She also announced that a former governor would take over the leadership of one of Mexico’s energy agencies.

Mexico could receive non-Mexican deportees, Sheinbaum says

Sheinbaum reiterated that Mexico “is not in favor” of the mass deportations United States President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to undertake during his second stint in the White House.

“But if they happen … we’re going to receive the Mexicans that arrive in our country, and we’re going to ask the United States to, as far as is possible, send migrants who aren’t from Mexico to their countries of origin. And if they can’t, we could collaborate through different mechanisms,” she said.

Sheinbaum said last month that Mexico has an agreement with the Biden administration under which the United States sends deportees “of many nationalities” on direct flights to their countries of origin. She said that her government hoped to reach a deal with the incoming Trump administration so that most non-Mexican deportees continue to be sent to their countries of origin.

If Mexico were to agree to receive non-Mexican deportees, the federal government could limit acceptance “to certain nationalities or request compensation from the U.S. to move the deportees from Mexico to their home countries,” The Associated Press reported.

AP noted that “Mexico, like any other country, is not obligated to accept non-Mexican migrants, but it has agreed to do so in the recent past, especially from countries like Cuba and Venezuela.”

Those countries, the news agency added, “often refuse deportation flights from the United States, but may accept them from Mexico.”

Sheinbaum said Friday “there will be a time to speak with the United States government if these [proposed] deportations really happen.”

“But we will receive … [deportees] here and we will receive them properly. We have a plan that I said yesterday we would present in due course,” she said.

Sheinbaum explains objective of new tariffs 

Asked about the new tariffs on products imported via e-commerce sites, Sheinbaum said they are aimed at individuals or companies purchasing large quantities of goods to sell in Mexico.

“There are these [online] platforms where one can request any product. One thing is the individual arrival [to Mexico] of one piece, but what we detected is that in reality [the e-commerce sites] were being used to bring [products into Mexico] and then sell them in Mexico,” she said.

“And that requires the payment of taxes,” Sheinbaum said, apparently also referring to a new rule requiring foreign e-commerce sites to pay Mexico’s value-added tax.

“One person, an individual, requesting a piece is not the same thing as [many] pieces being brought in to be sold, right?” Sheinbaum added.

She said that many Mexican small businesses have closed down due to reasons that include the entry of products from countries with which Mexico doesn’t have trade agreements, such as China. Some of those products enter Mexico to be sold “widely” after they were purchased on e-commerce sites (such as Temu and Shein), Sheinbaum said.

Disincentivizing that practice is the objective of the new tariffs, she said.

Former Veracruz governor joins federal government 

Sheinbaum announced that former Veracruz Governor Cuitláhuac García will take on the role of director of the National Center for Natural Gas Control (Cenagas).

García, who completed his six-year term as governor of Veracruz last November, will start in the position next Monday, the president said.

“Few people know that Cuitláhuac is a mechanical and electrical engineer who studied at the Veracruzana University. He’s a very good engineer,” Sheinbaum said.

“He was studying his doctorate abroad and in 2006, if I’m not mistaken, or 2012, he took the decision to leave the doctorate to come to fight for the transformation of Mexico,” she said of the former Morena party governor.

Sheinbaum described García as an “honest” man “with a lot of technical knowledge” about energy.

“He will help us coordinate all the work at Cenagas related to the production, use and distribution of natural gas,” she said.

By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)

The post Mexico could once again receive non-Mexican deportees from US, Sheinbaum suggests: Friday’s mañanera recapped appeared first on Mexico News Daily

They were among the topics President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke about at her first morning press conference of 2025, held at the National Palace this Thursday Jan. 2.

Sheinbaum predicts exchange rate will stabilize after Trump takes office 

Sheinbaum noted that the peso has depreciated against the US dollar since she was sworn in as president on Oct. 1.

“Among other things, it’s due to uncertainty in the United States and the changes in the [interest] rate of the Fed,” she said.

“We expect that once President Trump takes office, we’ll enter a period of stabilization,” Sheinbaum said.

The president presented data that showed that the peso depreciated less against the US dollar in the final three months of 2024 than several other currencies including the Japanese yen, the euro, the British pound and the Canadian dollar.

The data showed that the peso depreciated 5.8% against the greenback in the period, while the yen fell 9.5%, the euro declined 7.5%, the pound dropped 6.8% and the Canadian dollar dipped 6.3%.

“Look at the depreciation of other currencies so that you don’t say it’s a Mexico issue. It’s an international issue,” Sheinbaum said.

