Claudia Sheinbaum takes office as Mexico’s first female president

Following the fervor around her predecessor’s social projects, Claudia Sheinbaum took office on Tuesday as Mexico’s first female president. However, she also faced obstacles, such as persistently high levels of crime.

Sheinbaum claimed in her inauguration speech that she was elected on behalf of all the women who had toiled in secret to gain their place in Mexico, including «those who dreamed of the possibility that one day no matter if we were born as women or men we would achieve our dreams and desires without our sex determining our destiny.»

She listed numerous pledges to support business investment, housing, and passenger rail construction, as well as to cap the prices of food and gasoline. The only reference to the drug cartels, which dominate much of the nation, was brief and came near the end of the list.

With the exception of promising more information and investigation, Sheinbaum presented no departure from former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s «Hugs not Bullets» approach, which focused on treating the problem rather than going after the cartels. «The reckless drug war will never return,» she declared.

She made one hundred promises during an afternoon address in the capital’s iconic Zocalo plaza. These included creating one million new houses, boosting public healthcare and education, putting a price ceiling on essential items, and sending Congress a package of changes to combat discrimination and female violence.

Sheinbaum said that she will present the package on Thursday. She added that it will contain suggested constitutional amendments that aim to lessen impunity and safeguard women in a country with among of the highest rates of femicide worldwide.