President AMLO's Sixth & Final Informe - Mexico Solidarity Media

Friends:

Today I will be delivering before you and before the people and the nation my final State of the Nation Report, and I do so more convinced than ever that the best of Mexico is its people, heir to civilizations that flourished long before the arrival of the European invaders.

Thanks to the roots of those pre-Hispanic cultures, of that deep Mexico, the Mexicans of today are, in their vast majority, honest and solidary-minded workers. The legacy of good principles that were transmitted from generation to generation and that have not disappeared despite oppression, classism, and racism, is what distinguishes us and defines us as a country of virtues and greatness. Mexico’s unique and splendid political history also stems from this root and trunk.

Let us not forget that the fathers of our homeland – Hidalgo and Morelos – not only fought for independence, but also for the abolition of slavery and against inequality.

Juarez established the secular state.

And between 1910 and 1917, our country was the protagonist of the first social revolution of the 20th century. Here, the Flores Magón brothers fought for workers’ rights. Here, the revolutionary hero of the people, Francisco Villa, and the most authentic defender of the peasants, Emiliano Zapata, took up arms to demand freedom, land, and justice.

How many democrats – I say this with respect – in the world, how many sincere democrats have there been like Francisco I. Madero? How many presidents have professed as much love for the poor people as General Lázaro Cárdenas del Río

That is what we Mexicans are made of. We are heirs of a grandiose past and of an exceptional and fruitful history. This explains to a great extent why it did not take us long to reverse the decadence produced by neoliberal or neoporfirista policies, and how we were able, relatively rapidly, to lay the foundations to initiate a new stage that is already known and identified as the Fourth Transformation of Mexico’s public life.

Even though we do not disdain the ideas and work of the great thinkers and political leaders in the history of the world, we have always been inspired by those who have fought for humanist and patriotic causes in our country.

We learned that Hidalgo said, more than 200 years ago, that the only god of the oligarchs was money; we knew the Sentimientos de la Nación of Morelos that recommended “raising the wages of the laborer” and “educating the son of the peasant like the son of the richest landowner” and proposed creating courts to protect the weak from the abuses committed by the strong; we memorized the wise words of Juárez, tell me if this isn’t true, that “with the people everything, without the people nothing”;

We followed the precept of Ricardo Flores Magón that “only the people can save the people”;

We did not forget when Zapata was offered a ranch, a large estate and he answered that he had not entered the Revolution to become a landowner;

We heard that the straightforward Villa was of the opinion that the country should be governed by someone who really loved his people and his land, and who would share its wealth and progress.

How can we ignore the motto of the Apostle of Democracy, Francisco I. Madero, “effective suffrage, no re-election,” or the sentence of Lázaro Cárdenas according to which “a government or individual that hands over natural resources to foreign companies betrays the homeland.”

We began our government with this ideology almost six years ago. The first thing we did was to reform our Constitution, as far as possible, and promote laws to curb the anti-popular, submissive and corrupt policies that had been imposed and legalized by the predominance of an oligarchic power with the appearance of democracy.

On February 5th of this year, we presented 20 constitutional reforms to Congress to restore to the Magna Carta the revolutionary and popular character it had in its original drafting in 1917. These proposals are clearly different from, and in contrast to, the reforms that were approved during the 36 years of the ill-fated neoliberal period, when no thought was given to benefiting the people but rather to adjusting the legal framework to facilitate the dispossession and handing over of the people’s and the nation’s assets to a rapacious minority.

Now, fortunately, we are living in a true democracy, building a new, exalted, fraternal homeland.

And here I begin to point out what we have done together, and from below:

While during the Calderón and Peña administrations 100,000 people became poorer every month, during our government, on the contrary, 100,000 Mexicans are lifted out of poverty every month.

From 2018 to 2022, according to INEGI , 5.1 million people were lifted out of poverty ; that is, 5.6 percent. Something that had not happened in more than 30 years. In fact, a few months ago, the World Bank announced that from 2018 to 2023, poverty in Mexico went from 34.3 million people to 24.7; that is, in 5 years, 9.5 million Mexicans were lifted out of poverty.

In Calderón’s time, according to official figures, a rich person earned on average 35 times more than a poor person; now the difference has decreased to 15 times.

The minimum wage has increased by more than 100 percent in real terms, something that had not occurred in in the past 40 years.

We have restored lands and waters to the indigenous peoples , as we did with the Yaqui peoples, to whom we returned 45 thousand hectares and built an aqueduct and an irrigation district for them.

All senior citizens in the country receive a bimontly pension of 6,000 pesos (US$304).

One million 482 thousand people with disabilities are supported with 3,100 pesos (US$1.57) bimonthly.

Almost 10.88 million scholarships were awarded to preschool, primary and secondary school students.

