Last Sunday, a rally led by President Claudia Sheinbaum filled Mexico City’s central square, the Zócalo. It was not, however, a political party event, a historical commemoration, or a state of the union address. It was a national unity rally called in the face of ongoing tariff threats by US president Donald Trump. “I have said that we are a government of the people . . . and that whenever there was a need to inform or face adversity, we would be together,” she began. “And besides, we come from a great people’s movement that was created in public plazas, and here we are back with you.”
The presidenta then proceeded to lay out the original intent of the rally: to announce both countertariff and nontariff actions. “Fortunately, dialogue has prevailed and, especially, respect between our nations.”
Following a review of the events of the last few weeks, Sheinbaum took stock of the historical relationship between Mexico and the United States: the invasions of 1846 and 1914, but also US refusal to recognize the usurpations of Maximilian of Habsburg in the nineteenth century and Victoriano Huerta in the early twentieth, as well as the respectful relationship between presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Cárdenas in the 1930s. “The common history of our countries is marked by numerous episodes of hostility, but also of cooperation and understanding,” she reflected. “We are nations in equal circumstances; we are not more, but neither are we less.”
With tariff threats still up in the air, she concluded with a five-point plan to confront the uncertain period ahead: first, to strengthen Mexico’s internal market, including raising the minimum wage and public well-being. Second, to increase self-sufficiency in energy and…
Auteur: Kurt Hackbarth
