mexican States,” Sheinbaum said. “I will not let you down. I call on you to continue making history.”

Sheinbaum, a former Mexico City mayor and member of Lopez Obrador’s Morena party, won the most votes in Mexican presidential history on her way to a dominant win in June’s election. 

Along with the broad support she inherited in part from the popular Lopez Obrador, she will govern with large majorities in Mexico’s congress after Morena’s coalition won two-thirds control of the lower house and fell just shy of that mark in the Senate. 

In the speech, she reiterated the main proposals she presented on the campaign trail, pledging to improve upon Lopez Obrador’s welfare programs with scholarships for students of all levels, boost the health system and give cash transfers to women who don’t yet qualify for pensions. 

Sheinbaum also promised that private foreign and domestic investments in Mexico will be safe during her government, stressing that it was not just the poor who benefited under Lopez Obrador, but also the business sector. She vowed to continue the fiscal austerity that typified her predecessor’s administration before he sharply increased spending during his final year in office.

Supporters greeted Sheinbaum and AMLO, as the outgoing president is known, with hugs and calls for photos as they arrived to congress in modest cars that they have used to symbolize their distance from corruption and luxuries of previous governments.

Congressional Power

Sheinbaum’s allies in congress have already begun to use their majorities to approve sweeping constitutional changes, including a controversial overhaul of the Mexican judiciary that will require the election of all federal judges and members of the Supreme Court.

The plan has sparked concerns that it will erode checks on the ruling party’s power and pose risks to Mexico’s democracy. Sheinbaum pushed back on those claims, saying that it is meant only to provide more autonomy to the judiciary and guarantee the rule of law.

Still, hundreds of judicial reform workers marched down Mexico City’s Reforma Avenue as Sheinbaum spoke to protest the overhaul, while other protesters held signs at the congress.

The judicial reform is the largest of the many challenges AMLO left behind for his successor. It contributed to a sharp weakening of the Mexican peso in the wake of the election, while also generating strikes and criticism from the US — the country’s largest trading partner. Morena lawmakers are now pushing to pass other reforms AMLO sought, including a bill to prioritize state-owned energy companies over private firms. 

She will also inherit an economic slowdown that began in the final months of 2023. In August, the central bank cut its growth forecast for this year to 1.5% from 2.4% previously, with a further slowdown to 1.2% estimated for 2025. And AMLO is leaving her with Mexico’s largest fiscal deficit in nearly 40 years, along with sticky inflation that remains above the central bank’s target.

Sheinbaum has pledged to reduce the deficit to less than 3.5% of gross domestic product, an objective some analysts consider too ambitious given that it currently sits at 5.9%.

In the speech, Sheinbaum promised to carry out an energy transition to reduce greenhouse emissions, while capping oil production at state-owned driller Pemex at 1.8 million of barrels per day.

Sheinbaum also pledged to maintain positive working relations with the US and Canada, and said that economic cooperation will strengthen the three nations. 

At the end of her speech, Sheinbaum celebrated that for the first time a woman will hold Mexico’s top job, calling it a victory for those who had “dreamed of the possibility that one day it would not matter if we were born as women or men, and we could realize our dreams and desires without our gender being able to determine our destiny.”

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