Claudia Sheinbaum will take office as president of Mexico on Tuesday, almost four months after her resounding election win. She will become the country’s first female leader during a period of rampant criminal violence in Latin America.
The 62-year-old former mayor of Mexico City and powerful figure in the ruling party will take office in front of foreign guests, such as US First Lady Jill Biden and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
“It’s time for women and transformation,” Sheinbaum has said on several occasions, in a nation with a history of gender-based discrimination and violence, with around 10 women or girls murdered every day.
But having a woman president is no guarantee of a greater focus on women’s rights, said Maria Fernanda Bozmoski, deputy director of the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center at US-based think tank the Atlantic Council.
“When we think of other women leaders in the region, that hasn’t necessarily translated into women’s issues being a priority,” she told AFP, noting that Sheinbaum also faced other pressing issues such as security, energy and foreign policy.
Before a ceremony in Mexico City’s main square, Sheinbaum will take the oath of office in Congress, formally becoming the head of state of the 129 million-person nation that speaks Spanish.
Felipe VI, the King of Spain, is one well-known person who will be noticeably absent; Sheinbaum declined to extend an invitation to him, claiming he did not recognize the harm caused by colonization.
Spain responded by declaring that, in spite of its close historical and economic ties to Mexico, it would boycott the inauguration.
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