The peso is “among the currencies that had the lowest depreciation,” she added.

The Bank of Mexico’s closing USD:MXN rate on Thursday was just under 20.62.

Mexico ‘still the 12th largest economy in the world’

Sheinbaum also presented 2023 World Bank data that showed that Mexico was the 12th largest economy in the world, behind the United States, China, Germany, Japan, India, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Brazil, Canada and Russia.

“We’re still the 12th largest economy in the world, … above Spain, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Netherlands, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Switzerland,” she said, mentioning the countries ranked 13th to 20th based on the size of their economy.

The data Sheinbaum presented showed that Mexico had a GDP of US $1.789 trillion in 2023, equivalent to 1.7% of global GDP.

Plan to receive deportees during second Trump administration is ‘ready,’ says Sheinbaum 

Asked about the progress that has been made in terms of preparing for the possible mass deportation of Mexicans from the United States during Donald Trump’s second term as U.S. president, Sheinbaum said that the government already has a “very elaborate plan.”

“… We already have it ready,” she stressed, adding that the government is waiting to see what happens vis-à-vis deportations before presenting the plan.

“But everything is prepared,” Sheinbaum said, adding that states all over the country will have a role in the plan’s execution.

The government is not just working with the border states but with entities all over the republic, she said.

“If a compatriot arrives to Mexico at the border, it’s very probable that he or she will want to go to their place of origin,” she said.

Government seeks to debunk NYT fentanyl report 

Three days after Sheinbaum declared that a New York Times report about fentanyl production in Sinaloa “is not very credible,” no fewer than three other government officials sought to explain why the report is not grounded in truth.

A central focus of the officials — the director of health agency IMSS-Bienestar, the director of health regulator Cofepris and a precursor chemicals specialist with the Mexican Navy — was the Times’ suggestion that fentanyl cooks could develop a tolerance to the synthetic opioid.

Referring to a conversation with two alleged fentanyl cooks at a Sinaloa Cartel lab in Culiacán, reporters for the Times, who said they wore “gas masks and hazmat suits” to the lab, wrote:

“While one sniff of the toxic chemicals could kill us, they explained, they had built up a tolerance to the lethal drug.”

Cofepris director Armida Zúñiga Estrada told reporters on Thursday that “there is no evidence of tolerance of this substance.”

Similarly, navy chemicals analyst Juana Peñaloza Ibarra said “there is no scientific evidence that supports the idea” that a person can build up a “tolerance to the lethal drug.”

For his part, IMSS-Bienestar director Alejandro Svarch Pérez said that if cooks shown in the Times’ report had really been producing fentanyl, they would have fallen down unconscious in 30 seconds due to “the vapors” emitted from “the synthesis of fentanyl.”

The cooks were wearing face masks but were not using any professional protective equipment.

To produce fentanyl, “a laboratory where the conditions of exposure can be controlled is required,” Svarch said, adding that “specialized equipment” and “professional ventilation systems” are also needed.

Fentanyl can’t be made in “a domestic kitchen, as the report shows,” he said.

“It is not possible to make fentanyl in the way referred to in the article,” Svarch added.

Sheinbaum said on Monday that fentanyl is not produced in the way the Times’ photographs demonstrate, and suggested that the cooks were actually making methamphetamine.

On Thursday she said that “if there was [such a thing as] tolerance to the lethal drug, there wouldn’t be the deaths due to fentanyl that there [currently] are in the United States.”

In pointing out alleged falsehoods in The New York Times report, Sheinbaum said that the government was “defending the right to information, to veracity” and committed her administration to “denouncing” inaccurate reporting in the future.

After the president questioned the credibility of the Times’ article earlier this week, the newspaper said it was “completely confident” in its reporting on fentanyl production in Mexico.

Sheinbaum’s rejection of the newspaper’s reporting continues a practice of her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who was an outspoken critic of the Mexican and international press during his presidency.

Whether the Times’ Dec. 29 report really shows fentanyl cooks in a fentanyl lab or not, the fact remains that large quantities of the synthetic opioid are made in Mexico (using precursor chemicals from China) and illegally shipped to the United States.

The Mexican government’s willingness and capacity (or lack thereof) to reduce the flow of fentanyl — and migrants — to the United States looks set to be a defining factor in the health of the Sheinbaum administration’s relationship with the U.S. government led by Trump. In November, the president-elect pledged to impose a 25% tariff on all Mexican and Canadian exports on the first day of his second term due to what he called the “long simmering problem” of drugs and migrants illegally entering the U.S. from the country’s southern and northern neighbors.

