First Woman Mexican President!
Mexico City, Oct 1 (EFE).- By Alfonso Fernandez
Mexico’s new President Claudia Sheinbaum made history Tuesday by becoming the country’s first woman to hold the post, vowing to continue the work of her predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador while speaking of her six-year term’s priorities.
“Friends, today begins the second floor of the fourth transformation of public life in Mexico,” Sheinbaum said in the Zocalo of Mexico City in reference to Lopez Obrador’s political movement.
Mexico’s first female president held a massive event in the country’s largest public square, where she read her 100 points of government, after receiving the presidential sash from Lopez Obrador in parliament’s lower house.
Sheinbaum said her government will respect freedoms and denied that there would be a “militarization” of public security and a return to the war on drugs, which, she said was started by former President Felipe Calderon.
“I tell you: in our government we will guarantee all freedoms, freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of mobilization. Freedom is a democratic principle and we are democrats, human rights will be respected and we will never use the force of the state to repress the people,” she said.
She also proposed promoting gender equality policies, reinforcing the increase in the minimum wage, reducing the work day to 40 hours and the commitment to renewable energy in the country.
The day was marked by the transfer of power from Lopez Obrador with constant references to the outgoing president; and a flood of crowds after the official lunch and reception at the National Palace with the nearly twenty leaders, most of them Latin American, who attended the ceremony.
Among the guests at the event were multiple presidents. Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Chile’s Gabriel Boric, Colombia’s Gustavo Petro, Cuba’s Miguel Díaz-Canel, Honduras’ Xioamara Castro, the Dominican Republic’s Luis Abinader and Guatemala’s Bernardo Arevalo, as well as United States First Lady Jill Biden.
In the afternoon, Sheinbaum received the traditional baton of command from the 70 indigenous peoples and the Afro-Mexican community, where their representatives performed a cleansing – an indigenous purification ritual – for the new president.
Indigenous peoples representatives Ernestina Ortiz Pena pointed to Sheinbaum as the hope and voice of their community.
“You are the voice of those who did not have a voice for a long time, you are the voice of our people, with dignity you are the voice of hope that we had, indigenous women are celebrating,” she said.
Being the first woman to lead Mexico after 200 years of the republic and 500 years since the Spanish conquest, was one of the most notable elements among her supporters.
“I am happy, happy because many times we say if one comes, we all come, it is an inspiration for all of us as women, we are confident that there will be more programs, more recognition of our rights, that there will be someone who supports us,” said Magda Moran, one of the thousands of supporters gathered to listen to Sheinbaum’s speech.
The president announced the agenda for her first official day of work: an early morning press conference following the lead of Lopez Obrador’s “morning” press conferences and a trip to Acapulco to supervise the situation after the onslaught of Hurricane John, which has killed about 20. EFE
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