All high school students in public schools receive scholarships.

Almost 1.33 million university students from poor families have received an educational scholarship. In 2024, the bimonthly amount of this scholarship has been 5,600 pesos (US$157).

Every year, 262,000 single mothers are supported to ensure that their children do not drop out of school.

Some 85 billion pesos (US$4.30 billion) were given directly to parent associations for the maintenance of 174,000 public schools .

With the participation of teachers, 160 million textbooks with a scientific and humanistic orientation were produced.

The Fondo de Cultura Económica has published a total of 17,365,000 books.

Collection 21 for 21 was published on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Tenochtitlan and the Spanish invasion of our country.

During this six-year term, we have increased the salaries of education workers by 48 percent and no basic education teacher dependent on the federation earns less than 17,000 pesos (US$861) per month.

960,000 education workers have been given permanent positions.

202 Benito Juárez Universities for Well-Being have been created in the poorest and most marginalized areas of the country, where 56,464 students are studying on scholarships. 7,755 students have graduated from these universities, of which 3,299 have already graduated.

On September 14, we will inaugurate the IPN Interdisciplinary Engineering Studies Unit in Palenque, Chiapas, with capacity for 3,000 students.

The scholarship program for students from poor families has allowed us to significantly reduce school dropout rates at all educational levels. In the 2017-2018 school year, 0.5 percent dropped out of primary school; for the 2023-2024 school year, only 0.3 percent dropped out; in secondary school, the dropout rate dropped from 4.6 to 2.4; in the vocational technical subsystem, the dropout rate was reduced from 27.4 to 12.1; in high school, from 14.5 to 8.5; and in higher education, from 8.4 to 5.3 percent.

The Technological Baccalaureate for Sports Education and Promotion was created. Currently, 1,470 students are enrolled in seven schools that operate in the states of Campeche, Veracruz, Sonora, Mexico City, State of Mexico and Tlaxcala. In addition to the academic aspects, which are very important, specialties in baseball, boxing, athletics and physical therapy are also offered.

The baseball stadiums in Hermosillo, Ciudad Obregón, Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche, and Cancún have been improved, the new stadium in Nayarit is nearing completion, and the one in Mérida, Yucatán is being expanded and improved.

Last year, Mexico took third place in medals at the Pan American Games , and recently, at the Olympics , we won five medals, three silver and two bronze. Congratulations to all the athletes, coaches and their families! Likewise, our Paralympic athletes are competing in Paris with great success these days, and on September 17, all members of the two delegations will receive their financial incentives, as has been done year after year.

We have invested 132 billion pesos to finance the program Jóvenes Construyendo el Futuro (Youth Building the Future) , in which 2 million 973 thousand 455 girls and boys have worked as apprentices in workshops, stores, companies and other productive activities. The amount invested to scale this youth care program exceeds all the money allocated to young people during the previous five six-year terms.

The Institute to Return Stolen Property to the People was created , which has made it possible to help poor and marginalized regions of the country.

Five thousand 758 poor communities in eight states of the country have benefited from the Tianguis del Bienestar (Wellbeing Market) , which distributes shoes, clothing, raincoats, fabrics, household goods and other products that have been confiscated by the country’s customs.

Military engineers built 2,750 branches of the Banco del Bienestar . It is the institution, the Banco del Bienestar, with the greatest coverage in the country. This truly popular bank, which reaches the communities, the most remote towns, is dispersing resources of 750 billion pesos annually for the benefit of 27 million Mexicans.

During this six-year term, the Tandas para el Bienestar program was created , which aims to grant interest-free and bureaucratic loans to small business owners, artisans, merchants and other people who are part of the so-called informal economy. In 2020, due to the pandemic – which brought us so much pain – in eight months, 1 million 500 thousand loans were granted to the Word for an amount of 36 billion pesos. From 2019 to 2024, 2 million 800 thousand loans have been placed with an investment of 46 billion pesos.

The Financiera para el Bienestar (Financial Institution for Welfare) was created to grant small loans and deliver remittances to families of migrants, charging fair commissions.

Two million producers and 200 thousand fishermen receive direct financial aid.

Fertilizer is provided free of charge to all small agricultural producers in the country.

In the program Sembrando Vida , 433 thousand farmers have been supported with permanent daily wages since the beginning of the government to cultivate their plots, which has allowed them to plant 1,158 million fruit and timber trees. It is the program, which can be heard clearly, and which can be heard far away: it is the most important reforestation program in the world.

Guaranteed prices are maintained for the purchase of basic foodstuffs .

In 2018, food production in the agricultural and fishing sector was 285 million tons and in 2023 it increased to 299 million tons . Likewise, the balance of the agro-industrial balance in this period went from 3,134 million dollars to 6,909 million dollars ; that is, we sold more than we bought.

