Mexican presidential favourite stopped by masked men ‘seeking an end to cartel violence’
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Masked men stopped the car of Claudia Sheinbaum, the front-runner in Mexico’s presidential race, on Sunday to beg her to halt the violence plaguing the impoverished southern state of Chiapas.
The men claimed to be residents of the local town of Motozintla, on the border with Guatemala, and urged her to save it from the “disaster” wrought by the cartels, which control the flow of cocaine and illegal migrants from the south.
Dr Sheinbaum, 61, is reported to have listened calmly to the men as she sat in the front seat of her campaign car, with her window rolled down. She then shook the hand of at least one of the men, who are thought to have wanted to avoid being identified by the criminals, before driving on.
She subsequently played down the incident, which happened as she was travelling between campaign stops, in Chiapas. But it highlights the degree to which the authorities have ceded control of large chunks of Mexico’s national territory to organised crime.
Dr Sheinbaum is running for the ruling, leftist Morena party of her mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the president, who critics view as having been soft on the cartels, including ordering security forces to avoid armed confrontations with them.
She is polling about 45 per cent of voting intentions ahead of the June election, some 20 points ahead of her nearest rival, the centre-Right senator Xóchitl Gálvez, also 61. Barring a political earthquake, that means Mexico is set to have its first female president.
Dr Sheinbaum is the granddaughter of Jewish refugees from Bulgaria and Lithuania, and has a PhD in energy engineering. Recently she has been talking about her intention, if elected, to prioritise water sustainability and renewable energy.
That would mark a clear break from Mr López Obrador, whose energy policy prioritised Pemex, the creaking state oil monopoly. Analysts now wonder in which other areas Dr Sheinbaum might seek to differentiate herself from her predecessor, including his often autocratic attacks on the media.
