MEXICO CITY (AP) — Claudia Sheinbaum, who is running to replace outgoing President Andres Manuel López Obrador, has struggled to build an image of herself, with many saying she is an extraordinary I wonder if I can escape the shadow of the great incumbent.
The former Mexico City mayor and front-runner in the June 2 presidential election must undoubtedly adopt the policies of the Morena party, founded and controlled by the popular López Obrador. did not become. But some parts of her history suggest a different vision for her presidency.
If Sheinbaum wins against opposition candidate Xochitl Gálvez and Jorge Álvarez Maínez of the small Civic Movement party on June 2, he could be more “leftist” than López Obrador. .
She comes from a stronger left-wing tradition older than López Obrador's nationalist, populist movement.
Her parents were leading activists in the 1968 Mexican Student Democratic Movement, which led to the government massacre of hundreds of student demonstrators in Plaza Tlatelolco in Mexico City, days before the opening of the Olympics that year. It came to a tragic end.
“She went to the same school that the '68 kids' went to. It was an active learning school run by Spanish Republican exiles, and it was a free-thinking school,” says Scheinbaum, who has known her since the mid-1980s. Antonio Santos recalls. Both were leaders of the left-wing university student movement.
One of the first scenes in the documentary film about Ms. Sheinbaum (produced by one of her two children) is about the “folk style” that was popular among leftists in the late 1960s and 1970s. The video shows her in her early teens playing a mandolin-like instrument in a music group.
Sheinbaum is sensitive to those who question her credentials as a progressive.
Clara Jusidoman, a longtime human rights activist, tried to give Sheinbaum a presentation about eight years ago when she was president of an autonomous region south of Mexico City.
“She responded to me like, 'What, you think I haven't read anything?'” Do you think I come from a place where I don't have human rights? ’ Something like that is a very, very ugly answer,” Jusidman recalls.
Analysts say things like, “Who do you think you're talking to?” The response reflects a “respected old leftist families” attitude common to Lopez Obrador's Morena party, where a few favored clans get top jobs based on how long they've supported the president or their family history.
Sheinbaum's challenge was to carve out an image for himself without stepping out of the long shadow of Lopez Obrador, a legendary campaigner known for his fiery speeches and infectious, down-to-earth charisma.
Things were tough for the former academic, who earned a graduate degree from Berkeley.
All her campaign has come up with so far is one graphic image (her trademark straightened ponytail, in profile) and a few slogans, the straightforward “Es Claudia (It's Claudia)” and the somewhat catchier “Es Tiempo de Mujeres” (It's the era of women), a reference to the fact that Mexico will have its first female president in June, whether she wins or opposition candidate Xocitr Gálvez wins.
But how far can she remain an independent woman? López Obrador has built a powerful movement around her own power and her nostalgia for state-run oil, railroads and subsidy systems.
Sheinbaum had to fully embrace these programs. But she is an expert in energy engineering, and she wants to see an increase in renewable power. As a former academic, she would likely want the outgoing president to focus more on science-based solutions rather than relying on folk knowledge and tradition.
She seems to want President López Obrador to do more for the police, rather than relying almost entirely on the military. She wants to fight against the still high levels of violence against women. She says she wants to use digital technology to solve outdated problems like Mexico's low tax collection.
But Mr. Sheinbaum relies entirely on Mr. López Obrador's supporters and is careful about how he presents his new proposals to avoid appearing to contradict or criticize him. care must be taken. This is a delicate balancing act.
It's no wonder that the 61-year-old Sheinbaum has a somewhat aloof, dismissive demeanor. In her interviews she often just says that she doesn't want to talk about some topics.
“She has a solid background as an academic, so she is a woman whose data and information guide her,” said Santos, who worked with her in the Mexico City government and is now working on her campaign.
“If you go to a[cabinet]meeting to propose something, and you don't have data to back it up, she'll just say, 'Come back later when you have more solid information.'” Santos said.
At a campaign rally on May 16, Mr. Sheinbaum showed up in a Chevrolet Aveo economy car with little security, kissing babies, shaking hands and taking selfies with supporters. He behaved modestly but properly.
Her smile, which she rarely showed when she was mayor of Mexico, sometimes becomes a little awkward during election campaigns. Although she mentions López Obrador more than a dozen times in most of her speeches, she does not stir up her crowd like the outgoing president.
And after Mr. López Obrador significantly expanded government programs and construction projects, Mr. Sheinbaum is left with a deficit and no room to commit to more. The only thing she can do is toy with the idea of lowering her eligibility for the extra $175 per month from age 65 to age 64 or age 63.
At a campaign rally, housewife Rosa Maria Estrella, 62, said that was enough: “We want it too!”
Single mother Monica Olmo hugged her 1-year-old daughter and didn't doubt for a second when asked why she and others supported Sheinbaum.
“Those are government support programs,” she said, citing scholarships for schoolchildren, supplemental pensions and training programs for young people.
To be fair, Scheinbaum has shown rare defiant behavior toward Lopez Obrador: While serving as Mexico's mayor during the coronavirus pandemic in 2021, Scheinbaum clearly wanted to declare stricter lockdowns to slow infection rates, but Lopez Obrador angrily opposed it, saying he didn't want to hurt the economy.
While Scheinbaum made a point of wearing a mask, Lopez Obrador rarely wore one, instead relying on religious amulets for protection.
The city, like the country, has a red-orange-yellow-green traffic light system, and Mr. Sheinbaum wanted to move to “red” as the number of infected people increases. During her television appearances, she bowed to her boss and kept her signal at “orange, alert,” although she wore a bright red dress when she announced it. I did.
Balancing López Obrador's ideas with her own is often a torturous act. The outgoing president created the paramilitary National Guard, made it the primary law enforcement agency, and slashed federal funding for police.
Scheinbaum now wants the National Guard to “get closer to the people and act more like local police and really be first responders.”
Mr. Sheinbaum as president may be more conciliatory and less insulting than Mr. López Obrador, who has spent much of his six years in office insulting his opponents and settling long-standing grudges. Almost every day, the outgoing president rails against reporters, the middle class, businessmen, social climbers, and individualists.
“Obviously, there will be a process of reconciliation after the election,” Sheinbaum said in February.