By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)

The post Sheinbaum disputes NYT fentanyl report: Thursday’s mañanera recapped appeared first on Mexico News Daily

At her mañanera, as the president’s weekday morning presser is colloquially known, Sheinbaum spoke about a range of things including a New York Times Mexico dispatch from a fentanyl lab in Culiacán and the ruling Morena party’s apparent media strategy in response to Donald Trump’s promise to designate Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations on his first day in office.

NYT report on fentanyl production in Sinaloa ‘not very credible,’ says Sheinbaum  

Sheinbaum noted that The New York Times published a report on Sunday about fentanyl production in Sinaloa.

“An article came out that is important to highlight, in which two reporters allegedly go into a fentanyl laboratory,” she said.

“We talked about it in the security cabinet [meeting] today,” Sheinbaum said of the report headlined “‘This is What Makes Us Rich’: Inside a Sinaloa Cartel Fentanyl Lab.”

The president subsequently asserted that the photographs accompanying The New York Times report don’t in fact show the production of fentanyl. She claimed that the photos (and video) actually show the production of methamphetamine.

“The production of methamphetamine is one thing and another very different thing is [the production of] fentanyl,” Sheinbaum said.

“… So [the report] is not very credible, let’s put it like that,” she said.

Fentanyl is not produced in the way the Times’ photographs demonstrate, Sheinbaum asserted.

“Fentanyl is produced in other ways,” she said, adding that either the Navy Ministry or health regulator Cofepris “could report on” the methods used to produce the synthetic opioid largely responsible for the drug overdose crisis in the United States.

“The photographs aren’t credible,” reiterated Sheinbaum, who declared that her government would “scientifically prove” the alleged inconsistencies between the Times’ reporting and photos.

On Monday afternoon, The New York Times said on social media that it was “completely confident” in its reporting on “the production and testing of fentanyl in Mexico.”

“Our reporters spent months investigating the fentanyl industry, quoted current and former Mexican officials on the record about the production and testing of fentanyl in the country, and documented a fentanyl lab in Sinaloa. We stand by the reporting fully,” the Times said.

The New York Times responds to criticisms about our reporting on fentanyl production in Mexico: pic.twitter.com/xW7fu0xNMu

— NYTimes Communications (@NYTimesPR) December 30, 2024

Earlier this month, Sheinbaum rejected a New York Times report stating that the Sinaloa Cartel had recruited chemistry students to make fentanyl. She suggested that the newspaper drew inspiration for the Dec. 1 report from the television series “Breaking Bad.”

Sheinbaum denies knowledge of Morena ‘media strategy’ in response to Trump’s pledge to designate Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations

A reporter noted that the El Universal newspaper published details of a document that was reportedly sent to all Morena senators last week.

According to El Universal, “the Morena bench in the Senate designed a media strategy to reject the policy announced by the President-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, to classify Mexican cartels as terrorist groups.”

El Universal reported that the document outlining the strategy said that “the designation of Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist groups would represent the imposition of policies contradictory to the social treatment [of problems of violence] in the quest for peace and justice.”

Among other things, the document also reportedly said that a U.S. designation of Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations “would weaken Mexico’s international image.”

In addition, it warned of possible “revolts and armed uprisings” in Mexico if the U.S. military were to carry out operations against Mexican cartels inside Mexican territory.

Asked whether she knew about “these alarmist positions of Morena in the Senate,” Sheinbaum responded that she did not.

“I don’t know who drew up the document, I don’t know it,” she said. “I don’t want to offer an opinion on a document that I don’t know.”

Sheinbaum stressed that she didn’t know whether a single senator or a group of Morena senators wrote the document. She also said she didn’t know the “motive” of the document.

“What is important,” Sheinbaum said, is that Donald Trump, during his first term as U.S. president, had a “very good” and respectful relationship with former Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

“And that’s why I trust that we’re going to have a good relationship of respect, of coordination, not of subordination,” she said.

Sheinbaum wishes Mexicans ‘a happy 2025’

Sheinbaum, who won’t hold morning press conferences on Tuesday or Wednesday, wished Mexicans “the best this new year” as well as “a happy 2025.”

She said that her government would conduct “an evaluation” of 2024 in Mexico in economic, social and political terms and report its findings at her press conference on Thursday.

