President Claudia Sheinbaum (62), the first female president elected in Mexico in 200 years, held an inauguration ceremony on the 1st (local time) and began her six-year term.

This morning, President Sheinbaum held a ceremony at the Federal House of Representatives in Mexico City to hand over the shoulder belt, which signifies the transfer of the presidency according to the Constitution.

Ifihenia Martinez, Speaker of the House of Representatives, received a shoulder strap from former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and handed it to President Sheinbaum.

He became the head of state of Mexico, where 130 million people live in an area (1.97 million ㎢) about 9 times the size of the Korean Peninsula (220,000 ㎢), and said, “I will continue our humanistic tradition of prioritizing the interests of the people and caring for the poor first.” “Mexico will now have a moment for change, women and justice,” he said.

President Sheinbaum also said, “The myth of neoliberalism has collapsed, and we will prosper through transformation,” adding, “We will expand Mexico’s influence in the international community through constant dialogue.”

Supporters celebrated President Sheinbaum’s inauguration by chanting “Presidenta.” In Spanish, the masculine noun meaning president is ‘Presidente’. The feminine noun ‘president’ is written as ‘Presidenta’.

At the inauguration ceremony on this day, leaders of neighboring countries in South America, including Luis Inacio Lula Daciuba (Brazil), Gustavo Petro (Colombia), Gabriel Boric (Chile), Bernardo Arevalo (Guatemala), and Miguel Diaz-Canel (Cuba), as well as the US First Lady Jill Barr, attended the inauguration ceremony. Mrs. Eden and others attended. In Korea, Minister of Public Administration and Security Lee Sang-min served as special envoy for the celebration.

The Mexican government said in a separate press release that officials from 105 countries entered the country to celebrate the inauguration.

President Sheinbaum, who won a landslide victory over his rivals in the presidential election last June, is an elite left-wing politician who served as mayor of Mexico City from 2018 to 2023.

His parents were of Lithuanian and Bulgarian Jewish descent and are known to have actively participated in the labor and student movements of the 1960s.

Born in Mexico City, President Sheinbaum studied physics and engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), one of the most prestigious universities in Latin America. Unlike many Mexican presidents, he is fluent in English as well as his native language, Spanish.

Sheinbaum, known as an expert in the climate crisis and energy field, entered politics in earnest when he was appointed as Mexico City’s Minister of Environment in 2000. The person who recommended him for this position was former President López Obrador, who was the mayor of Mexico City at the time.

President Sheinbaum considers former President López Obrador, who left office the day before, as his ‘political guardian.’ He was also with López Obrador when he founded the left-wing political party, National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), in 2011.

President Sheinbaum pledged to continue his predecessor’s legacy in Mexico, the world’s largest Spanish-speaking country and the United States’ largest trading partner.

For example, in the case of the immigration issue, which is one of the diplomatic issues with the United States, the country promised to pursue moderate policies such as minimizing the drivers of migration through direct support from Central and South American countries and expanding temporary work visas in Mexico.

Continuing to increase the minimum wage, lowering the old-age pension payment age (from 65 to 60 or older), expanding public medical services, accelerating the transition to eco-friendly energy, and strengthening public enterprise capabilities are also among the major pledges.

President Sheinbaum also expressed his ambition to dramatically reduce the rate of violence against women, which is considered a shadow of the patriarchal ‘macho culture’.

Mexican authorities believe that 6 to 7 out of 10 adult women have experienced various forms of violence, Mexican daily El Universal reported.

As president-elect, he already presented a blueprint to elevate the National Women’s Research Institute and the Mexican Science Institute to government ministries, receiving positive reviews from critics.

An equal number of men and women were appointed as ministers. A large number of women have advanced to key aides in the President’s Office.

The challenge for President Sheinbaum, who has been able to receive the support of Congress, is paradoxically how to deal with the legacy of former President López Obrador, whose approval rating was close to 70% right before he left office.

In particular, the direct election of judges, which has drawn strong opposition from the legal community, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which is scheduled to be reviewed for implementation in 2026, the intensification of cartel violence and murder crimes, and the victims of abuse by men in rural areas were generally addressed by the previous government. Since it was either not resolved by the government or directly or indirectly resulted from the previous government’s policies, it is a matter of interest what kind of alternative the Sheinbaum administration will come up with.

Reporter Jo Si-hyung jsh1990@wowtv.co.kr