MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Leftist Sheinbaum sworn in as Mexico's first female president

The new head of state has a PhD in energy engineering and considers herself a strong believer in science

The 62-year-old Claudia Sheinbaum became Mexico's first-ever woman president Tuesday after being sworn in on Tuesday. The former Mexico City Mayor thus succeeds her leftwing MoReNa (Movimiento de Regeneración Nacional) mentor Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has announced he would be retiring from politics.

Sheinbaum's June 2 electoral victory by a wide 30-point lead came 70 years after women won the right to vote in Mexico. But since she defeated Xochitl Gálvez, it was all a matter of names because a woman president after AMLO was already inevitable.

The new head of state has a PhD in energy engineering and considers herself a strong believer in science, which showed during the Covid-19 pandemic with strong social distancing and testing measures in the country's capital.

She stems from a less populist left tradition than AMLO. Colombian President, a former M-19 guerrilla combatant himself, said Sheinbaun was fond of that movement and helped out exiled rebel fighters when they passed through Mexico. “A lot of Mexicans came to help us, and among them was Claudia,” Petro was quoted as saying.

Sheinbaum is also said to have belonged to various leftist youth groups during her university years. Her parents were leading activists in Mexico's 1968 student movement.

Regarding a controversial constitutional overhaul of Mexico's judiciary that will make all judges stand for election pushed by AMLO as one of his last acts of government, Sheinbaum said that “the reforms to the judicial system will not affect our commercial relations, nor private Mexican investments, nor foreign ones; rather the opposite, there will be a greater and better rule of law and democracy for everyone.”

The new president also supported López Obrador's decision not to Spain's King Felipe VI to her inauguration for failing to apologize for the historic colonization years.

In addition to Petro, Tuesday's ceremony was attended by Presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Gabriel Boric of Chile, Miguel Díaz-Canel of Cuba, Xiomara Castro of Honduras, Santiago Peña of Paraguay, Bernardo Arévalo of Guatemala, and Luis Abinader of the Dominican Republic, as well as the Prime Ministers of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, Bucharaya Hamudi Beyun, and of Belize, John Briceño.

Other leading guests included the presiding advisor of Haiti's Presidential Transitional Council, Régine Abraham; the vice-chair of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, Tie Ning; the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell; and the executive director of the United Nations Population Fund, Natalia Kanem.

The United States delegation was headed by First Lady Jill Biden, who brought a message from President Joseph Biden reading: “Mexico and the United States are strong partners and close neighbors and we share deep political, economic, and cultural ties. The United States is committed to continuing to work with Mexico to deliver the democratic, prosperous, and secure future that the people of our two countries deserve.”

AMLO will retire from political life at a remote estate in his native Tabasco. During a Sept. 30 retirement dinner, he announced that “I am leaving very happy because I will hand over the presidential sash to an exceptional woman, to a humanist, a woman full of love, humility, and good feelings.”