Sheinbaum added that the Mexican people took two “transcendent” decisions when they went to the polls in June.

“The first is that [they voted for] the transformation to continue,” she said, referring to citizens’ strong support for the ruling Morena party and the so-called “fourth transformation” of Mexico initiated by López Obrador.

“… And, at the same time, they took the great decision for a woman to govern our country for the first time. This is part of the transformation, they go together, not apart,” Sheinbaum said.

By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)

The post Sheinbaum casts doubt on New York Times fentanyl report: Monday’s mañanera recapped appeared first on Mexico News Daily

It’s worth noting, however, that an additional 50% told Reforma that they opposed such an idea. But the results of Reforma’s poll have made headlines in Mexico and suggest that a significant number of Mexicans are dissatisfied enough with their own country’s performance in combatting cartel violence that they would consider outside help. 

When asked “What’s the best way the U.S. can help Mexico fight insecurity?” nearly two-thirds opted for “a collaborative scheme relying on joint operations,” while 24% chose “undercover operations by U.S. security agencies.”

To a third question — “How do you rate Mexico’s efforts to combat insecurity in your city?” — 47% responded “very bad,” 37% said “very good” and 12% conceded that the government’s security policy was “just OK.”

The Los Angeles Times newspaper reported Monday that many Mexicans lament U.S. intervention in security matters and blame the U.S. for advocating using Mexico’s military to fight drug cartels, a strategy that has produced shocking violence levels in Mexico.

However, the Times also said that many Mexicans have lost confidence in Mexican law enforcement and its suspected links to organized crime. Therefore, the paper said, Mexicans might welcome U.S. troops.

While President Claudia Sheinbaum insists that Trump’s comments weren’t an implied threat (“He never mentioned anything about an invasion. Not once,” she said on Monday, according to the newspaper La Jornada), her government is not taking Trump’s comments lightly.

“Designating cartels as terrorist organizations would be a strategic error with unpredictable consequences for both countries,” a senior official at the Mexican Embassy in the U.S. told the newspaper El País on Monday.

Former Mexican ambassador to the United States, Gerónimo Gutiérrez, also weighed in, saying any U.S. military action in Mexico “would set the relationship between the two countries back three decades.”

Some opposition politicians in Mexico, however, are of a different mind.

In early October, lawmakers from the conservative National Action Party (PAN) proposed Mexico designate cartels as terrorist organizations. 

Critics slammed the PAN at the time for “providing the United States with permission” to invade Mexico, though Pablo Girault Ruiz — a director of the NGO Mexico United Against Crime — soft-pedaled that notion.

“They aren’t going to ask permission,” Girault told the newspaper El Economista Monday. “If they decide cartels are terrorists and authority is granted to pursue them anywhere in the world, there’s not much we can do.”

“I would not be surprised to wake up one day to an American missile hitting a meth lab in Badiraguato (Sinaloa). It could happen,” academic and political columnist Carlos Pérez-Ricart told El Pais.

At her Monday press conference, Sheinbaum compared the PAN to the 19th-century Mexican conservatives who welcomed a Hapsburg monarch to rule Mexico — Maximilian I, installed by France in 1864 with conservatives’ help — and celebrated a French invasion.

“It’s the same today,” she said, labeling it an embarrassment. “How can someone celebrate another country invading Mexico?”

With reports from Los Angeles Times, El Economista, Radio Fórmula, El País and Rolling Stone

The post Poll: Mexicans divided regarding idea of US intervention against cartels appeared first on Mexico News Daily

Our subscriber-exclusive podcast takes a look at her achievements so far, and the long road ahead for Mexico’s first female president.

This podcast was produced using AI tools. All information collected and discussed in this episode was investigated, written and edited by human journalists. Compiled from a Mexico News Daily article by Travis Bembenek. Edited by Rose Eglhoff. Podcast produced by Chris Havler-Barrett. 

The post MND Deep Dive: A case study of President Sheinbaum appeared first on Mexico News Daily

She also told reporters that she won’t hold morning press conferences on Dec. 24 and 25.

New tariffs not aimed at China, Sheinbaum says 

Sheinbaum bluntly declared that the new tariffs on clothing and textiles announced by the federal government on Thursday are not specifically aimed at China, even though that appeared to be the case.

“Some media outlets are today interpreting [the imposition of the tariffs] as if it were a message to China. No,” she said.

When a reporter suggested that the aim of the tariffs was to please Donald Trump, Sheinbaum said that wasn’t a motivation for the protectionist measure either.

