Inauguration Address
at the Presidential Swearing-In Ceremony
delivered 1 October
2024, Legislative Palace of San Lázaro, Mexico City, Mexico
[Professionally
transcribed/interpreted by a human Spanish/English language expert]
CONGRESSWOMAN IFIGENIA MARTÍNEZ: In
accordance with the provisions of Article 87 of the
Constitution,
Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo will be sworn in as President of the
Republic before the Congress of the Union.
PRESIDENT CLAUDIA SHEINBAUM PARDO:
Honorable Congress of the Union, people of Mexico:
I swear to keep and uphold the
Political Constitution of the United Mexican States and the laws that
emanate therefrom,
and to perform loyally and patriotically the office of President of the Republic
that the people have conferred upon me, looking in all things for the good and
prosperity of the Union; and if I do not do so, may the Nation demand it of me.
PRESIDENT ANDRÉS MANUEL LÓPEZ OBRADOR:I pass it to you!
CONGRESSWOMAN IFIGENIA
MARTÍNEZ:I pass
it to you!
PRESIDENT CLAUDIA SHEINBAUM PARDO:
Thank you!
CONGRESSWOMAN IFIGENIA
MARTÍNEZ:The
constitutional President of the United Mexican States, Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum
Pardo will address a message to the Nation. I invite you to take your seats.
Thank you very much!
PRESIDENT CLAUDIA SHEINBAUM PARDO: Good morning, everyone. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Honorable
Congress of the Union, Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation. Governors, heads
of government, special guests, family and people of Mexico, I greet and thank
you for the presence of 105 countries that are with us today.
It is a reflection of Mexico's commitment to the international
community and the friendship that unites us with all the peoples of the world. I
thank John Briceño, Prime Minister of Belize, Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva,
President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, Gabriel Borich, President of the
Republic of Chile, Gustavo Francisco Petro, President of the Republic of
Colombia, Miguel Diaz Canel, President of the Republic of Cuba, Sylvanie Burton,
President of the Dominica, Luis Rodolfo Abinader, President of the Dominican
Republic, Cesar Bernardo Arevalo, President of the Republic of Guatemala, Regine
Abraham, advisor to the President of the Presidential Transitional Council of
the Republic of Haiti, Xiomara Castro, President of the Republic of Honduras,
Santiago Pena Palacios, President of the Republic of Paraguay, Bouchraya
Hammoudi, Prime Minister of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Philip Joseph
Pierre, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia. I especially greet and thank Dr. Jill
Biden who is attending on behalf of the President of the United States of
America.
I thank Peter Boehm, representative of the Senate of Canada. Josep
Borrel Fontelles, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs
and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission. I am grateful
for the presence of former President Christian Wilhelm Walter of the Federal
Republic of Germany, representing his country, and of Tie Ning, Vice-Chairwoman
of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the Republic of
China, Kembo Mohadi, Vice-President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Teodoro Nguema
Obiang, Vice-President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, my gratitude to all
the heads of delegations from Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, Africa,
Asia and the Middle East, and to the heads of the various branches of
government, foreign ministers, ministers, ambassadors, I ask them to convey the
warm greetings of the people and government of Mexico to their leaders. I am
also grateful for the presence of 23 international organizations. Thanks to
Jeremy Corbyn, Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom, leader of the Labour
Party...and to the Spanish congressmen, Gerardo Pisarello and many others
who are with us and to friendly representatives from different places in the
world.
Exactly 19 years ago in this same venue, in an outrage to freedom, the then head
of government
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, in front of that legislature made a
speech that forever shook the struggle for democracy, in front of the
impeachment trial whose sole purpose was the attempt of an anticipated fraud,
said: “You are going to judge me, but do not forget that history will still have
to judge you and me."
Today we say it with certainty and without fear of being wrong,
history and the people have judged Andrés Manuel López Obrador as one of the
greats. The most important political leader and social fighter in modern
history, the most beloved President, only comparable to Lázaro Cárdenas. The one
who began and ended his term of office with the most love from his people and
for millions, and although he does not like to be called, the best President of
Mexico -- the one who started the peaceful revolution of the Fourth
Transformation of Mexico's public life.
You have asked us on several occasions not to unveil busts, nor put
your name on streets, avenues, neighborhoods or colonies, nor monuments or make
great tributes. The truth is that there is no need, because you will always be
there, where those who fight all their lives, those who do not give up, those
who give back hope and joy. You will always be in the heart of the Mexican
people.
He retires from public life, as a democrat and Maderista, to continue
fighting from another trench, to write about what he has maintained since his
early days, when he worked with the Mayan-Chontal people, that the origin of
Mexico's cultural greatness lies in the great civilizations that lived in this
land centuries before the Spanish invaded.
