By Lucy Adautin
Claudia Sheinbaum took office as Mexico’s first female president on Tuesday, following in the footsteps of her mentor, the leftist populist Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
“It is time for change, and it is time for women,” said Sheinbaum in Mexico City after her swearing-in ceremony.
At 62, she expressed gratitude to her charismatic predecessor, whose widespread popularity contributed to her decisive win in the June election.
“It was an honour to fight with you,” she told López Obrador.
Several high-ranking diplomats and representatives attended the event, such as Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, and Jill Biden, the First Lady of the United States.
Sheinbaum, who is Mexico’s first president of Jewish descent, intends to carry forward López Obrador’s policies, including his social spending initiatives and the expansion of the railway network, while also focusing on her own agenda.
Her immediate priority, however, is addressing a natural disaster. She is scheduled to visit Acapulco in the southern state of Guerrero on Wednesday, where Hurricane John has claimed numerous lives and left vast areas submerged in water.
Other significant issues facing the new administration include the country’s powerful drug cartels, and tensions over migration and trade with the United States, Mexico’s northern neighbour.
Sheinbaum, a former physicist and climate scientist, enjoys the support of López Obrador’s Morena party, which holds a majority in both chambers of the Mexican Congress.
Before her presidency, she served as the mayor of Mexico City and contributed to two reports for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations body responsible for evaluating environmental science on climate change.
