Claudia Sheinbaum has managed, since she won the presidential elections, to stay in the spotlight every day. Between the almost daily press conferences she has held and the weekly appointments of her government team, she has managed to captivate the cameras and microphones, ready to listen to what the future president has to say about whatever happens in the country. The virtual president is sharing the headlines these days with the omnipresent Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has almost daily set the agenda in the last six years. The trickle of appointments for the next Cabinet has a new chapter this Thursday. Sheinbaum’s team has told EL PAÍS that it might not include powerful portfolios such as the Ministry of the Interior or those related to security, which have aroused great expectations. The heads of some State secretariats, such as Education, Culture, Labor, Welfare or Tourism, have yet to be defined.
The appointments scheduled for this Thursday make up a third package. The first name that Sheinbaum announced was that of Rogelio Ramírez de la O as head of the Treasury. A signal to calm the markets, after Morena swept the elections on June 2 and steamrolled the peso in Congress and the Senate. Two weeks ago, the president-elect chose her next six Cabinet members, confirming Juan Ramón de la Fuente in the Foreign Ministry; Marcelo Ebrard in the Economy; Alicia Bárcena in the Environment; Julio Berdegué in Agriculture; Ernestina Godoy in the Legal Counsel; and Rosaura Ruiz in the new Secretariat of Science, Humanities, Technology and Innovation. Later, and in a loose manner, she appointed José Merino as head of a new Digital Transformation Agency.
Last Thursday, seven days ago, Sheinbaum introduced five new members of her Cabinet. She placed Raquel Buenrostro in Public Service; Edna Elena Vega Rangel in Territorial and Agrarian Development; Luz Elena González Escobar in Energy; Jesús Antonio Esteva in Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation; and David Kershenobich in Health. All the appointments made so far have been in line with gender parity and have sought to be a good balance between the experience in the field of those chosen, with their loyalty to the political movement and commitment to public service. The nominations have also been a nod to continuity with the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, by rescuing officials from the Cabinet chosen by the president.
Despite the progress made by Sheinbaum with the 13 names, interest is focused on one of the strongest portfolios, the Ministry of the Interior, which the pools predict could end up in the hands of the current Secretary of Security, Rosa Icela Rodríguez, or the national president of Morena, Mario Delgado. Expectations are also focused on who will lead the departments in charge of security, one of the issues that is expected to be most important in the next six-year term. Regarding who will lead these secretariats, the president-elect has not wanted to reveal names and has specified that the appointments for both the Navy and the Ministry of Defense will be made closer to her inauguration on October 1.
The trickle of appointments has caused interest in Sheinbaum’s team to remain constant, possibly over the next few months. The president-elect has victoriously dodged anxious questions from the press about the future of the portfolios. “We will talk about it tomorrow,” she said on Wednesday when asked about the next names. López Obrador’s heiress has already begun to draw her own line, and to set her own agenda every day. A space that the current president and his successor are fighting over, at least until the change of government.
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