“It has to do with the protection of the national [textile] industry. It’s part of what we call Plan Mexico, which we’re going to present at the start of January,” she said.

“… There are a lot of family companies — they’re not even large companies — that have been working on the manufacture of products and creating their own brands for decades,” Sheinbaum said.

Many such businesses (whose products have to compete with cheap Asian imports) have shut down in recent years due to “the entry of products” from abroad, she said.

Sheinbaum noted that some textile products — as Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard explained on Thursday — are exempt from “certain” importation taxes on the proviso that they are used as inputs for final goods to be exported. However, “in reality” they are imported as final goods to be sold in Mexico, she said.

In light of the situation, the government announced Thursday that some textile products won’t be allowed to be imported at all.

Sheinbaum said that the sale in Mexico of textile products that were imported as inputs for products destined for export is “in reality a trick.”

“And who does it affect? All these family companies that provide a lot of employment,” she said.

“So what was done yesterday was to avoid this trick being used. If you look at it, it is in fact a form of corruption,” Sheinbaum said.

“… Asian products” are not specifically “the issue,” she said.

President asserts there was no ‘negotiation’ with PAN senator who voted in favor of judicial reform  

As the ruling Morena party and its allies are one vote short of a two-thirds supermajority in the Senate, they have to convince at least one opposition party senator to vote with them in order to approve constitutional reforms. In the case of the judicial reform, that senator was Miguel Ángel Yunes Márquez, who was accused of being a “traitor” at the time and was ultimately expelled from the National Action Party (PAN).

As Mexico News Daily reported when the Senate approved the controversial judicial reform in September, there was widespread speculation that Yunes Márquez and his father, former Veracruz governor Miguel Ángel Yunes Linares, reached a deal with Morena that would result in the withdrawal of criminal charges against the two men and Yunes Márquez’s brother Fernando.

Yunes Linares, who stood in as a “substitute senator” for his son the day before the judicial reform vote, also indicated he would vote in favor of the reform if presented with the opportunity.

On Friday, Sheinbaum said it was her understanding that supporting the judicial reform was a decision that Yunes Márquez and Yunes Linares reached on their own without any discussion with Morena.

“It has been said that it was to … remove investigation files [against them]. … It was their decision to vote in favor of the reform to the judicial power. There was no negotiation,” she said, also dismissing the suggestion that a deal involving the Yunes’ defection from PAN to Morena was reached.

Asked whether Yunes Márquez and his father could formally join Morena, Sheinbaum said that was a decision for the party’s leadership.

“I’m not going to get involved in that issue,” she said.

Project to complete CDMX-Toluca train line is ‘advancing,’ Sheinbaum says 

Sheinbaum noted that the final stretch of the Toluca-Mexico City passenger railroad is not yet complete, even though ex-president Andrés Manuel López Obrador said earlier this year that the section between the Santa Fe station and the Observatorio station would be finished by the end of the year.

“One part to get to Observatorio is missing,” she said, referring to the Mexico City terminus, where a subway station is also located.

“The project is advancing. At Observatorio the entire station has to be integrated with Line 1 of the Metro,” Sheinbaum said.

“We’re waiting for a bridge as well, it’s a suspension bridge that is being built before the entry to the fourth section of Chapultepec [Park], she said. “… They’re still working [on it].”

¡El Tren Insurgente es un sueño!

Imperdible el video del pequeño que presentó la presidenta @Claudiashein y se volvió viral al viajar en el @TrenInsurgente.

“Está muy bonito, puede volar. Siento que estoy en un sueño porque estoy en un tren que vuela”. pic.twitter.com/X2duieE5wd

— Michael Oviedo (@Mike_Oviedo) December 20, 2024

Sheinbaum didn’t say when the entire railroad — construction of which began a decade ago — would be finished. Trains are currently running between Zinacantepec, a municipality that adjoins Toluca, and Santa Fe on Mexico City’s west side. Much of the railroad is elevated.

Sheinbaum noted that she recently saw a “very cute video” on social media of a boy riding the train, known as El Insurgente.

In the video — which the president played near the end of her press conference — the boy declares that the train “can fly” and says that riding on it is “a dream.”

By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)

The post Sheinbaum denies textile tariffs are aimed at China: Friday’s mañanera recapped appeared first on Mexico News Daily

She also revealed that she would like to see a woman appointed to one of the world’s most important jobs.

