Sheinbaum: US Decision to Name Cartels 'Terrorists' 'Must Not Be a Pretext for an Invasion'
mexicosolidarity.com
In opposition-run Aguascalientes, Sheinbaum called welfare spending 'investment, not expense,' pointing to the trillion pesos now behind programs recast as constitutional rights.

This article by Emir Olivares originally appeared in the September 4, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left-wing daily newspaper.

Aguascalientes, Ags. In her first accountability report in a state governed by the opposition, two years into her administration, President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo stressed, as part of the country’s “profound changes,” that the United States’ decision to designate organized crime as terrorist groups “must not be a pretext for an invasion,” and “that is how we put it in Article 40 of the Constitution,” she said.

She recalled that she also sent an initiative to the Congress of the Union to bar people with dual nationality from being candidates for the Presidency of the Republic, for governor, or for the head of government of Mexico City. “They must be exclusively Mexican.”

The president also defended the welfare programs, noting that “there are some who don’t like them, because they say too much money is spent,” but that when people are supported, “the one who has the least, the economy flourishes,” she said.

It is not spending, it is investment.

Claudia Sheinbaum

She stated that “it is not spending, it is investment, because when senior citizens have support, we are investing in Mexican families so that they can have the minimum, the basics to get ahead.”

When we give a scholarship to students, “it is not spending, it is investment in education for young people, for the children of Mexico; when we invest in a school, it is not spending, it is investment so that education can be had; and when we invest in support for the countryside, for farmers, it is not spending, it is investment so that the land can be cultivated; and so with each one of the welfare programs.”

She emphasized that this year one trillion pesos is allocated to the programs. “It is a vision of solidarity, of fraternity; that is why the programs today are social rights.”

During the assembly, attendees voiced rejection of the PAN governor, Teresa Jiménez, throughout her welcome speech, despite a call for respect from the head of the Federal Executive.

Thus, in the San Marcos neighborhood, in the state capital, Teresa Jiménez, of the PAN, welcomed her amid jeers.

She put to a vote of the attendees whether to allow the opposition governor to speak. The majority approved it. “Practically unanimously, we are going to respect one another,” Sheinbaum said. But even so, the rejection continued until the PAN representative stopped speaking.

“Aguascalientes receives you with respect and hospitality. Your visit represents an opportunity to strengthen the dialogue between the federation and the states and to renew our shared responsibility,” Jiménez told her, and affirmed that Aguascalientes “will rise to the occasion and do its part.”

And she expanded on the social supports. Supporting those who have the least “is a vision of solidarity, of fraternity. That is why the welfare programs today are constitutional rights.”

She cited that in Aguascalientes 420,952 people are supported directly, without intermediaries, she stressed. “It is an investment of nine billion pesos.”

Among the supports, she mentioned that 137,717 senior citizens aged 65 and over receive their bimonthly pension of 6,400 pesos “and each year the pension will increase above inflation.”

She also mentioned that 19,000 people with disabilities receive a pension; 474,402 high school students are on scholarships, and all girls and boys in public schools receive support.

The post Sheinbaum: US Decision to Name Cartels ‘Terrorists’ ‘Must Not Be a Pretext for an Invasion’ appeared first on Mexico Solidarity Media.

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