There are 24,496 Diconsa stores and 12,331 Liconsa dairies operating , located in marginalized communities and colonies where food is sold at fair prices.

It is already a reality that in 23 states there is a universal and free health system for people without social security known as IMSS Bienestar. This public health system is already the most effective in the world. I said it was going to be the best, that it was going to be like in Denmark. No, it is not going to be like in Denmark. It is better than in Denmark. Look at what IMSS Bienestar has: it has 11,935 medical units or health centers. Keep in mind that there are just under 2,500 municipalities and only 11,935 health centers; 669 hospitals, 42,322 general practitioners, 126,762 nurses, and 30,346 specialists. This is the health system for those without social security.

We have established permanent positions for 176,808 health workers. 176,808 health workers were hired on a fee basis and were workers with very little pay and benefits, and now the majority of health sector workers have their permanent position. We offered this and we are fulfilling it.

When we came to the Presidency, the health sector had 129,482 general practitioners and specialists ; now we have hired 48,736 more; including 5,000 doctors from the sister Republic of Cuba. We are very grateful to them.

Before, the purchase of medicine and medical equipment was a dirty business for influence peddlers and corrupt politicians, even for communicators, I said communicators, no, information mercenaries; today, with the same budget, free medicines are given to all Mexicans without social security.

11,774 committees have been created for the La Clínica es Nuestra program , to which 6,341 million pesos were given for the maintenance of health centers.

ISSSTE was rescued from corruption when we came to power, right, Rosa Icela? When we came to power, even the stretchers were privatized or, as they said, “subsidized,” “subrogated,” all those words that were invented during the neoliberal period. Now ISSSTE has returned to being an institution with integrated public services.

548 ISSSTE clinics and hospitals have been rehabilitated and there are 10 new hospitals , six of them built by us and four acquired because that other way of doing illicit or illegitimate business under the protection of public power has disappeared, the use or management of so-called public-private partnerships has disappeared. Currently, ISSSTE pharmacies fill 98.5 percent of medical prescriptions.

In 2018, the health sector had 96 haemodynamics rooms to treat heart attacks. Heart attacks are unfortunately the leading cause of death in our country, and there were states that did not have any haemodynamics rooms to treat heart attacks. Now there are 144 haemodynamics rooms . In all states there is at least one. These haemodynamics rooms have increased by 50 percent.

Similarly, the number of hemodialysis units has increased, as the second cause of death is diabetes. All of this should lead us to think that during the neoliberal period there was a lot of junk food consumption and that it is urgent, indispensable, and necessary to have a very good nutritional guidance campaign. The number of hemodialysis units has increased from 4,551 to 6,487.

There were 60 linear accelerators for cancer treatment , now there are 76 .

By now, most health centres , especially those in the most remote communities, already have doctors seven days a week, not just from Monday to Friday, because people also get sick on Saturdays and Sundays.

We acquired 90 thousand square meters of covered warehouses in Huehuetoca, State of Mexico, where a Megapharmacy was established, from which medicines are distributed to the entire country so that no one is left without medicines, even if they live in the most remote communities.

In the two previous six-year terms, these were carried out, and this explains why we had enough in the budget for so much; in the two previous six-year terms, various taxpayers, large taxpayers, were pardoned for an accumulated amount of 413 billion pesos. During our government, this privilege was prohibited . Before, the taxpayers, the largest taxpayers, imagine a company, a famous, famous, famous bank, did not pay taxes, the largest, most influential businessmen and bankers did not pay taxes, now almost all of them contribute. That is why I also thank those who are fulfilling their responsibility.

Tax collection in 2018 was 3.1 billion pesos, this year it is estimated at 4.9 billion pesos; an increase of 61.4 percent, in nominal terms.

According to our calculations, and this is very important, we have always maintained for years that Mexico’s main problem was corruption, that nothing has damaged our country more than the dishonesty of rulers and influence peddlers, and that corruption had to be fought not only for moral reasons, but because in this way a lot of funds would be saved and Mexico’s development would be financed. This is what is becoming clear, we have been able to do many things, deliver what the people deserve, which are their social rights, because we have cut off corruption in the Executive Branch. According to our calculations we have saved around 2 billion pesos during the six-year term, by not allowing corruption.

The fight against huachicol alone has generated savings of 342 billion pesos. That amount is what it cost the nation to build the Dos Bocas refinery.

The annual budget rose from $5.3 trillion in 2018 to $9.1 trillion in 2024 , an increase of 71.7 percent in nominal terms.

The growth of public debt has been lower than during the administrations of Calderón and Peña Nieto; with the former, the debt increased by 7.4 points of GDP; with the latter, by 8 and so far with us, it has grown by 4.9 and is estimated to close in 2024, at 6 .