It is no coincidence, but a harmony of history, that yesterday the reform of the
Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, which grants full rights to
the indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples of Mexico, was published in the Official
Gazette of the Federation.
Your latest book is titled
¡Gracias!, and today we return the
thanks, deep thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks forever. It has been an honor to
fight with you. Goodbye, brother, friend, comrade, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
On June 2 of this year, the people of Mexico, in a democratic and
peaceful manner, said loud and clear, it is time for transformation, and it is
time for women. Today, on October 1, 2024, the second stage begins, the second
floor of the
Fourth Transformation of Mexico's public life, and also today,
after 200 years of the Republic and 300 years of the Colony, because prior to
that we have no clear records, that is, after at least 503 years, for the first
time we women have arrived to lead the destinies of our beautiful nation.
And I say we arrived, because I did not arrive alone, we all arrived.
Mexico is a wonderful country, with an extraordinary people, we are a great
nation. Here grew original cultures that gave the world corn, cocoa, tomatoes,
who built monumental pyramids, who understood the stars, life and death as part
of a constant change, who gave us and continue to give us living languages like
no other, who wove and weave textiles with the hands of women artisans who
intertwine with the soul and with life; with cultures such as the Maya, who
created the zero as part of mathematics, or the Mexica who created the most
sustainable method of cultivation known, the chinampa.
Mexico is the country that gave the world
Hidalgo, who started with a few people
the
cry for Independence, and soon thereafter there were thousands who demanded
justice, the one who abolished slavery, the one who knew how to lead his people
with certainty on the path to freedom and became the Father of the Nation.
Mexico the country of
Morelos, who knew how to identify the
Sentiments of the
Nation to write that sovereignty comes from the people, that torture is not
admitted and the urgent need to moderate opulence and indigence; the country of
Vicente Guerrero, who, in a difficult moment, when his father asked him to
accept the viceroy's indulgence, knew how to say, the homeland comes first.1
Mexico is
Guadalupe Victoria's, Mexico's first President, who, after the
Independence, revolted against
Emperor Iturbide to achieve the first
Constitution of the Republic.
It is the country of
Josefa Ortiz, who not only gave the famous heel strike to
start the Independence, but also wisely stated: "those who serve the country
should not be rewarded, but those who take advantage of it should be punished";
or of
Leona Vicario, Mother of the Nation, journalist and fighter for
Independence, who 200 years ago knew how to defend women through her thoughts;
of
Juárez and the
Mexican Liberals, who, before anyone else in the world, and
with great vision, separated Church and State and defended the nation against
the invader; of the Flores Magón brothers, who demanded justice and freedom
before anyone else in the 20th century; of the workers of Río Blanco and Cananea;
and of Madero, who gave up everything to call the people to arms to fight for
democracy; of Zapata, who knew how to demand Land and Freedom; of the brave
Villa and also of Carranza, as the only governor who stood up against the Huerta
coup d'état.
Mexico is that of the constitutionalists of 1917. Of Lázaro Cárdenas, who
distributed the land and expropriated the oil; of Margarita Maza; of Adela
Velarde, who commanded the Adelitas in the Revolution; of Dolores Jiménez Muro;
of Elvia Carrillo Puerto and the Suffragettes, of Frida Kahlo, of Enriqueta
González Baz, the first woman mathematician.
Mexico is a land of free women and men, who throughout the 20th century fought
for democracy, freedoms, and justice; of the students of 1968, of the hundreds
of men and women who are no longer with us today, but from whom we are proudly
their heirs.
Mexico is a wonderful country, for our cultural mosaic, for our biodiversity.
Mexico is wonderful thanks to our countrymen and countrywomen, heroes and
heroines who live in the United States and who with love for their family and
homeland send their support every month.
Mexico is a wonderful country, because of its generous, supportive, joyful,
libertarian, resilient, rebellious, wise, and empowered people. Today, thanks to
everyone, Mexico is the twelfth largest economy in the world and the sixth most
popular tourist destination.
Mexico, it's great.
I call on everyone to reflect and evaluate with a cool head what happened during
these six years. With solid data, recognized nationally and internationally, let
us answer the following questions: How is it that 9.5 million Mexicans,
according to the World Bank, were lifted out of poverty in only 6 years? How is
it that inequalities were reduced without raising taxes? How is it that we are
one of the least indebted countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development with a strong currency? How is it that we are one of the
countries with the lowest unemployment rates? How is it that there is more
welfare and at the same time the businessmen and banks earned more? How is it
that we have record foreign direct investment and at the same time wages have
increased? How is it that the minimum wage increased, and inflation did not
rise?
