Mexico's leading presidential candidates repeatedly touted outgoing President Andres Manuel López Obrador's social plans and spoke out against the state in the second debate Sunday night ahead of the June 2 election. He walked a fine line between supporting oil companies and pledging a transition to clean energy.
Former Mexican mayor Claudia Sheinbaum of the president's Morena party continues to lead the opposition coalition's Xocitl Gálvez and Jorge Álvarez Maínez of the Small Citizens' Movement party.
President López Obrador has significantly increased Mexico's minimum wage and increased spending on social programs, most of which are general direct cash transfer programs. Sheinbaum has benefited from the leadership's popularity throughout the campaign and has vowed to continue the program.
She was committed to continuing the model of government he started as “a humanist, honest model, one that provides better pay and better pensions without raising taxes, and is a protector of our wealth.”
Even Ms. Galvez, Mr. Sheinbaum's most likely rival, emphasized that if elected, she too would preserve the popular but expensive program. The former senator and technology entrepreneur reminded her constituents that she knew of poverty from an early age and was able to make her progress thanks to her scholarship.
“I'm a woman from the bottom, I know poverty, I know how painful it is and the time it takes from you,” Galvez said.
Former congressman Álvarez Maínez promoted his efforts to reduce the work week for Mexicans from six to five days, create parental leave and increase vacation time. He said that despite the current government's social spending, young children receive only a fraction of what they should because they “don't vote”.
Regarding the environment and climate change, Sheinbaum, a climate scientist, points to his efforts as mayor, including installing solar panels on the roof of Mexico City's vast wholesale market and adding electric buses and bike lanes. did.
As president, he said he would work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help Mexico adapt to climate change. But she also defended President López Obrador's construction of a huge new refinery, saying it would help cut Mexico's gasoline imports. She warned that Mr. Galvez would seek to privatize the heavily indebted state oil company known as Pemex.
Gálvez said the private sector will be important in Mexico's transition to clean energy. He added that Mexico is losing opportunities for foreign investment because foreign companies need access to clean electricity produced from renewable energy. She promised to make Pemex an efficient company, something that successive party governments had failed to do.
Álvarez Mines said Mexico remains overly dependent on fossil fuels and the country's future lies in wind and solar power. He promised to install solar panels in all schools and health centers.
Galvez was once again the aggressor in the discussion, repeatedly trying to paint Sheinbaum as untrustworthy. This time, she held up various signs while Sheinbaum spoke, calling her a liar. Sheinbaum, in turn, began calling Galvez “corrupt.”
All three candidates said major changes were needed to address Mexico's freshwater supply, which has been hit hard by a prolonged drought that has hit much of the country hard. Their plan combined the need to reuse water, which is mostly used for irrigation, with improvements to the infrastructure of the water system.