When we came to power, Mexico’s economy was ranked 15th in the world, now it is ranked 12th.

Mexico is considered one of the most attractive countries to invest and do business in . We have achieved record figures in foreign investment . Last year it was 36 billion dollars and in the first six months of 2024 alone, 31 billion dollars of foreign investment have been received.

During this six-year period we displaced China and Canada and today we are the main trading partner of the United States.

For the first time in more than 50 years, the peso has not been devalued; on the contrary, our currency ranks second in the world in terms of strength against the dollar.

When we came to power there were 20 million 79 thousand workers registered in Social Security , now there are 22 million 389 thousand 835 ; until yesterday, that is, 2 million 310 thousand more, formal.

We are the second country in the world, and I did not even think that I would be the president of employment, but look, we are the second country in the world with the least unemployment .

In 2018, the average salary of workers registered for social security was 352 pesos per day, today it is 587 pesos .

A Trust Fund is already in place at the Bank of Mexico to repair the damage caused by the reforms of Zedillo and Calderón, by reducing the amount of workers’ pensions to 30 percent of their salary. Now, all those who earn the average IMSS salary will receive 100 percent upon retirement .

In the Northern Border, half of the VAT is charged since we arrived, and half of the Income Tax ; in that region, gasoline and diesel cost on average 4 pesos per liter less than in the rest of the country and the minimum wage has been tripled in real terms.

This also explains why the budget is sufficient and distributed to everyone. There are no longer very high salaries for public servants of the Federation, I clarify, of the Executive Branch, nor million-dollar pensions for former presidents, that is over.

There are also no savings accounts or trusts for the retirement of senior officials of the Federation.

In the Executive Branch, private medical care for high-ranking officials was suspended; in another of the three branches, private medical care is maintained and even plastic surgery is performed at public expense.

In 2018, and this can be proven, the expenditure of the Presidential office was 3.6 billion pesos, in 2023, only 600 million were spent , that is, one sixth.

The presidential plane and other aircraft intended for public officials were sold and the money recovered was used to build two hospitals, one in Tuxtepec, Oaxaca and another in Tlapa, Guerrero.

The Presidential General Staff has disappeared : the 8,000 members of the Presidential General Staff who looked after the president, who looked after me? This elite group once again became part of the Armed Forces.

173 trusts were eliminated , which were of no use, they were useless, but they caused a lot of administrative costs. We saved 136 billion pesos with this decision.

Republican austerity became a reality, based on the principle that there cannot be a rich government with a poor population. And I’ll give you another example of many: since we came to power, not a single vehicle has been purchased for civil servants. Now it’s time to renew the vehicle fleet.

Just as corruption has been fought, impunity has been fought, and while respectful of the autonomy of the powers, to the extreme of being respectful, because it would not have cost us anything to continue with the translation of centuries of adding the other two powers as an appendix, because for a long time of authoritarian politics the power of the powers was the Executive, or was it not so? We have acted in a respectful manner, we have not wanted to compromise so that everything is approved, on the contrary, we have denounced with facts the acts of corruption and influence peddling that predominate in the Judicial Power . Because of this, we sent to Congress an initiative for the people to elect judges, magistrates and ministers, with the purpose of them dispensing justice for the benefit of all and not being at the exclusive service of organized crime and white-collar crime, that they be at the service of the people.

Let’s see, we’re going to do a poll, even though tomorrow they’re going to criticize us, but it’s very funny because they get so angry and make a fool of themselves, I say this with all due respect, and we couldn’t live so bored. Let’s see, what do you prefer, that the ministers are chosen by the president and the senators or that they are chosen by the people? But we’re going to do it as formally as possible because otherwise they’re going to think it’s one of those polls that Massive Caller used to do, to fool themselves, remember? So that they don’t accuse us of that, because we don’t need to fool ourselves.

Let’s see, raise your hand if you think it’s better for the ministers to be elected, and for the judges, the president and the senators. I don’t see anyone. Raise your hand if you think it’s better for the people to elect the judges and magistrates. Put it down.

Abstentions, let’s see, raise your hand. There are no abstentions. Well, this helps us understand what the people’s feelings are and also so that our neighbors, friends and neighbors in the United States can internalize it. I say this with all due respect and I hope they don’t forget that democracy in America, in the United States began by electing judges. They should not forget that the United States began democracy in this way with the people electing judges. If you want a bibliography, look for “Democracy in America” by Tocqueville. It shows how that great nation was founded, based on democracy.

The Islas Marías stopped being a prison and became a cultural and touristic space; 130 houses were renovated for a total of 390 visitors; two ferries were purchased that go to the Islas Marías from Mazatlán and San Blas, Nayarit. Let me ask you: Are you tired yet? Let it be known that I told you that we were going to take a while, but we are already halfway there.

