State Will Rescue Steel Plant Together with Workers, Says Sheinbaum

ByMexico Solidarity

This article by Leopoldo Ramos, Martín Sánchez and Iván Sánchez originally appeared in the September 8, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

At the close of the first stage of her accountability tour, President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo stated from Saltillo, Coahuila, that her government will fulfill its commitment to recover Altos Hornos de México (AHMSA) and ensure that employees are prioritized in the legal proceedings facing the state’s largest steelmaker.

“One of my 100 commitments was to resolve the AHMSA issue, and we will fulfill it. I inform the workers that in the ongoing trial, we set a condition for the judge: workers first, above creditors, above all else; justice for the workers first, and I am confident we will achieve it. Together, we will recover the Coahuila steelworks,” she emphasized.

The President began the third day of this tour in Saltillo—during which she will visit all of the country’s states to deliver her first State of the Union address—where she announced that, as part of the Comprehensive Program for the Export of Quality Meat, within the framework of Plan Mexico, which aims to counter the “unilateral” closure of the border to Mexican cattle decreed by the United States, this state will receive an investment of 650 million pesos.

These resources are added to the 700 million announced the day before in Durango and the 831 million in Sonora, to make Mexico a producer of high-quality meat.

Accompanied by the state’s Governor, Manolo Jiménez Salinas (PRI), in the open-air auditorium of Las Maravillas Park, the President also addressed the issue of the 65 workers trapped in the Pasta de Conchos mine since February 2006: “We are doing justice in the Pasta de Conchos case; we will not leave until we find the last miner. This is a government that promotes justice.”

So far, the remains of 23 workers have been recovered; of these, 21 have been identified and 17 have been returned to their families.

The Governor expressed his support, particularly for their joint work on security. “We want to congratulate you on this great new security model, for which you have undertaken major efforts nationwide (…) Let there be no doubt: here in Coahuila, Madam President, we rule the institutions; criminals here run into a wall, with you and with us.”

Later, from Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, Sheinbaum reported that by 2025, 1,161,351 people in this state will be eligible for the Welfare programs, to whom an investment of 22,771 million pesos will be allocated.

Before Governor Américo Villarreal (Morena), President Sheinbaum announced several projects for the state, such as highways connecting Tampico with San Luis Potosí and Reynosa, and the rehabilitation of hospitals in Ciudad Madero, Tampico, and Altamira.

She mentioned that the Mexico-Saltillo-Nuevo Laredo passenger train will soon be launched; she also reported that 9 billion pesos have been allocated for modernization in irrigation districts 025 and 026.

From Veracruz, where she concluded her tour, the President announced the reactivation of the state’s petrochemical industry; she said she is working closely with the local government to complete the Escolín fertilizer plant project in Poza Rica.

Along with state leader Rocío Nahle (Morena), whom she recognized for her work leading the construction of the Dos Bocas refinery, President Sheinbaum also indicated that important health sector projects have been carried out in Veracruz, such as the construction and rehabilitation of hospitals.

She highlighted the negotiations with the Donald Trump administration and the agreements reached to cooperate, without subordination, with the United States.

At the end of the day, the President posted on social media: “We concluded the first part of the national tour to present our accountability to the Mexican people; today we visited Coahuila, Tamaulipas, and Veracruz. Thank you for so much affection; love is repaid with love.”

On Friday, the President began this unprecedented tour to give an account of her actions and present her first Informa address—no other President had done so before—which included visits to León, Guanajuato; the capitals of Aguascalientes and Zacatecas; on Saturday, she visited Durango, Durango; Hermosillo, Sonora; and Monterrey, Nuevo León. She will visit the rest of the country in the coming weeks.

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