Defense of Sovereignty “Is Not Rhetoric, It’s Principles,” Sheinbaum Says

ByAnahí Del Ángel

This article by Anahí Del Ángel originally appeared in the October 9, 2026 edition of Contralínea, an investigative Mexican news outlet.

The defense of sovereignty “is not rhetoric, it’s principles,” said President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, in response to questions about whether her stance is enough to confront pressures from the United States.

During the October 9 morning press conference, the president maintained that the defense of sovereignty does not constitute an instrument for evading other issues of the public administration, but rather a principle that must remain in the collective memory: “It is part of our history and we must always defend it.”

In that sense, she recalled that Mexico faced pressures from foreign powers in different episodes, particularly during the 19th and 20th centuries. For that reason, she stated:

A people that has no memory has no compass.

President Claudia Sheinbaum

Sheinbaum Pardo questioned the decisions adopted during the neoliberal period, considering that greater foreign influence was then allowed in the definition of the country’s economic policy. She also referred to the government of Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa, whom she blamed for having allowed greater participation of U.S. agencies in Mexican territory.

In addition, in response to questions about the economic situation and criticism that the defense of sovereignty would not be enough to confront external pressures, she replied that her administration is also working on well-being, education, health, and infrastructure.

She highlighted that 42 million Mexican women and men directly receive support from the Well-Being Programs. She also asserted that, by the end of the six-year term, 400,000 new spaces will have been created in upper secondary education and 300,000 in higher education.

In terms of health, she noted that her administration is working on the consolidation of the Universal Health Service, through the expansion of care capacity and the strengthening of prevention actions.

The President of the Republic also defended her administration’s infrastructure program, which she described as “the most ambitious of any six-year term,” with highway, energy, and water projects, including electricity transmission and distribution networks.

“Mexican women and men know that we work permanently for the people of Mexico, and for the well-being of all Mexicans,” she concluded.