The Boca de Chila naval base was created to guarantee security on the coasts of Nayarit with the construction of barracks for 1,184 sailors , housing units, a hospital, a hotel and a dock to visit the Pacific islands and the Gulf of California by ferry.

We have led by example. We have argued for several years that the best way to confront the migration phenomenon is to address the causes, supporting countries with poor populations in Central America and the Caribbean. The United States already did this on one occasion when the Alliance for Progress was formed with President Kennedy. This is necessary. Now we must return with a plan to countries with poor populations of migrants, because those who abandon their families and communities do not do so out of choice, they do so out of necessity. We must lead by example while they decide and resolve the issue. This is the best way to confront the migration phenomenon. It is not with walls or militarizing borders that the migration phenomenon will be resolved. While the causes are addressed, we are helping with the programs Sembrando Vida and Jóvenes Construyendo el Futuro and with other actions for our sister republics, our brother peoples of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Haiti, Venezuela, Colombia, Belize and Cuba, and we will continue to do so.

We have fulfilled our commitment not to increase the real cost of gasoline, diesel, gas and electricity ; in some cases, these prices have even been reduced. We have fulfilled that commitment.

Inflation is 5.16 percent annually, but we maintain the Basic Basket program of 24 foods that has decreased from 1,339 pesos to 800 pesos; here I thank the support that the commercial chains have provided, a round of applause for the commercial chains, which have helped to avoid the shortage. It helps us a lot, this must also be taken into account, to keep the prices of gasoline, diesel, gas and electricity low .

In 2023, remittances amounted to 63.32 billion dollars, 184 percent more than in 2018. This record figure benefits 12 million families in towns, municipalities, and states of the country. This year, support from our countrymen to their families will reach 65 billion dollars . This is the main source of income for our country. A round of applause and our gratitude to our fellow countrymen who live and work abroad.

By the end of 2023, 42 million 153 thousand international tourists had arrived in the country, which represented an economic impact of 30 thousand 809 million dollars ; so far this year, the growth is considerably greater and we are already ranked 6th among the most visited countries in the world.

The fame of Mexico Tenochtitlan is so great that, like never before, people of all nationalities have decided to come and live in our country, and they are welcomed, particularly many Americans who have decided to come and live and work in our country.

In 2023, bankers earned record profits of 272 billion pesos, 73 percent more than in 2018. Likewise, the Stock Market Index grew by 25 percent.

Despite the pandemic and the global crisis unleashed by the war between Russia and Ukraine, and after the economy fell by up to 8.5 percent in 2020, we got back up and since 2021 to date we have grown an average of 3.4 percent annually, in the six-year term, even with the pandemic, this crisis had not been seen at least in the last century of our history, that fall in the economy due to the pandemic that affected Mexico and the world, even with that, we are going to end the six-year term with an average growth of one percent, something truly exceptional in the face of an extremely difficult economic environment in the country and in the world.

In the first quarter of 2024, the informal employment rate stood at 54.3 percent of the population aged 15 years or older, which implies a reduction of 4.2 percent compared to the beginning of the six-year term.

As of today, the Bank of Mexico’s international reserves total 224,709 million dollars , 29 percent more than in 2018, a historic record for international reserves.

The decree on fiscal incentives for the Southern Border has already come into effect . Where is Mara? And Layda, too, and Rutilio and Carlos. In particular, Chetumal, Quintana Roo, was exempt from paying taxes on imports so that it can once again be Chetumal, as those who are older and live in the southeast know, can buy merchandise, imported products at a low price.

We are one week away from inaugurating the complete Maya Train, the entire circuit will cover 1,554 kilometers ; 690 of them with double electrified tracks; it included the construction of 34 stations in five states in the southeast; it generated 660,508 jobs , as well as the acquisition of 42 trains, 219 wagons, an investment of 515 billion pesos. Public budget, not debt.

Very important conservation work was carried out in 30 archaeological sites of the great Mayan culture. Diego Prieto must be around there, he has helped us a lot, and archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, ethnologists from the INAH.

Six hotels with 1,136 rooms are about to be completed in the Mayan zone . I invite you, when you can, to visit this region of the country, it is one of the most beautiful in the world, there is no region in the world with such artistic and cultural wealth as the ancient Mayan nation, I recommend it to you, because in addition to the culture, the art, the nature, the beautiful beaches and tropical forest with animals, with the most varied native fauna that is preserved in our country and in the world.

The Jaguar Park in Tulum has been completed ; 10 archaeological museums have been rehabilitated and created, and La Plancha Park has been built in Mérida.

In the five states through which the Mayan Train passes, complementary works were built for the well-being of the people and 223,648 trees of the species balché, guayacán, maculí, flower trees, among others, were planted on the banks of the road .

