Houston residents celebrated first Mexico female President-elect Sheinbaum's victory

Along with campaign collaborators, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, who represents Mexico’s political party MORENA, celebrated her victory as the first woman to win the presidency in history. Image courtesy: Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo / on X.

Mexican nationals in Houston celebrated with joy the first Mexican female president-elect, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, who represents the National Regeneration Movement Party (MORENA), led by current President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Resident Karen Buchetti said she was pleased with Sheinbaum becoming the first woman in history to take office after a long day waiting in the sun to cast her vote.

“I’m so happy with the results because I know that we’re capable of doing even better things than you, men,” said Buchetti. “This victory deserves respect for women because we have been fighting hard to achieve recognition, and we can already see the new generations of women showing leadership in many parts of our society.”

Buchetti flashbacked to the multiple occasions in which the opposition parties have managed to prevent MORENA from coming to power and recognized that Sheinbaum’s victory represents the great effort the party has made during the last decade.

“If there had not been fraud in the elections in the past, López Obrador would have arrived at Los Pinos earlier, and most likely, we would have had a woman president,” said Buchetti. “Now, Miss Sheinbaum has to do great things for the people, and follow the leadership of her successor.”

Buchetti was happy, but others were in the dark, such as Yazmin Pascual, a resident of the state of Arkansas, who couldn’t cast her vote after more than nine hours of waiting in line outside Houston’s Mexican Consulate.

According to officials from the Mexican embassy in Houston, the National Electoral Institute (INE) had just over 3,000 ballots for those already registered and 1,500 for non-registered individuals. but there was not enough time to meet the high demand of Mexicans who wanted to raise their voice, as the voting system closed at 7 p.m. leaving hundreds unable to vote.

“I happened to come to Houston to visit my sister, and I allowed myself to come to the consulate to make my voice heard, but it seems that the millions of dollars we send to our country are not enough to hire more staff,” Pascual said. “We are going to return to Arkansas empty-handed. The idea to close at 7 does not seem fair to me, but maybe they use our money for other things.”

The one voice that resonated was Sheinbaum’s first speech after winning the election when she learned she collected 59% of the almost 55 million votes counted by the INE.

In addition to those numbers, the INE counted 29% of the votes towards Sheinbaum’s political Xóchitl Gálvez Ruiz, who represented the opposition parties; National Action Party (PAN), Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), and the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), which competed in alliance this year.

“We reached nearly 35 million votes,” said Sheinbaum. “And also, we won the leadership of the Mexico City government with Clara.”

The 61-year-old scientist, who graduated from the Autonomous University of Mexico, with a degree in Physics, recognized López Obrador’s ‘Fourth Transformation’, and said she will continue its course during the next six years.

“Today we have made possible, for the people of Mexico, the continuity and the advancement of the fourth transformation,” stressed Sheinbaum. “And also, that for the first time in 200 years, women reach the presidency of the republic.”

Thus, as news of Sheinbaum’s victory spread, several world leaders congratulated the former head of government of Mexico City, one of them being Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, who remarked that the North American trade was the dream of many.

“Congratulations to Mexico’s president-elect, Claudia Sheinbaum, on a historic win,” said Trudeau. “Our free trade agreement is the envy of the world and the result of a strong, mutually beneficial relationship. I look forward to strengthening that relationship with you to create more prosperity for Canadians and Mexicans alike.”

Likewise, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, congratulated Sheinbaum on social media. “Congratulations, @Claudiashein, on your historic election as the first female President of Mexico. Mexico and the EU share deep historical, economic and cultural ties. I look forward to strengthening our bilateral relations under your leadership.”

The praise for Sheinbaum’s victory was joined by the President of the United States, Joe Biden, who expressed a supposed “commitment” to benefit the people of both nations. “I express our commitment to promote the values and interests of both nations for the benefit of our people.”

Beyond Biden’s words, community leaders who fight for the rights of immigrants and have worked so hard for many years to convince the Democratic Party to carry out immigration reform, believe Biden’s remarks are null.

“The president has the power with his pen, if he wanted to change something, he would have already done so based on humanistic and political awareness,” said Nelson Escobar, founder of the Salvadoran Committee of Arkansas, in an episode for the Tu Voz Hoy Podcast program. “We know the political game they have shown and the deceptions they have given us.”

Meanwhile, the inauguration of the current president-elect, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, is set to come on October 1st of this year.

Last updated on June 5, 2024 by Ramón Warini