Ricardo Pascoe Pierce
Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s presence was palpable in the plaza. The microphone was hers; the line was his. What was not mentioned was his casus belli; she emphasized her own achievements, albeit limited. The question in the air was: Does the report explain López Obrador’s seventh year or Sheinbaum’s first year? Sheinbaum referred to López Obrador as if he were the president. She herself, intentionally or unconsciously, propagated the idea of López Obrador’s presence as the factotum of power and government. She even accused those who question her subordination to López Obrador of wanting to destroy the movement.
She glorified all the legislative achievements of the Congress of the Union. She didn’t need to say “it was the former president’s legislative agenda.” It was known that everything was part of the previous six-year term’s project. That would have meant confessing to submissive continuity, which is neither politically possible nor feasible. A female leader cannot acknowledge, especially publicly, that she is dedicated to continuing a man’s political ideal. Of course, the outstanding achievement, once again, is the social programs promoted by López Obrador and continued by Sheinbaum. Their political power explains this: these programs are the electoral instrument par excellence. They are the foundation of Morena’s strength and continuity in power at the federal, state, and municipal levels. That money represents continuity in power. However, it detracts from the other social services that citizens should receive, such as timely healthcare and medicines, as well as quality and modern education. This is because there is insufficient tax revenue to meet all the social demands of citizens.
She reiterated that those who “steal” (sic) from the people must pay. It is a euphemistic and deliberately vague phrase, because it evades what lies at the heart of the crisis facing her government and her movement. Namely, that the close relationship between drug trafficking and Morena’s political leaders has been proven, and she did not touch on that.
Instead, she used the change in the Amparo Law to say that it will serve to prevent influential figures from evading tax payments. It was obviously a reference to her favorite target of hatred: businessman (now turned influential figure) Ricardo Salinas Pliego. And it was obviously NOT a reference, for example, to her party comrade, Adán Augusto López, who was forced to confess that he had not paid his taxes correctly. It’s all in the wording: one is a tycoon and the other is a party comrade. The idea was to get everyone to look in another direction, away from Morena.
She declared López Obrador “an honest and committed man.” In saying this, she distanced all Morenistas from any act of corruption and implicitly left the ball of corruption in the court of “the tycoons.” In other words, far from her party and movement.
She praised the security policy, suggesting that it was a continuation of López Obrador’s “hugs, not bullets” security policy. She almost declared the defeat of drug trafficking, in an euphoria that was overwhelming and detached from reality. It was, in fact, a message to Trump. And to see if the Americans, naive as they are, would swallow the story of a change in strategy and the retreat of the cartel terrorists. It was not the president’s intention for Mexicans to believe this story of drug trafficking in retreat, when the reality of any family with its eyes wide open knows that the opposite is true. Drug trafficking, involved in fuel theft, is the government’s preferred partner.
After listening to President Sheinbaum’s speech, which was full of references to López Obrador and a staunch defense of his government, it is easy to conclude that we are in López Obrador’s seventh year, and Sheinbaum’s first year has yet to begin.
All of this casts a large cloud of uncertainty over Sheinbaum’s administration. Who is really in charge, and where do they want to take us? The report not only failed to address this uncertainty but also deepened it.
@rpascoep
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