The answer is that the country’s development model changed, from the failed
neoliberal model and the regime of corruption and privileges to one that emerged
from Mexico’s rich history, from the love for the people and honesty. We call it
"Mexican Humanism."
That is why we talk about a profound transformation. And let's admit it: Everyone has fared better. With this thinking and its implementation, many myths
and delusions of the past have been dispelled.
For example, during the neoliberal period, the one that cost the people of
Mexico so much and marked our history for 36 long years, it was said that the
State should be diluted or subordinated to market forces, that if the economy
was watered down from above it would reach those below, that if the minimum wage
was increased there would be inflation and there would be no foreign investment,
that if the State participated in the economy there would be economic crisis and
devaluation, that corruption was inherent to the government, that freedom did
not only exist in the market, that freedom only existed in the market, that
education, health, housing and fair wages were commodities and not rights. All
of it turned out to be false.
Therefore, for the good of Mexico, for everyone, we will continue with Mexican
Humanism, with the Fourth Transformation. I summarize some of what I consider to be its main principles:
• For there to be prosperity, it must be shared.
Or in other words, for the good
of all, the poor must come first.
• There can be no rich government with poor people. This is a phrase of Benito Juárez García, which the governments of the transformation make a reality, and
which sustains that the ruler must live in the right moderation, without
luxuries, paraphernalia or privileges, and that the government must not be a
burden for the people. This is what we call "republican austerity."
• We, the leaders, must be honest. The use of government structures for personal
or group benefit taints public service. Corruption must be fought out of ethics
and principles but also, as we have seen, because that is where the resources
necessary for the welfare of the people and the development of the nation lie.
In short, honesty gives results. Moreover, moral authority is the most important
thing, and that cannot be bought at the corner. It is built with a single
mystique -- that of fighting with honesty every day for a Mexico with justice,
democracy, and freedom.
• The maximum principle, that democracy is the government of the people, by the
people and for the people. Or, to return to Juarez, “With the people everything,
without the people nothing."
• Prohibited to prohibit. Freedom is the essence of democracy.
• The development and welfare of the people can only be strengthened by caring
for the environment and natural resources.
• Women have the right to substantive equality.
•
Mexico is a sovereign, independent, free and democratic country. We want peace
and fraternity among nations, and we coordinate, but we do not subordinate
ourselves.
• Politics is made with love, not hate. Happiness and hope are based on the love
for one's neighbor, family, nature and homeland.
• We condemn classism, racism, sexism and any form of discrimination. It is not
only a matter of tolerance, but also the recognition that the deepening of
inequalities will always lead to injustice. Fraternity means seeing each other
as equals.
With this in mind, I would like to state the following: In our government we
will guarantee all freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of
assembly, freedom of mobilization. Freedom is a democratic principle, and we are
democrats. Human rights will be respected, and we will never use the force of
the State to repress the people. We will respect and guarantee the religious,
political, social, cultural and sexual diversity of our society. Anyone who says
there will be authoritarianism is lying.
Our foreign policy will follow the constitutional principles of
self-determination of peoples, non-intervention and the peaceful settlement of
disputes.
In economic matters, the autonomy of the Bank of Mexico, a responsible fiscal
policy and a reasonable debt-to-gross domestic product ratio will be maintained.
We will promote public and private investment. I say it clearly: Rest assured
that the investments of shareholders, both national and foreign, will be safe in
our country.
We will not increase the price of gasoline, diesel, domestic gas, or
electricity in real terms. In the coming weeks we will be calling on businessmen
to confirm the agreement that maintains the prices of the basic food basket
without increases.
We will take advantage of the trade agreement with the United States and Canada
to continue promoting the relocation of companies, while promoting regional
development with well-being and care for the environment.
The United States, Canada, and Mexico know that economic cooperation strengthens
all three nations. It is clear that we do not compete with each other. We
complement each other and, in addition, we generate the conditions for a greater
consolidation of the economy of the entire continent, in a vision of the present
and future of the world economy.
We will continue to strengthen our economic and cultural relations with the
countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. We are united by history and
commitment, as well as with the different countries and regions of the world.
We will work hand in hand with the business sector and workers to continue
increasing the minimum wage. Our goal is to reach 2.5 basic food baskets.
We will carry out the most ambitious digitalization program in history, to
facilitate the payment of taxes and other procedures, as well as to encourage
investment.
There will be rule of law. The recent constitutional reform of the judiciary,
which provides for the election of judges, magistrates, and ministers by popular
vote, means greater autonomy and independence for the judiciary.