196 roads with a length of 1,000 kilometers that were affected by the transport of materials for the construction of the Mayan Train are being rehabilitated , especially the ballast that was taken from Los Tuxtlas to the Peninsula.

The freight and passenger railway from Coatzacoalcos to Salina Cruz was completed .

The ports of the Interoceanic Corridor were rehabilitated , a 1,600-meter offshore breakwater was built in Salina Cruz, Oaxaca , with an investment of 4,775 million pesos.

In the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Corridor, construction is about to begin on 10 industrial parks to create jobs and produce goods, as well as to produce green hydrogen for the international industry.

Before the end of our mandate, we will finish the track for the Palenque-Coatzacoalcos passenger train, and the railroad from Ixtepec to Ciudad Hidalgo, on the border with Guatemala, will be in progress.

We finished the Guadalajara Light Rail .

The train from Tlajomulco to Guadalajara is under construction with the participation of the state government.

The train from Felipe Ángeles Airport to Lechería is nearing completion , which will take you from Felipe Ángeles to the Buenavista station in the center, here in Mexico City, in 45 minutes.

We finished the “El Insurgente” train from Toluca to Santa Fe , and at the end of the year it will reach the Observatorio station, right, Claudia?

We are building an important railway bypass in Nogales, Sonora.

In total, 2,300 kilometers of railway lines for passenger trains will be built , which means the restart of a new stage, after the national railways were privatized during the neoliberal period and passenger trains disappeared. It is a new stage. Here I take the opportunity to congratulate our president-elect, the next constitutional president.

The airports of Tuxtla, Chetumal and Mexico City were rehabilitated.

*Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) Photo: Jay Watts*

The new Felipe Ángeles international airport was built ; the Tulum international airport , Felipe Carrillo Puerto, was completed in 15 months . The Tulum international airport, which we call Felipe Carrillo Puerto, was completed in 15 months. This international airport is already receiving flights from various European countries and from States of the American Union. Here I take the opportunity to acknowledge the military engineers.

2 million 495 thousand vehicles of foreign origin have been regularized for the benefit of low-income families. With the small amount they pay for this procedure, 6 thousand 239 million 537 thousand 500 pesos have been accumulated , which are given to municipal and state governments to improve the streets of cities.

The Zapotillo dam in Jalisco was completed without flooding the communities in the area.

The Santa Maria dam in Rosario, Sinaloa , the Pilares dam in Sonora, El Chihuero in Michoacan were completed and the Libertad dam in Nuevo Leon is about to be completed .

Irrigation districts were built in Santa María, Sinaloa; in El Chihuero and Picachos, also in Sinaloa; in the Yaqui towns and the Alejandro Gascón Mercado irrigation district in Nayarit. Note this fact, in contrast to what happened in the six previous six-year terms, in 36 years that coincide with the neoliberal period, in which only 22 thousand hectares were incorporated into agricultural irrigation , in this government of all , 120 thousand hectares of irrigation will be enabled .

We have built dams, reservoirs, pumping plants, storage tanks, water treatment plants and aqueducts to bring 24,550 liters per second of clean water to Concordia and Mazatlán, Sinaloa ; to Xpujil in Campeche ; to the metropolitan area of Monterrey and Guadalajara; to 9 municipalities of La Laguna de Durango and Coahuila; to Macuspana, Tabasco; to Mexico City and to other towns.

It was declared a protected natural area, and this is something exceptional, I also invite you to go, which is the origin of our national shield, the Texcoco Lake was declared a National Protected Area where an airport was planned to be built and an ecological park was created with large educational and sports spaces.

The Mexican government is the majority shareholder of the Altán company , and the Federal Electricity Commission
already has 12,600 antennas throughout the country and enough optical fiber to, together with all the operators, offer Internet service to 120 million inhabitants of 119,259 communities . During this six-year period, Internet access has grown by 20 percent, from 75.5 percent to 95.6 percent of the population. This coverage includes 99,000 free Internet sites in 2,469 municipalities in the country.

A natural gas liquefaction plant was built in Altamira, Tamaulipas, in which the company New Fortress Energy and the Federal Electricity Commission participate in partnership.

The contracts for the construction of gas pipelines that the government had awarded to private companies during the previous six-year term were renegotiated , which reduced the rate by 27 percent and resulted in savings of 4.4 billion dollars for the Federal Electricity Commission.

A photovoltaic power plant was built in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora , which will soon be the largest in America. It is named after Rafael Galván, a true labor leader.

10 combined cycle power plants, 2 internal combustion power plants , 16 hydroelectric plants are being modernized , and 13 plants have been purchased from Iberdrola.

