La Presidenta's First Year
Also in this edition: Martial law reported in Chicago. Remittances in Mexico: Five months of decline. Stiglitz: What determines the success of democracy. Natalia Toledo: The poem and the braid.
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The Great Escape
The fundamental achievement of the Mexican Fourth Transformation (4T) is that the country is escaping from the neoliberal era, with the state reclaiming its role as the “guiding force of the economy.” That was, in essence, the message delivered by President Claudia Sheinbaum during her speech before an audience of around 400,000 people who gathered in the Zócalo this past Sunday to mark her first year in office. She did so at a time when an overwhelming majority of the country—over 70 percent—approves of her administration. Sheinbaum emphasized that the top priority is to pursue policies rooted in social justice, focused on major challenges such as poverty, inequality, and respect for fundamental rights and freedoms. In other words, the market is no longer king, and impunity no longer rules.
But this doesn’t mean a break with national or foreign business interests. The private sector remains a key partner and major beneficiary of projects promoted or supported by the government’s economic policies, which also aim to deepen and expand free trade agreements like the USMCA. Business magnate Carlos Slim is now seen as a savior of Pemex, and other business leaders have praised the government’s economic management.
Fewer people in poverty, more trains, less violent crime, increased investment in high technology, and progress on constitutional reforms were among the key accomplishments highlighted by the President in her first-year report. She also made it clear that, despite all the speculation, there is no rift—nor will there be one—with Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The list of achievements in the fight against poverty includes lifting 13.5 million people out of that economic condition, raising the minimum wage by 135 percent, reducing inequality by nearly 50 percent, and expanding welfare support programs for vulnerable sectors.
“In the past 12 months, we’ve reduced intentional homicides by 32 percent,” she stated. But much remains pending: for instance, after 11 years, still no one knows what happened to the 43 missing Ayotzinapa students, and the official number of disappeared persons has risen to 133,000.
During the ceremony marking the 204th anniversary of the Mexican Navy, the President declared, “True courage is rejecting corruption and being an example to one’s family, colleagues, and the entire nation.” She made this statement in the context of a vice admiral and others facing prosecution over fuel theft (known as huachicol).
For the government, managing the private sector in a way that benefits the population and aligns with the priorities of the Fourth Transformation remains one of the toughest challenges. To attract foreign investors and reassure the business community, the President has cut spending and reduced the budget deficit, and she has insisted that there will be no push for tax reforms—while also asserting that the wealthy must pay the taxes they owe.
In the face of pressure from its northern neighbor and a global economic downturn impacting the country, Mexican workers are bearing the consequences. “Mexico’s labor market showed signs of weakness in August 2025, with a loss of 1,302,773 jobs compared to July, affected by a drop in informal employment and sluggish growth in the formal sector,” reported the National Statistics and Geography Institute.
The Quote:
The world needs a lot more young angry women.
-Greta Thunberg, in response to Trump mocking her as “an angry little girl.”
In Case You Missed It
◻️ Denouncing a state of siege in Chicago. “We are living through one of the most dangerous chapters in our country’s history,” declared Congressman Jesus “Chuy” García in the week that the federal government deployed federal troops in the third-largest city in the United States. “Chicago will not be intimidated. Illinois will not be silenced… Today we declare that the attempt to be a dictator will not succeed, that democracy will not die under our watch, and that the power of the people will overcome any head of government.” ▶️ VIDEO
◻️ Donald Trump and the chaos. El Pulso de La Jornada addresses the question: What are the implications of Donald Trump’s agenda for Mexico, the United States, and the world? On Channel 14’s newscast, David Brooks discusses the political situation in the United States and its implications for Mexico.
◻️ What democracy’s success depends on, according to Joseph E. Stiglitz. In these dark times, the group Democracy Always is a ray of hope. The member countries are committed to defending democracy and the rule of law, setting an example for the timid—those who have been cowed by Trump’s bluster, writes the Nobel Prize-winning economist.
◻️ What happened on October 7, 2023? According to La Jornada, the events of October 7, 2023, are undoubtedly “abominable and condemnable”, but “the obvious and undeniable fact is that this confrontation was used as a trigger for a much broader and more massive massacre.” Before the UN, Ambassador Héctor Vasconcelos insisted that the situation in Gaza is “intolerable.” Blanche Petrich reports on the six Mexicans who participated in the humanitarian flotilla aiming to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
◻️ Four billion cubic meters. This is the amount of water that Mexico has “de-privatized,” equivalent to four times what Mexico City consumes. The National Water Commission is putting water concessions in order, but the most important thing, write Víctor M. Quintana S. and Martín Solís B., is how to face the unavoidable challenges for new water legislation in the coming months.
◻️ University challenges. “Endogamy and colonization” in Mexican academia do not contribute to national development. “Instead of opening spaces for talent, innovation, and creativity, institutions have chosen to stifle competition, reward obedience, and rely on intellectual colonialism. The result is an academic system that reproduces mediocrity,” argues José Romero, director of the research institute CIDE. Meanwhile, at the country’s top university, the murder of a student has created a tragedy that the UNAM rector, in an interview with La Jornada, says marks “a before and after” moment, and security measures must be evaluated. But Imanol Ordorika argues that a response must recognize “the importance of rebuilding coexistence and solidarity, dialogue and debate, participation and organization. Only then can we face the violence around us without resorting to coercive control measures.”
◻️ The poem and the braid. “For me, poetry is like el totopo, like the warm air of Juchitán, like the mud on my feet after the rain. It’s sitting down again with everything I have loved and that now lives on the back of time,” said Natalia Toledo upon receiving the Bellas Artes Medal for Literature in Indigenous Languages, an honor recognizing her work, her commitment to the Zapotec language, and the guiding of new generations.
◻️ Remittances: five months of decline. Money transfers from Mexicans abroad, mainly in the United States, to their home country have decreased for five consecutive months. In 360,000 Mexican households, remittances account for more than half of current income. “For these households, a disruption in remittance flow would have severe consequences on their economies,” warns BBVA.
◻️ Robert Capa and the brutality of wars. A retrospective of 250 photographs by Robert Capa in Spain takes on special significance at a time when 60 conflicts are ongoing worldwide, the worst being the genocide in Gaza.
