International
Sheinbaum will be the first president of Mexico after winning the elections with a 30-point lead
The ruling Claudia Sheinbaum will be the first woman president of Mexico after obtaining between 58.3% and 60.7% of the votes in this Sunday’s elections, according to the quick count of the National Electoral Institute (INE), against a range of between 26.6% and 28.6% of her main rival, the opposition Xóchitl Gálvez.
Meanwhile, the candidate of the opposition Movimiento Ciudadano (MC), Jorge Álvarez Máynez, would receive between 9.9% and 10.8% of the votes, according to the president of the INE, Guadalupe Taddei, in a message on the national network.
The quick count of the INE is the first formal scrutiny of the autonomous body, which is based “on a representative statistical sample” of 5,651 voting centers with a confidence level of “at least 95%,” which allows “a robust projection” of who will win.
“I want to emphasize that these results are preliminary as well as those that are being disseminated through the Preliminary Electoral Results Program (PREP) and are subject to confirmation of the district calculations that will begin next Wednesday, June 5,” clarified the head of the INE.
In the absence of that confirmation, Claudia Sheinbaum thanked this Monday because “she will become the first female president of Mexico,” and projected a result that allows her to have the necessary majority to reform the Constitution in Congress.
And it is that Sheinbaum not only received the keys to the National Palace, but his coalition of the National Regeneration Movement (Morena), the Labor Party (PT) and the Green Ecologist of Mexico (PVEM), won a two-thirds majority of the Chamber of Deputies and, possibly, the Senate.
“I want to thank millions of Mexicans who decided to vote for us on this historic day to move forward with the fourth transformation of public life in our country,” he said in his first public statements after learning about the results advanced by the INE.
“Above all, it is the recognition of the people of Mexico for our transformation project. I am also grateful because, for the first time in 200 years of the republic, I will become the first female president of Mexico,” said Sheinbaum.
Tens of thousands of supporters gathered in the Zocalo of Mexico City, the largest public square in the country, to celebrate the triumph of Sheinbaum, a celebration that the still president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has also joined.
The opposition presidential candidate, Xóchitl Gálvez, recognized on Monday the victory of the ruling Claudia Sheinbaum, although she said that she will demand results and solutions to the country’s great problems.
“I want to emphasize that my recognition is accompanied by a firm demand for results and solutions to the great problems of the country and the indispensable respect for the constitution and democratic institutions,” said the representative of the Force and Heart Coalition for Mexico.
In her first message after the National Electoral Institute (INE) announced the results of the quick count, the former senator said that she recognized the result for her love for Mexico.
On the other hand, the ruling Clara Brugada would also win the head of the Government of Mexico City, by registering between 49% and 52.8% of the votes in the quick count of the Electoral Institute of the Mexican capital (IECDMX).
Brugada, of the coalition of the National Regeneration Movement (Morena), with the Labor Parties (PT), and the Green Ecologist of Mexico (PVEM), relegated to second place the opponent Santiago Taboada, who would add between 37.2 and 40.5%, according to the official estimate of the institute.
Meanwhile, the candidate of the also opposition Citizen Movement (MC), Salomón Chertorivski, reached between 6.9% and 9.7% of the votes.
Mexico held this Sunday the largest election in its history with more than 98 million people called to renew more than 20,000 positions, including the presidency, the 500 deputies, the 128 senators and nine state governments.
The electoral campaign for these elections has also been the most violent in the history of Mexico, with at least 30 candidates killed.
International
Mexico requests extradition of ‘Mini Lic’ for murder of journalist Javier Valdez
The Mexican government has requested the extradition of Dámaso López Serrano, a former high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel, who is accused of masterminding the 2017 murder of Mexican journalist Javier Valdez, the Attorney General’s Office announced on Tuesday.
López Serrano, known as “Mini Lic,” was arrested last Friday in Virginia, United States, on charges of fentanyl trafficking, a crime he committed while on parole.
“This is the key issue for us, he [López Serrano] is the mastermind of this murder. The rest of the perpetrators are already processed and in jail, he was the one missing,” said Attorney General Alejandro Gertz.
“We immediately made the extradition request,” the official added during the routine morning press conference of President Claudia Sheinbaum.