When we arrived, the Federal Electricity Commission only generated 38 percent of national consumption and they were planning to finish it off. If the people had not said enough, it would already be producing at most 10 percent of the country’s electricity generation. That is no longer the case. The Federal Electricity Commission has already been rescued.

341,822 homes were electrified in marginalized communities, benefiting 1,366,310 inhabitants .

Daylight saving time has been cancelled .

The workers of the Federal Electricity Commission have helped a lot in the rescue of this public company and there is evidence that when there is damage caused by hurricanes and other catastrophes, they restore the electric service in a few days. They are like all the workers in Mexico: the best in the world. And enough of the complexes, because we are not going to have complexes nor will we allow them to continue making us feel complexes. Mexico is a cultural power in the world.

Before coming to power, the retirement age of electrical workers was increased and we restored their labor rights.

We have had the support of oil workers to rescue this other company that belongs to the people and the nation. We gave 30,205 Pemex workers permanent positions and granted 90,329 promotions. No one, in this six-year term, no Pemex worker was fired.

When we came to power, only 1,642,000 barrels of crude oil were being extracted daily . We quickly stopped this decline, which had continued for 15 consecutive years, and now we are producing 1,795,000 barrels daily .

Oil reserves have not decreased. They are equivalent to 7.5 billion barrels. We have oil for several more decades in our country.

We have reduced production costs and banished corruption from Pemex.

When we came to power, the debt of this company was 105 billion dollars ; now it is 99 billion dollars ; that is, it was reduced by 6 billion dollars .

The six refineries we inherited were in complete disrepair, they processed 511 thousand barrels daily , and in these six years, they have increased their capacity to 1.06 million barrels ; that is, they went from 38 percent to 65 percent of their capacity.

To achieve this objective, a constant investment of 71,887 million pesos was made during the six-year term in plant modernization and maintenance .

The Deer Park refinery in Houston, Texas was purchased , which was paid for in just 8 months and has so far generated additional profits of $1.12 billion .

The large refinery in Dos Bocas, Paraíso, Tabasco , was completed, with the capacity to process 340 thousand barrels per day and produce 20 percent of the gasoline consumed in the country.

Two coking plants are under construction in Tula, Hidalgo, and Salina Cruz, Oaxaca .

With these works, before the end of our government, we will stop importing 90 percent of fuels and by the end of this year we will be almost self-sufficient in gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

The construction of these works in the oil industry has meant generating more than 100 thousand direct jobs and 150 thousand indirect jobs .

We rescued the fertilizer plants in Pajaritos and Cosoleacaque in Veracruz; the one in Lázaro Cárdenas in Michoacán and the phosphate rock mine in La Paz , Baja California Sur.

In partnership between Pemex and the Carso and Mota-Engil companies, work has restarted on a maritime gas extraction platform and construction is about to begin on a very large fertilizer plant in Escolin, which is much needed, especially because the site where it will be built was abandoned during the neoliberal period. This fertilizer plant will be built in Poza Rica, Veracruz. It is also a tribute to former oil workers.

The Gas Bienestar program was created and I am very proud that a 20-kilo cylinder , which is the one consumed most by poor households, does not exceed 400 pesos .

52 rural roads were paved with a length of 1,656 kilometers .

In Tabasco, the Quintín Arauz bridge was completed ; El Ochenta in Nayarit; La Concordia in Chiapas; and in that state, at the end of the year, the Rizo de Oro bridge will be completed , which will allow connecting towns and communities bordering Guatemala to Tuxtla Gutiérrez, with a time saving of two hours.

We expanded the federal highways from Ozuluama to Tampico , in the states of Veracruz and Tamaulipas, the one from Ciudad Valles to Tamazunchale , in San Luis Potosí; the one from La Pera, Tepoztlán – Cuautla, Morelos . We also delivered the highways from Las Vigas to Cuajinicuilapa, in Guerrero, and the interoceanic axis Acayucan – La Ventosa, in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The Oaxaca to Puerto Escondido highway was completed and the one from Mitla to Tehuantepec, in Oaxaca, is about to be completed. I laugh because look how happy I am, knock on wood but imagine if the people of Mexico had not decided for President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo. Let’s take an example that comes to mind now: we built our house with a lot of effort, as many poor families have done, building their own house little by little. They already have two rooms, a bathroom, their plot of land, their land left, and their first child is getting married, because we have that good custom of our children living with us, and hopefully it will continue like this, it’s not that they are already teenagers and ‘take off’, that doesn’t help, we have an institution, the main institution of social security is the family, which is very supportive and very fraternal, but we are missing something; we started to build the annex, the extension of the house for a son who is getting married, a daughter who is getting married and is building a room and we already have the material, especially those that don’t last, we don’t have the cement, but we have block or rebar, but now we have to go or we go because the creator or science or nature decided so, but what happiness that the one who is going to take your place is an exceptional woman who is going to give continuity to the transformation. That’s why I laugh, because I am absolutely sure that the things that will remain pending will be concluded due to how extraordinary the president-elect of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, is.

