In her Second Government Report, President Sheinbaum frames defending Mexico’s sovereignty —territorial, energy, food, financial, commercial, health, scientific, and even space— as essential to preserving the nation’s freedoms.

This article by Nancy Flores originally appeared in the September 15, 2026 edition of Contralínea, one of Mexico’s leading investigative journalism outlets.

The construction of a full, plural, and inclusive democracy —based on a national project with social justice— also depends, states President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo in her Second Government Report, on a clear awareness:

To preserve our freedoms, we must defend national sovereignty.

President Claudia Sheinbaum, Second Government Report

Throughout the 1,344-page document, it sets out the progress of that pursuit of sovereignty in strategic sectors, beginning with the defense of the homeland’s territory, not only as the basis of national security but above all in the face of the open and covert pressures of foreign interests. To this is added consolidation in the energy, food, financial, commercial, health, scientific, technological, and even satellite areas.

In her accountability report, the president highlights that the change of mentality among the people has made possible what she calls a “historic political and social transformation that Mexico is [currently] living through.” She also notes that hope has flourished of building a nation for all —with a well-being State benefiting the majority of Mexican women and men— and not one at the service of the elite that governed during the prianismo (the PRI-PAN era).

She observes that the change of regime, which separates economic power from political power, is based on a government at the service of the people, one that fights corruption and continues republican austerity. It is worth recalling that under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, 13.4 million people rose out of poverty, and 1.7 million out of extreme poverty.

The most tangible achievement of this process is the reduction of poverty and inequality, which had reached historic levels caused by four decades of neoliberal policies that privatized rights and the nation’s resources and concentrated national wealth in a few hands.

President Claudia Sheinbaum, Second Government Report

Regarding the new social pact, the document states that it is based on economic and social policies that drive development with well-being, social justice, and sustainability, drawing on public and private investment. And so, Sheinbaum Pardo’s commitment, it adds, is to keep governing “in favor of the collective interest, with honesty, with democracy and citizen participation, with efficiency and a humanist vision.”

Mexican flags for sale ahead of the Independence celebrations

Photo: Camila Ayala Benabib/Cuartoscuro.com

Territorial Sovereignty and National Security

The president’s Second Report explains that, on national security, defense, and sovereignty, the government applies a “comprehensive strategy to safeguard peace, public order, and the integrity of the population, articulating the operational capabilities of the Army, the Mexican Air Force, the National Guard, and the Navy of Mexico to strengthen territorial deployment, the prevention of and fight against crime, as well as the consolidation of strategic infrastructure that increases the State’s response capacity.”

It details that Mexico’s armed institutions are robust and modern, capable of effectively detecting, preventing, and neutralizing threats that compromise the integrity, independence, and sovereignty of the nation. “To this end, the Armed Forces maintained high standards of personnel training; continued the surveillance and protection of the airspace, national seas, and strategic facilities; maintained a permanent deployment of Army, Air Force, Navy, and National Guard personnel to deter drug trafficking and contain criminal activity against the country; and strengthened their operational, strategic, technological, intelligence, and cyberdefense capabilities.” On this last point, it adds that the Navy of Mexico’s cyberdefense capabilities were consolidated, “as a key dimension for the protection of sovereignty and the institutional environment.”

Specifically on the bilateral relationship with the United States, the document states that it was strengthened through political dialogue and institutional coordination, always under the principles of respect for sovereignty, mutual trust, shared responsibility, and cooperation without subordination. “Follow-up was given to the main high-level dialogue spaces, including more than 17 calls between President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo and President Donald J. Trump, as well as meetings with cabinet members, state governments, and the U.S. Congress, which helped advance cooperation and understanding on priority issues of the bilateral agenda, such as security, migration, border infrastructure, regional competitiveness, and the protection of Mexican communities abroad.”

Regarding cooperation on security, the document says that “the actions carried out between September 1, 2025, and August 15, 2026, were conducted in accordance with the constitutional principles that guide Mexico’s foreign policy, strengthening an agenda oriented toward technical dialogue, information exchange, and the building of institutional understanding.”

Reference is also made to the commitments of the Bilateral Implementation Group and of the Cooperation Program on Border Security and Law Enforcement; these included actions to combat illicit finances, fuel trafficking, and extortion, as well as customs exchange and the handling of new threats, though it does not specify which. It adds that Operation Firewall (Cortafuegos) continued in order to strengthen investigations linked to arms trafficking.

Financial Sovereignty

On this point of financial sovereignty, the Report indicates that it has already been demonstrated that one can govern with social justice without compromising the stability of the national finances. “As of the second quarter of 2026, the debt of the federal public sector, measured through the historic balance of the public sector’s financing requirements, stood at 51 percent of GDP, 1.6 percent less than at the close of 2025.”

On that downward trajectory of public debt, it explains that it was achieved without sacrificing social investment or the country’s strategic infrastructure. This, the document states, “is the most conclusive proof that republican austerity is a responsible State policy that strengthens Mexico’s financial sovereignty in the face of international volatility. Within the framework of these measures, fiscal savings of 106.8 million pesos were generated in the Federal Public Administration, resources that are redirected directly to the well-being of the people.”

Commercial Sovereignty

With the aim of facilitating more competitive, secure, and sustainable trade, strengthening commercial sovereignty, and raising operational efficiency, the Second Government Report explains that work was done to strengthen rail freight transport. This, it adds, will increase the volume of goods moved and improve national logistics competitiveness.

