Mexico’s First Female President Faces Persistent Challenges: Drug Cartels, Border Issues, Repairing Relations With US
Claudia Sheinbaum, a Nobel Prize-winning climate scientist was elected Mexico’s first female president by an overwhelming majority. She has pledged to continue the work of her mentor and outgoing leader, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO).
In 2018, Sheinbaum became the first female mayor of Mexico City, a position she held until 2023 when she resigned to run for president.
Sheinbaum secured between 58.3% and 60.7% of the vote, marking the highest level of support for a presidential candidate in Mexico since the end of one-party rule in 2000.
As she prepares to take office, Sheinbaum faces significant challenges, including dealing with powerful drug cartels and navigating a tense relationship with the United States, where some GOP politicians, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have proposed military intervention in Mexico as part of their own electoral campaigns.
Negotiations with the U.S. will be critical, particularly regarding the large numbers of migrants crossing …