Think about it just for a moment: If the objective had been for the
President to control the Supreme Court, we would have made a Zedillo-style
reform. No, that is authoritarianism, we are democrats.
We want to put an end to corruption in the Judiciary. It is a process in which
there will be a single call, a selection committee for candidates to ensure that
they meet the requirements. And who will decide? It will be the people. How can
a decision that in essence is democratic and allows the people to decide be
authoritarian?
I am sure that in a few years we will all be convinced that this reform is the
best. I would like to take this opportunity to tell the workers of the Judicial
Branch that their rights and salaries are fully safeguarded.
All welfare programs will be maintained, and we will ensure that
their annual increase will never be below inflation. In addition, it is about to
be approved in Congress that these rights become constitutional so that no one
can reverse them.
Universal pension for the elderly, universal pension for people with
disabilities, Benito Juárez scholarships for public high school students,
scholarships for low-income students,
Sembrando Vida[Sowing Life],
Jóvenes Construyendo el
Futuro[Youth
Building the Future], production and fishing for well-being, free fertilizers, guaranteed
prices, the
Escuela es Nuestra[School is Ours] and the
Clínica es Nuestra [Clinic is Ours] will all continue.
We will make three new welfare programs a reality. All women between the ages of 60
and 64 will receive bimonthly support in recognition of the work of Mexican
women.
All children who go to public school or who go to public school for preschool,
elementary and high school will have a scholarship. We will start next year with
high school. Children should be happy; they are not only the future but the
present of Mexico.
We will bring prevention and health care to the elderly in their homes. To this
end, we will hire 20,000 doctors and nurses. The constitutional recognition of
indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples, once in the Constitution, we will make it a
reality. We will consolidate
IMSS/Bienestar as the best public, free, and quality
health care system.
We will increase the number of high schools in public universities so that at
least 300,000 more spaces will be available for higher education. Health and
education are rights of the Mexican people, not privileges or commodities.
We will build at least one million homes, especially for young
people, in schemes where they can first rent and then buy a home if they wish.
In addition, there will be low-cost loans for home improvement and a massive
deed program.
In terms of infrastructure, the Tren Maya will be extended to Puerto Progreso in
Yucatán, and its more than 1,500 kilometers will also be a freight train.
Line K
of the
Interoceanic Train from Ciudad Ixtepec to
Ciudad Hidalgo en Chiapas, on
the border with Guatemala, will be completed.
In addition, we want to build twice the number of kilometers of passenger trains
that the President built. From Mexico City to Pachuca, from Mexico City to Nuevo
Laredo and from Mexico City to Nogales, as well as the restoration of the
passenger train to Veracruz. Before, they were privatized/ Now, we proudly
recuperate the passenger trains because they mean regional development, jobs,
tourism, and shared prosperity.
We will continue with artisanal roads to connect communities and with the
construction of ports, airports and highways that generate development with
wellbeing, and at the same time strengthen infrastructure and connectivity in
our country and boost investment.
As we have stated since the campaign, the current ratio between public and
private electricity generation of 54% and 46%, respectively, will be maintained.
In a few days,
we will present the National Energy Plan, which includes new
investments in transmission, generation and an ambitious program of energy
transition to renewable energy sources that contribute to reduce greenhouse
gases that cause climate change.
Private investment to cover 46% of generation will be made with clear rules,
within the framework of the law and guaranteeing stability in the electricity
system. All of us need strong public energy companies that guarantee clean
energy at low prices for current and future generations.
The fundamental objective of oil production with Pemex will continue to be
national consumption and this will be limited to a production of 1.8 million
barrels per day. We will promote energy efficiency and the transition to
renewable energy sources to absorb the growth in energy demand through these
sources. Remember that the energy reform proposed a production of three million
barrels per day that is environmentally impossible. It is better to promote
efficiency and renewable sources.
We will advance in food sovereignty and self-sufficiency, as the President says:
“feed those who feed us." We will not allow the planting of transgenic corn,
says Andrés Manuel López Obrador. We will not allow the planting of transgenic
corn. We will be self-sufficient, not only in white corn, but also in beans and
other crops, and
Diconsa will be transformed into Alimentación para el Bienestar
with the objective of promoting prices and fair trade for various agricultural
products and continue serving 22 million families.
We will build the most ambitious circular economy project in the world in Tula,
Hidalgo. This means that we will build an environmental complex to take
advantage of waste, water treatment, energy generation and recycled products,
which will allow us to reduce pollution and generate jobs. The most polluted
city will become the cleanest city. That is what I committed to in my campaign.