High approval rating recognizes entire cabinet, says Sheinbaum

A reporter noted that the El País newspaper published the results of a poll that showed that Sheinbaum has a 76% approval rating 2 1/2 months into her six-year term.

The president declined to take complete credit for the high rating, stressing that while she is the leader of the government, its work is undertaken by a team of people.

“That is important,” she said. “If we didn’t have the cabinet we have, with colleagues who have a lot of experience, … we wouldn’t have the results we have now,” Sheinbaum said.

She noted that the poll also asked respondents to offer an opinion on various federal ministers. More than 70% of respondents had “very good” or “good” opinions of Security Minister Omar García Harfuch, Foreign Affairs Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente and Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard.

Four other ministers — Interior Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez, Education Minister Mario Delgado, Finance Minister Rogelio Ramírez de la O and Energy Minister Luz Elena González — were regarded positively by 60% or more of those polled.

All of the ministers have “very good ratings,” Sheinbaum said.

Federal security meeting to be held in Sinaloa 

Sheinbaum acknowledged that a federal security agent was murdered in Culiacán, Sinaloa, on Wednesday, describing his death as “regrettable.”

She noted that García Harfuch, the federal security minister, has returned to Sinaloa, after spending time in the troubled northern state earlier this month.

“He went there yesterday; he’ll be there for a period, strengthening security actions,” Sheinbaum said.

The president noted that she will travel to Sinaloa on Sunday, and that the federal security cabinet will hold a meeting in the Pacific coast resort city of Mazatlán.

A fierce war between rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel has claimed hundreds of lives in recent months and sowed fear among residents of Sinaloa, especially those who live in Culiacán, the state capital, where most of the violence has been focused.

Mexico to back appointment of first female secretary-general of the UN 

Sheinbaum confirmed that she spoke to Colombian President Gustavo Petro about their desire to support female candidates as the next heads of both the United Nations (UN) and the Organization of American States (OAS).

Neither organization has had a female secretary-general.

Sheinbaum said that she and Petro, who visited Mexico this week, didn’t speak about any specific candidates who they would support, but discussed “starting to work” toward the appointment of females as leaders of the UN and OAS.

She said that Foreign Affairs Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente and her chief of staff, Lázaro Cárdenas Batel, would work on the issue.

The next UN secretary-general will take office in 2027, while a new OAS chief will be appointed next year.

By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)

The post Sheinbaum to meet in Sinaloa to discuss state’s security: The mañanera recapped appeared first on Mexico News Daily

President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke those words at the very end of her morning press conference on Wednesday, held on International Migrants Day.

Her remark came after a performance of “Himno Migrante” (Migrants’ Anthem) by a collective of musicians, and afterward, she spoke via video link with Foreign Affairs Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente about how Mexico is strengthening its consular network to help Mexican immigrants in the United States ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Mexicans in the US ‘will not be alone,’ says foreign minister 

Speaking from El Paso, Texas, de la Fuente told Sheinbaum that he was at a meeting with “compatriots” as “part of the entire process of strengthening” Mexico’s “consular network” in the United States.

The federal government is preparing for the possibility that Donald Trump will follow through on his pledge to carry out “the largest deportation operation in American history.”

De la Fuente — a psychiatrist, academic and former health minister who served as Mexico’s permanent representative to the United Nations during the presidency of Andrés Manuel López Obrador — said that the government is developing a “strategy of legal defense” for Mexicans in the United States who could be at risk of deportation.

“You are not alone, you will not be alone,” he told Mexican immigrants, adding that the Mexican government will assist them to “assert their rights” if necessary.

De la Fuente also said that consulates are simplifying the processes for the carrying out of trámites, or bureaucratic procedures.

“This is something that has been welcomed by the [Mexican] community [in the U.S.] because they battle a lot with jumping through hoops that are sometimes unnecessary,” he said.

Sheinbaum, echoing the words of López Obrador, described Mexicans who live and work in the United States as “heroes and heroines.”

They sent more than US $60 billion in remittances to Mexico last year.

“We’re not going to just recognize them but also support them always,” Sheinbaum said.

“Thank you for everything you do for your families and for everything you do for Mexico,” she said.

A musical ‘gift’ for Mexicans in the United States 

Near the end of her press conference, Sheinbaum announced it was time to present Mexico’s “gift” to “our compatriots in the United States.” It was a rendition of the song “Himno Migrante” by a collective of musicians called Legado de Grandeza (Legacy of Greatness).

