Politics: As challenges grow and the economy weakens, Sheinbaum is at a crossroads
While Claudia Sheinbaum is basking in high approval ratings, signs point to potential problems ahead that could spell trouble.
In her first 100 days in office, the new President has concentrated on getting legislative approval for AMLO’s constitutional amendments, chief among them the Judicial Reform, the elimination of autonomous agencies, and the militarization of public security- with an economic policy largely centered on continuity in government cash subsidy welfare programs; and on counteracting threats from President-elect Donald Trump.
But this has come at the cost of addressing major problems inherited from AMLO, among them an economy in slowdown mode –GDP growth forecasts are extremely somber- with a large fiscal deficit, and a spike in high profile organized crime killings.
Observers have been waiting to see whether Sheinbaum will distance herself from some of AMLO’s more problematic policies. The new President has indeed reached out to get the private sector on board with her economic proposals, albeit amid falling business community confidence. With Minister of Security Omar Garcia Harfuch, she has also largely abandoned the ineffective “hugs not bullets” strategy of her predecessor in favor of a more aggressive approach to tackling organized crime and drug trafficking. And in foreign affairs, not AMLO’s strong suit, the President attended the G-20 summit in Brazil and is currently seeking to build support in the United States, particularly in Mexican and Mexican-American communities, to counteract calls for mass deportations of migrants and punitive tariffs by the new administration in Washington.
However, many observers wonder whether this is all too little and too late and if the political measures of Morena, fully backed by Sheinbaum, to consolidate control over the legislative and judicial branches of government, will hinder foreign investment and limit the possibility of a dialogue and potential agreements with the opposition and sectors of the business community uncomfortable with key planks of the new government.
Sheinbaum will clearly be confronting the most difficult panorama of any incoming presidential administration since 2000 with formidable challenges lying ahead.
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