In this regard, it reports that the National Railway System has 29,042 kilometers of track and, from January to June 2026, moved 30.2 million passengers and 65.3 million tons of cargo. “In this context, the rail works for passenger trains registered progress on the strategic corridors Mexico City–Pachuca, Mexico City–Querétaro, Querétaro–Irapuato, and Saltillo–Nuevo Laredo, while the studies for the trains between Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, and Saltillo, as well as the train between Irapuato and Guadalajara, are in their final stage of development.”

Food Sovereignty

Another area highlighted is that of food sovereignty. In that sense, it indicates that an agenda is being promoted to drive resilient and sustainable agri-food systems, with rural justice. To that end, technological solutions are being developed together with traditional knowledge, to strengthen the cultivation of corn and beans, with better productivity, resilience, and sustainability.

“The project is led by SECIHTI, in coordination with the Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development and the National Institute of Forestry, Agricultural and Livestock Research. Among the main results: more than 70 tons of native and improved seeds were delivered to nearly 5,000 small- and medium-scale producers, and a national inventory of machinery and water technologies was carried out, which will be validated during 2026 and 2027. Finally, an agroecological transition model was validated in the states of Chiapas, Veracruz, Jalisco, and Chihuahua, demonstrating an increase of at least 20 percent in the yield and profitability of corn and bean production,” the Second Government Report details.

Energy Sovereignty

On consolidating energy sovereignty, the document adds that the aim is to “guarantee the reliable supply of electricity and fuels, expand strategic infrastructure, and accelerate the transition toward renewable sources. To this end, constitutional, legal, and regulatory reforms were promoted that strengthened the sector’s public companies.”

It also notes that “the axes of this policy were the recovery of the State’s stewardship and the establishment of binding planning that articulates decisions on investment, regulation, and infrastructure development with national objectives and needs. In this way, this model guides the growth of the energy system under criteria of sovereignty, self-sufficiency, security, and justice, guaranteeing the supply, continuity, accessibility, reliability, and sustainability of energy for people and productive activities.”

Specifically, it adds that in the area of hydrocarbons a comprehensive exploration strategy is applied with new technologies, subsoil studies, and the incorporation of new areas with oil potential, in order to increase the replacement of reserves.

“Between September 2025 and June 2026, eight new exploratory wells were authorized, six of which began drilling activities with programmed depths of up to 8,482 meters. These operations made it possible to expand geological knowledge of the national subsoil, reduce exploratory uncertainty in areas with hydrocarbon potential, generate fundamental technical information to update knowledge of the subsoil, confirm new exploratory opportunities, and support the planning of future projects.”

Government buildings decorated for the Cry of Independence

Photo: Crisanta Espinosa Aguilar/Cuartoscuro.com

Health and Scientific Sovereignty

To guarantee health sovereignty, the Second Report indicates that molecular epidemiological surveillance systems for respiratory diseases are being consolidated, research into neurodegenerative diseases is being strengthened, and studies on healthy aging, frailty, dementias, and cardiometabolic diseases are being expanded. With these actions, priority groups are being served in order to reduce gaps in health.

The document states that “the country’s health autonomy and national capacity for the production of medicines, vaccines, medical devices, and health supplies were also strengthened through the streamlining of health procedures, the attraction of strategic investments, and the promotion of technology transfer, within the framework of Plan México. Memoranda of understanding were signed with international companies to strengthen productive capacities in strategic sectors and foster clinical research, among which the technology-transfer agreement to begin national production of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines against COVID-19 stands out.”

In this area it is also highlighted that the Secretariat of Health formalized agreements with international laboratories to encourage local production of strategic medicines, as well as to install plants for active pharmaceutical ingredients. This seeks to strengthen national manufacturing capacities and the country’s health sovereignty.

Likewise, it indicates that “improvements were registered in national capacities for technological innovation through the development of patents, medical technologies, rehabilitation devices, diagnostic tools, and precision-medicine solutions. These advances helped drive technology transfer, strengthen national scientific sovereignty, and expand institutional capacities to respond to priority public health problems.”

On the national policy of science, humanities, technology, and innovation, it explains that its objective is to guarantee the right of all people to benefit from scientific, humanistic, and technological development. “The human right to science guides the actions and strategies aimed at broadening access to knowledge, strengthening the capacities for critical thinking, and promoting that the population has the elements to participate in an informed manner in decision-making. This policy is oriented toward strengthening national capacities and building technological sovereignty with a social focus. Among its main strategies are the training and consolidation of the scientific, humanistic, and technological community, as well as the promotion of the development of priority technologies through maturation and scaling processes that address regional and national needs.”

Advances in space sovereignty are also set out. In this regard, the Second Government Report notes that, on June 4, 2026, the Mexican Space Program 2026–2030 was published in the Official Gazette (DOF), “a planning instrument to order the country’s space policy and articulate projects of connectivity, satellite observation, technological development, and space sovereignty. With it, a path was established to move from a model centered on the use of space technology to one oriented toward the development of national capabilities.”

The post “To Preserve Our Freedoms, We Must Defend Mexico’s Sovereignty” appeared first on Mexico Solidarity Media.

From Mexico Solidarity Media via This RSS Feed.