Mexican Bishops evaluate Claudia Sheinbaum’s management to a year of government

At this October 1, a year that Claudia Sheinbaum assumed the presidency of Mexico, the Mexican bishops took stock of their management and recognized advances in security, economy and diplomacy, but also warned that serious challenges persist in the matter of violence, poverty and balance of powers.

Security strategy “begins to pay fruits”

Through a messagethe Conference of the Mexican Episcopate (CEM), acknowledged that “the problem of the lack of security and rule of law is far from having resolved.” Even so, they stressed that “the security strategy proposed for a year by the president, in addition to the disarmament campaign and reforms to combat organized crime, begin to perform fruits.”

The National Security Strategy It was presented by Sheinbaum on October 8, 2024 and is based on four axes: attention to the causes, consolidation of the National Guard, strengthening of intelligence and research with a new national intelligence system, and coordination with federative entities.

One of the initiatives designed together with the Catholic Church was the voluntary disarmament campaign In the parish atriums, where citizens have been collected without legal consequences in exchange for cash, pantries or toys.

According to the study T-Research: The war in numbersin the first twelve months of the Sheinbaum government, 25,706 malicious homicides were recorded, an average of 71 daily. In the same period of his predecessor, former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the figure amounted to 36,443, that is, 100 daily.

The Episcopate warned, however, that the “decrease in violence has to go hand in hand with the decrease in corruption, social cancer of unimaginable scope, which causes so much damage to the hope of a prosperous Mexico.” In that sense, the bishops reiterated their commitment to continue “supporting the search for peace and concord” through their own and collaborative initiatives with the authorities.

Reduction of economic inequality

The Mexican bishops warned that there is an economic “low growth” that “has been crawling from the previous administrations.” However, they acknowledged that with Claudia Sheinbaum, “a significant reduction in inequality coefficient has been contemplated.”

“We appreciate in everything that is worth the achievements in this matter, however, we are not hidden, that the serious historical ballast of poverty is still far from the decrease that our people deserves and wishes,” said the CEM.

The prelates assured that this advance can only be consolidated with “the promotion of work and the decent development of all Mexicans without depending on both government gifts.”

Tensions with the United States

The bishops also addressed the relationship with the United States and Tensions with President Donald Trump around tariffs and immigration policy. They stressed that Claudia Sheinbaum’s diplomatic work has “prevented a collision of great scope with our main commercial partners, both in the tariff sector and in the common security.”

At the same time, they called on “not giving in the defense of our nationals” and recalled that “the dignity of all and all, including migrants and members of other traditionally disadvantaged groups, must take care of themselves as our greatest treasure.”

Balance of powers

On the institutional field, the bishops expressed their concern again for the Reforms to the Judiciarypromoted by former President López Obrador and the Morena political party, which allow the direct election of ministers, magistrates and judges. Since 2023, the CEM He manifested againstwarning that the reform could “put at risk the balance of powers that supports our democratic structure.”

After the approval of the reform on June 1, the bishops pointed out that it “disrupted a lot of being a neat and democratic process.”

Also, in the face of an upcoming electoral reform that seeks to make changes in the Congress of the Union, the federal bicameral legislative body of the country, called for “sustaining democratic channels that have cemented republican coexistence since the late last century”.

A second year of collaboration

To conclude his message, the Episcopate reiterated his willingness to continue collaborating on these issues during the second year of Sheinbaum’s government and urged the authorities to continue widening the channels of understanding between the secular and religious instances, respecting the secularity of our state, with a view to benefiting the noble people of Mexico. “