Politics: The second round of six Sheinbaum cabinet choices is also reassuring, but the toughest decisions remain

MEXICO - Report 01 Jul 2024 by Guillermo Valdes and Francisco González

A week after winning kudos for her first batch of a half dozen cabinet picks Claudia Sheinbaum reprised that performance by unveiling six more who also garnered praise, even from some of López Obrador’s critics. The president-elect again reassured economic and political actors by bringing in people with extensive experience in government who are respected for their capacity and expertise.

Unlike her earlier decision to keep Rogelio Ramírez de la O is his current post as finance minister, she seems to have made a point of choosing close collaborators of her own, such as entrusting the energy portfolio to career public service official and economist Luz Elena González Escobar, tasking her not only with “revitalizing” state NOC Pemex but also increasing the use of renewables and hopefully introducing some changes to current energy policy. Her choices for Health, Public Administration, Infrastructure and Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development were also similarly positive.

But we will have to wait for two more Thursday cabinet announcements before we get a clearer idea of the next administration as some of the politically thorniest picks are still to come: National Defense, Public Security, Interior, Navy, Culture, Public Education, Labor and Social Provision, Welfare, the heads of the IMSS, ISSSTE, Petróleos Mexicanos and the Federal Electricity Commission.

In this week’s Outlook we analyze the careers of the latest group of six, the projects they are tasked with and the biggest problems they are likely to encounter.

Now read on...

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