We will initiate the regulation of concessions and the transfer of
water rights. To this end, this month we will sign a national agreement for
water security and sustainability, with all stakeholders, and we will make legal
reforms to guarantee water as a national resource.
We will
technify more than 200,000 hectares of irrigation and develop strategic
projects for water supply and recycling. We will also clean and sanitize the
country's most polluted rivers.
We will make Mexico a scientific and innovation power. To this end, we will
support the basic natural and social sciences and the humanities and link them
with priority areas and sectors for national development.
Mexican men and women have creativity, tenacity, and abundant capabilities. I am
convinced that we cannot lag behind in technological development. Let's think
about it: We have great thinkers and innovators, innovators since pre-Hispanic
times. We have first-class universities and technology centers, and Mexicans are
hard-working and creative.
In the area of security, we will guarantee the reduction of high-impact crimes.
Calderon's irresponsible
war on drugs, which continues to do so much damage to
Mexico, will not return.
Our conviction is that security and peace are the fruit of justice,
and our strategy consists of four axes: attention to the causes; always giving
young Mexicans the possibility of having access to all rights; intelligence and
investigation; strengthening of the National Guard. Whoever believes that the
National Guard being in the Secretary of Defense is militarization is totally
mistaken.
We will coordinate with municipalities, states, with the Public
Prosecutor's Office, with the Attorney General's Office, which in its autonomy
does not mean that it will stop coordinating. This will allow us to advance even
more. Attention to the causes and zero impunity, with the four axes of security
with justice. As head of government in Mexico City, we reduced the number of
intentional homicides by more than 50% in just four years.
I would like to take this opportunity to say that tomorrow afternoon we will be
in Acapulco, to continue the immediate attention given by the Mexican
government, and we will support, as we have always done, as humanist
governments, all the victims in Guerrero and other states.
I said that the people were very clear in saying, this June 2, it is time for
transformation, and it is time for women. For a long time we women were
annulled. Many of us were told a version of history since we were children,
which wanted us to believe that the course of humanity was led only by men. But
little by little this vision has been reversed.
Today, we know that women participated in the great feats of Mexico’s history
from different fronts. And we also know that women can be Presidents. With that,
I respectfully invite everyone to say Presidenta with an "a" at the end, just
like abogada [lawyer], científica [scientist], soldada
[soldier], bombera [firefighter], doctora [doctor], maestra
[teacher], ingeniera [engineer]
with an "A," because as we have been taught, only what is named exists.
Today, I want to recognize not only the heroines of the homeland, whom
we will continue to exalt, but also all the anonymous heroines, the invisible
ones, whom we make visible with these lines, those that with our arrival to the
Presidency and these words I make appear, those who fought for their dream and
achieved it; those who fought and did not achieve it; those who were able to
raise their voices and those who did not; those who had to remain silent and
then shouted alone; the indigenous women [who] arrive; the domestic workers who leave
their villages to support all the rest of us.
To the great-grandmothers who did not learn to read and write because school
was not for girls. Our aunts arrive, who found in their loneliness the way to be
strong. To the anonymous women, the anonymous heroines who, from their homes,
the streets or their workplaces, fought to see this moment.
Our mothers arrive, who gave us life and then returned to give us everything.
Our sisters, who from their history managed to move forward and emancipate
themselves. Our friends and companions arrive. Our beautiful and brave daughters
arrive, and our granddaughters arrive, they arrive, those who dreamed of the
possibility that someday, no matter if we were born as women or men, we can
realize our dreams and desires, without our sex determining our destiny. They
arrive, all of them who thought us free and happy.
And with all of them here on our side, come our greatest dreams and
longings, come with us the people of Mexico, empowered men and women; the
transformation gave them back their dignity, freedom, and happiness, and no one
else will ever be able to take that away from them.
I am a mother, a grandmother, a scientist, and a woman of faith. And,
as of today, by the will of the people of Mexico, the constitutional
President
of the United Mexican States.
I will govern for all. And be certain that I will place my knowledge,
my strength, my history, and my very life at the service of the people and the
country. I am certain that together we will consolidate a Mexico that is more
prosperous, free, democratic, sovereign, and just. And I will not let you down.
I call on you to continue making history.
Long live the
Fourth Transformation!
1Pertinent quotation:"As an adult, Vicente was
opposed to the Spanish colonial government. When his father asked him for his
sword in order to present it to the viceroy of New Spain as a sign of goodwill,
Vicente refused, saying, 'The will of my father is for me sacred, but my
Fatherland is first.'" [Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicente_Guerrero]
