MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s leading presidential candidate repeatedly praised the outgoing president’s social programs Andrés Manuel López Obrador and walked a fine line between supporting the national oil company and promising a clean energy transition during the second debate Sunday night ahead of the June 2 election.
Former mayor of Mexico City Claudia Sheinbaum of the president’s Morena party continues to maintain a healthy lead Xochitl Galvez from a coalition of opposition parties and Jorge Álvarez Máynez from the small Citizen Movement party.
López Obrador has significantly raised Mexico’s minimum wage and increased spending on social programs, most of which are popular direct cash transfer programs. Sheinbaum has capitalized on her mentor’s popularity during the campaign and vowed to continue his programs.
She mentioned the model of government he started and committed to remaining “humanistic, a fair model, protector of our heritage, with better salaries, with better pensions, without increasing taxes.”
Even Gálvez, Sheinbaum’s biggest rival, emphasized that she too would keep the popular but costly programs if elected. The former senator and technology entrepreneur reminded voters that she grew up in poverty and was able to advance thanks in part to a scholarship.
“I am a woman who comes from the bottom up, who knows poverty and how poverty hurts and what time it steals from you,” Gálvez said.
Álvarez Máynez, a former congressman, promoted his own initiatives to reduce the working week of Mexicans from six to five days, introduce paternity leave and extend the holidays. He said that despite the current government’s social spending, young children are getting a fraction of what they should get because “they don’t vote.”
On the environment and climate change, climate scientist Sheinbaum pointed to her efforts as mayor, such as installing solar panels on the roofs of Mexico City’s sprawling wholesale market and building more electric buses and bike lanes.
As president, she said she would work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help Mexico adapt to climate change. But she also defended López Obrador’s construction of a massive new oil refinery that she said would help Mexico reduce gasoline imports. She warned that Gálvez would try to privatize the deeply indebted state oil company known as Pemex.
Gálvez said the private sector would be crucial in Mexico’s clean energy transition. She added that Mexico is losing foreign investment opportunities because foreign companies need access to clean electricity produced from renewable energy sources. She promised to turn Pemex into an efficient company, something successive governments of different parties have failed to do.
Álvarez Máynez said Mexico remains too dependent on fossil fuels and that the country’s future lies in wind and solar energy. He promised to install solar panels on all schools and health centers.
Gálvez was once again the aggressor in the debate and repeatedly tried to portray Sheinbaum as untrustworthy. This time she held up several signs as Sheinbaum spoke and called her a liar. Sheinbaum in turn called Gálvez “the corrupt one.”
All three candidates said major changes are needed to address Mexico’s freshwater supply, which has been hit hard by prolonged drought in much of the country. Their plans combined the need for water reuse, most of which goes to irrigation, and improving water system infrastructure.
