He advertisement of the second block of the cabinet showed that it follows the Scramble with the National Palace. It will not cause controversy because it is composed of people with experience who arrive with public fame in tow. But behind the scenes you can see the chess that the president is playing Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and its successor, Claudia Sheinbaumwho is cleverly dodging his mentor’s impositions.
The great surprise in this block was Raquel Buenrostrounconditional supporter of the president, who since he was a senior officer in the Secretary of Finance I had direct agreements with him. Lopez Obrador sent it to SATwhere he applied a policy of tax terror and from there he took her to the Secretariat of Economyto reduce the trade confrontation with the White House.
Buenrostro will arrive at the Ministry of Public Functionwhich Javier Corral aspired to, which had been another imposition by the president to Sheinbaum. Corral prepared a deep redesign of the Civil Service and a new organization, the Federal Anti-Corruption Agency, although he did not encourage it and opted to go to the Senate. Estela Damián, a Guerrero politician very close to Sheinbaum, was ready for the position, but she was left behind because of the concession she had to make to the president.
López Obrador, however, wanted Buenrostro to be director of Pemex, and to follow the ideological line, albeit erratic, entrusted to Octavio Romero Oropeza, which is in contrast with the general idea that Sheinbaum has for that company, which she wants to take away from fuel oils and take to clean energy. Who will go to Pemex, one of the most important and strategic appointments of the next administration, is still an enigma.
The first to raise his hand to lead it was the Undersecretary of Finance Gabriel Yorio, who due to his financial profile is not badly regarded. Yorio, however, is not in Sheinbaum’s entourage, who has several collaborators who fit the profile, such as Gerardo Esquivel, one of the main economists in the team of the virtual president-elect, although he is not liked by López Obrador. The media darling for Pemex is Lázaro Cárdenas, who does not have the technical and financial tools to lead the company, but has the brand, which is not enough for what Sheinbaum is looking for.
Cárdenas, however, is not off the radar of the next president. He offered him the Secretary of Energy, but until a few days ago he had not responded to his decision. That dependency had been cherished by Jorge Islas, a UNAM academic with a nationalist and modern vision of the sector, who wrote the energy chapter of the master plan that Sheinbaum announced in March “for the transformation.” The appointment fell to another person, Luz Elena González.
The new Secretary of Energy was Secretary of Finance in Mexico City during Sheinbaum’s government, and is a person she fully trusts. González was her emissary to offer the Secretary of Finance, Rogelio Ramírez de la O, in December to stay in office in the new administration to manage the tight finances that López Obrador was going to leave him. Ramírez de la O negotiated with González the period that he would accept to remain in the Treasury, with the only request that he be allowed to appoint the head of the SAT and the director of Pemex. Since Buenrostro does not arrive at Pemex, its head remains up in the air, as is the case of the SAT, where there is still a possibility that Sheinbaum will keep her promise.
One of the names that she was unable to fulfill in this second block of cabinet appointments was Renata Turrent, who was originally a name she presented to López Obrador to become his spokesperson. He did not pay any attention to her, and her name evolved in hierarchy within the new team. Sheinbaum thought of the Secretariat of Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development, but had to adjust to fulfill the commitment with López Obrador to have a significant number of current officials on her team in a trans-sexennial cabinet. The appointment fell to the current undersecretary Edna Elena Vega, an experienced official with great experience in the field in which she will work.
It was a fine decision, like others he made in this and the previous block of cabinet members, where without confronting the president, he integrated capable people into the new team. However, this was not the case for David Kershenovich, future Secretary of Health, whose appointment was not something that had been decided a long time ago. Until Monday, they had not required it.
His appointment, however, will be very welcome. He is a renowned hepatologist, nationally and internationally, and until recently he headed the National Institute of Nutrition. The problem he has is his age (82 years old) and that position requires a lot of field work, such as in natural disasters. Another shortcoming is that he knows nothing about public policies, which is essential for a good performance.
Kershenovich is a Sheinbaum appointment, as was that of the next Secretary of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation, Jesús Esteva, current Secretary of Works of Mexico City, and very close to the next president. The assignment for him involves two strategic actions. The first is a reconciliation with the builders, with whom Sheinbaum clashed when he came to the capital government and canceled all construction, which stopped urban development. The second is the soft hand and the recognized engineering pedigree – due to his famous father and his very capable wife -, which he will have to use in his dealings with the Ministry of Defense, to gradually reduce the role of builders that they have had in this six-year term and recovering the level and weight of the Secretariat in the development of the country.
The second round of cabinet appointments reflects the tension that exists with the National Palace over a multi-year team, but also the way in which Sheinbaum has been making arrangements with a quality team, yielding to López Obrador, but establishing the terms of autonomy that she will require as of October 1.
X: @rivapa
#Cabinet #Claudia #advances