In addition to inviting the collective to perform at her press conference, Sheinbaum posted a music video featuring the song to her social media accounts.

The original lyrics — which are sung in a combination of mostly Spanish and some English — appear below. Alongside it, we have provided an English-language translation. You can click on the video image directly below this paragraph to hear the song performed.

De donde soy no nos rajamos                                       Where I’m from we don’t give up

cualquier tierra la trabajamos                                       We work any land

El sacrificio jamás es en vano                                       Sacrifice is never in vain

Que hasta el espacio hemos llegado.                          We’ve even made it to space

Where we are from no nos rajamos                            Where we are from we don’t give up 

And what we dream of lo realizamos                           And what we dream of we achieve

Gran paisano hermano amigo                                     Great countryman, brother, friend

soy mexicano.                                                               I am Mexican. 

Y cambiamos de lugar no de bandera.                     We change places but not flags    

Verde, blanco y rojo lo llevo en las venas               I carry green, white and red in my veins

Como el águila volamos sin fronteras.                   Like the eagle we fly without borders 

Rompemos la malla que separa tierras                 We break the fence that separates lands

Y nacimos con legado de grandeza.                And we’re born with the legacy of greatness. 

Extraño mi rancho también mi familiar             I miss my home and my family 

Mi pueblo querido que no se me olvida.          I don’t forget my beloved town 

aunque de este lado me trajo la vida               even though life brought me to this side

Siempre para Adela como Pancho Villa          I’m always for Adela and Pancho Villa

Y cambiamos de lugar no de bandera           We change places but not flags   

Verde, blanco y rojo lo llevo en las venas.     I carry green, white and red in my veins

Como el águila volamos sin fronteras.          Like the eagle we fly without borders 

Rompemos la malla que separa tierras        We break the fence that separates lands

Y nacimos con legado de grandeza            And we’re born with the legacy of greatness. 

A nuestras mujeres y madres inmigrantes           To our women and immigrant mothers 

Un ejemplo de fuerza y valor                              An example of strength and courage

¡Y que viva México!                                           And long live Mexico! 

Y aunque el acta diga americano                 And though my birth certificate says American 

I am puro Mexicano                                    I am pure Mexican 

Y cambiamos de lugar no de bandera           We change places but not flags   

Verde,blanco y rojo lo llevo en las venas.     I carry green, white and red in my veins

Como el águila volamos sin fronteras.         Like the eagle we fly without borders 

Rompemos la malla que separa tierras      We break through the fence that separates lands

Y nacimos con legado de grandeza            And we’re born with the legacy of greatness 

By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)

The post Sheinbaum celebrates International Migrants Day: the mañanera recapped appeared first on Mexico News Daily

In just under five weeks, Donald Trump will commence his second term as United States president, which could mark the beginning of a significantly different relationship between the U.S. and its southern neighbor.

At her morning press conference on Tuesday, Sheinbaum responded to one question about the “Trump wall” and another about the president-elect’s mass deportation plans.

Earlier in the president’s mañanera, security officials provided a security update.

‘We have to build bridges, not walls’

A reporter noted that Trump spoke about the border wall at a press conference on Monday. The reporter subsequently put the following question to Sheinbaum:

“Is a bigger wall or a wall that separates the United States from Mexico the solution to contain migratory flows, or does more need to be done?”

In response, Sheinbaum noted that ex-president Andrés Manuel López Obrador “revealed right here” during one of his mañaneras that while speaking with Trump on a call he told the former United States president that migrants and drugs will continue to enter the U.S. from Mexico even with the presence of a wall between the two countries.

“He showed him a photograph of a tunnel where drugs and migrants went through,” she said.

“We’ve always been of the idea that we have to build bridges, not walls,” Sheinbaum continued.

“And the most humane and effective solution to migration is to attend to the causes … so that people don’t have to migrate out of necessity. That will always be our vision,” she said.

Preparations continue for possible mass deportations from US 

Sheinbaum told reporters that the government is “working in case there are deportations” to Mexico of large numbers of people currently living in the United States.

Trump has pledged to carry out “the largest deportation operation in American history.”

Sheinbaum said that the government will be prepared to “welcome” Mexicans who are deported. She noted that Interior Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez on Monday held a Zoom meeting with governors of border states to discuss Mexico’s plans.

“We’re collaborating, and in due course, the strategy will be presented,” Sheinbaum said.

She also said that the government is “strengthening” its consulates in the United States so that they are able to provide better legal support to Mexican immigrants.