Valdez, an award-winning reporter specializing in drug trafficking and correspondent for AFP and the newspaper La Jornada, was murdered on May 15, 2017, in front of the office of his magazine Riodoce in Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa state.
“Mini Lic” was originally arrested in 2017 when he voluntarily turned himself in to U.S. authorities and pleaded guilty to trafficking methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine. In 2022, he was released on parole.
Gertz confirmed that the Mexican Attorney General’s Office had requested López Serrano’s extradition “countless times,” but Washington had declined to act on the request because he had become a “protected witness” for the U.S. government and “was providing a lot of information.”
“Now, with this situation where they themselves are acknowledging that this individual is still committing crimes, I think there are more than enough reasons for them to support us,” the prosecutor added.
The Sinaloa Cartel is one of the largest drug trafficking organizations in Mexico and was founded by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who is serving a life sentence in the United States.
Culiacán has been shaken by a wave of murders since the arrest of Ismael “Mayo” Zambada, another key leader of the cartel alongside Guzmán, on July 25 in New Mexico, United States.
International
Cuba’s government stresses openness to serious, respectful U.S. relations
Cuba reiterated on Tuesday its willingness to engage in dialogue with the United States, just weeks before Republican President Donald Trump assumes office. During his first term, Trump halted the historic rapprochement between the two countries, which had been initiated just ten years earlier by Democrat Barack Obama.
“It will not be Cuba that proposes or takes the initiative to suspend the existing dialogues, to suspend the existing cooperation. Not even the discreet exchanges on some sensitive issues,” said Cuban Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Fernández de Cossío at a press conference in Havana.
“We will be attentive to the attitude of the new government, but Cuba’s stance will remain the same as it has been for the last 64 years. We are willing to develop a serious, respectful relationship with the United States, one that protects the sovereign interests of both countries,” he added.
His statements come on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the historic rapprochement announcement between Washington and Havana.
On December 17, 2014, Cuban leader Raúl Castro (2006-2021) and Barack Obama (2008-2016) announced the beginning of a thaw in relations, which led to the restoration of diplomatic ties in 2015, after more than half a century of confrontation.
This process of thawing bilateral relations was later halted by businessman Donald Trump, who significantly reinforced economic sanctions against the communist-ruled country. The Republican will return to the White House on January 20.
Cuba, under a U.S. trade embargo since 1962, was re-listed in 2021 on the “blacklist of countries supporting terrorism,” blocking financial and economic flows to the island of 10 million inhabitants.
Subsequently, the administration of current Democratic President Joe Biden made only slight adjustments to the sanctions and also kept Cuba on this list. However, his administration resumed bilateral contacts with Havana on migration issues and the fight against terrorism.
International
Mexican government to use church atriums for gun surrender program to combat violence
The atriums of Mexican Catholic churches will be used for the voluntary surrender of weapons in exchange for economic and legal incentives as part of a plan announced on Tuesday by the government to reduce violence.
According to the Mexican government, there is a link between the illegal trafficking of weapons—almost entirely coming from the United States—and the spiral of criminal violence that has plagued the country since late 2006, when a controversial military anti-drug offensive was launched.
“The idea is to set up areas in the church atriums where people can voluntarily surrender their weapons, and in return, they will receive financial resources based on the weapon they are turning in,” explained President Claudia Sheinbaum during her regular press conference.
The left-wing leader emphasized that the program, called “Yes to Disarmament, Yes to Peace,” guarantees that those who surrender their weapons will not face any “investigation.”
“What we want is to disarm. This will be implemented next year. We also did it in Mexico City, and it had significant results,” added the former mayor of the capital, with a population of 9.2 million.
The disarmament plan is part of the government’s “comprehensive security strategy,” one of whose pillars is promoting a culture of peace, especially in regions severely affected by organized crime violence, Sheinbaum pointed out.
More than 450,000 people have been murdered in Mexico since the government launched its military-led anti-drug operation, alongside about 100,000 people who have gone missing.
Despite being a secular state, the Mexican Catholic Church has played a key role in efforts to contain violence, with priests acting as mediators between citizens and criminals. Several clergy members have been killed for this cause.
Just last week, the Catholic hierarchy called on cartels to declare a truce in their violent actions during the celebration of the Virgin of Guadalupe on December 12 and the upcoming Christmas holidays.
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