Sheinbaum said earlier this month that the federal government would work with states to prepare for possible mass deportations of Mexicans from the U.S.

“We hope that it doesn’t happen, but if it does happen, we’ll be prepared to welcome them,” she said Dec. 5.

Almost 7,000 people arrested for ‘high-impact crimes’ since Sheinbaum took office 

During the government’s fortnightly security update, Security Minister Omar García Harfuch highlighted that 6,745 people have been arrested for “high-impact crimes” such as murder and kidnapping since Sheinbaum was sworn in as president on Oct. 1.

He said that 6.1 tonnes of drugs and more than 3,000 firearms have been seized in the same period.

“These seizures mean less violence in the streets and less doses of drugs that harm the health of millions of young people,” García said.

The security minister also said that the federal government has ramped up collaboration  with its state counterparts in order to combat crime more effectively and “arrest generators of violence.”

Daily homicide rate down 6.9% this year 

Marcela Figueroa Franco, head of the National Public Security System, presented data that showed there was an average of 82.3 homicide victims per day in Mexico between Jan. 1 and Dec. 16.

The daily rate represents a 6.9% decrease compared to 2023 and an 18.1% decline compared to 2018, during which Enrique Peña Nieto was president for the first 11 months of the year.

Figueroa also presented data that showed there were 28,883 homicides between Jan. 1 and Dec. 16.

Guanajuato recorded the highest number of murders in the period followed by Baja California, México state, Chihuahua, Jalisco, Guerrero and Nuevo León. Just under 50% of all homicides this year occurred in those seven states.

By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)

The post Mexico to offer citizens legal help in event of mass deportations: the mañanera recapped appeared first on Mexico News Daily

At her morning press conference, she continued to celebrate the completion of the 1,554-kilometer-long railroad, but also spoke about more somber issues including the murders of two high-profile men on the weekend.

Sheinbaum celebrates completion of Maya Train

“You can now buy a ticket for the entire route,” said Sheinbaum, who on Sunday inaugurated sections 6 and 7 of the Maya Train railroad.

Passengers can now complete a loop around the Yucatán Peninsula given that the sections linking Tulum, Quintana Roo, to Escárcega, Campeche, are open.

Sheinbaum told reporters that the government’s aim is to encourage tourists to “not just stay in their hotel in Cancún, which is very common” but to explore the wider region on the Maya Train.

She said that Maya Train hotels built by the army to provide additional accommodation options for passengers are truly “exceptional.”

The president noted that the government will begin construction in 2025 of “all the infrastructure needed for freight trains” to run on the now fully operational railroad.

“And the passenger train [service] has to be consolidated as well. … New trains are going to arrive, that was set out from the beginning, and some other adjustments [will be made],” Sheinbaum said.

“But today the entire route around the peninsula is operating,” she said. “… It really is an extraordinary project.”

High profile murders under investigation, more details to come on Tuesday 

A reporter asked Sheinbaum about the murders over the weekend of the mayor of Tancanhuitz, San Luis Potosí, and the owner of a vineyard in Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato.

The mayor, Jesús Eduardo Franco, was found dead along with three other murder victims in a vehicle in Tancanhuitz.

Ricardo Vega, the owner of the Cuna de Tierra vineyard, was shot and killed in the municipality of Apaseo el Grande, which borders the state of Querétaro as well as four municipalities in Guanajuato including Celaya and San Miguel de Allende.

Sheinbaum said that the federal government is in contact with state authorities about the cases.

“Tomorrow is the [fortnightly] security report and [security officials] will be able to give us  more details then,” she said, adding that both cases are under investigation.

Creation of new Women’s Ministry to be formalized on Jan. 1  

When she was asked whether the federal Women’s Ministry was “ready” for its formal inauguration on Jan. 1, Sheinbaum referred the question to her women’s minister.

“We’re ready,” declared Citlalli Hernández Mora.

“Citla is ready,” Sheinbaum acknowledged, adding that a “good team” is being built in the Women’s Ministry.

“We’re going to begin next year with the [distribution of the] women’s rights pamphlet,” the president added, noting that a range of rights for Mexican women are now enshrined in the Constitution.

Sheinbaum said in October that the government’s women’s rights pamphlet should be distributed to men as well as women because everyone needs to know about women’s rights.

By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)

The post Sheinbaum celebrates the Maya Train: Monday’s mañanera recapped appeared first on Mexico News Daily