Imagine what would have happened. No. Hypocritically, because that is the doctrine of conservatism: hypocrisy. Can I elaborate a little? Hypocritically, when they said in the campaign that they were not going to remove the welfare programs, do you remember, right? They even signed their names in blood and everything. The election is over and they say that one of the mistakes they made is that from the beginning they did not specify, they did not define that they did not agree with the welfare programs, that according to their philosophy, a collection of sophistry, of lies, it was better to teach people how to fish than to give them fish. They say that later. So, what would have happened? Well yes, they were going to change the welfare programs, they were going to take away the people’s rights to social justice, but the people are a lot of pieces, the people are not stupid, they thought they were going to deceive, that they were going to manipulate and it was a “have it” so that they learn, so that they learn to respect the people, if they don’t love the people, they will have to respect them, at least.

We expanded federal highways in several states of the country.

During the six-year term, 58,610 million pesos were allocated for the maintenance and conservation of toll-free roads .

3,017 kilometers of beautiful artisanal paths were built by the hands of women and men from the communities of the towns of Oaxaca. I also invite you to go and see these paths.

This program was extended with very good results to Sonora, Chihuahua, Durango, Nayarit, Hidalgo, Tlaxcala, Puebla, Guerrero and Veracruz.

The road maintenance agreement that was granted during the last six-year term to private construction companies was reviewed and an annual saving of one billion pesos was achieved. This money is being used entirely for the construction of roads in the mountains of Guerrero, one of the poorest areas of Mexico.

More than 1,200 infrastructure projects and public spaces have been built in working-class and marginalized neighborhoods in 190 municipalities in the country.

The reconstruction program for the 2017 and 2018 earthquakes involved rehabilitating and building 63,000 homes, 171 health centers, 5,472 schools and 2,972 temples, as well as other sites of cultural and historical importance with an investment of 33.5 billion pesos .

To date, we have provided support and loans to expand, improve and build housing for 719,778 poor families, with a total investment of 33,347 million pesos .

Infonavit has granted 2 million 668 thousand new loans and has restructured 5 million 238 thousand debts for the benefit of workers.

Fovissste, for its part, has benefited 261 thousand families with an investment of 204 billion pesos.

In previous governments, only three urban development plans were carried out , which is why there is so much corruption in the management of land use. Now, 300 urban development plans have been drawn up, so that they do not build monstrosities like the one they built on the Veracruz boardwalk, which is the result of corruption, it is a building on the boardwalk that is a historic area of the Port of Veracruz. We must take care of that, so that there is no anarchy, no disorder in the urban area, in order to continue preserving the beauty of our country.

The new headquarters of the General Agrarian Archive on Juárez Avenue in downtown Mexico City is well underway . It is the second most important archive in the country and one of the most significant in Latin America.

The former official residence of Los Pinos has been integrated into Chapultepec Park, which now, with the land donated by the Ministry of National Defense, extends to the old town of Santa Fe founded by ‘Tata’ Vasco, by Vasco de Quiroga. It is an area of 800 hectares . It is the largest public park in the world. But I also invite you to visit it, it is beautiful, it is also one of the most beautiful parks in the world. 10,500 million pesos were invested in its rehabilitation and new works .

Federal crimes have decreased by 24.8 percent. Homicide decreased by 18 percent; robbery decreased by 29.5 percent; femicide decreased by 37.6 percent; vehicle theft decreased by 48.6 percent and kidnapping decreased by 77 percent.

During the six-year term, an average of 1,200 arrests of suspected criminals have been maintained daily .

11,295 hectares of marijuana and 66,738 hectares of poppy have been destroyed , as well as 2,570 laboratories for chemical substances produced by drug trafficking. The Armed Forces have seized 52,939 weapons that have been smuggled in mainly from the United States.

We have promoted campaigns against drug use, this is very important, just as we talked about junk food, hence the need to stay united, families, preserve our traditions, preserve our customs, because how can it be explained that we do not have what our neighbors unfortunately suffer, that because of fentanyl consumption, sadly 100 thousand young people lose their lives every year, we do not have that addiction to drugs and why do we not have that addiction to drugs, because of our cultures, our traditions, our customs, because of the integration of families and we must continue to maintain and combat consumption because when consumption grows it is very difficult to confront violence, it is what we always say with great respect to our neighbor: address the causes, why is there so much consumption, that it has nothing to do with the lack of love, with the disintegration of families, with the abandonment of young people, and that the problem is going to be solved only by arresting drug lords? Is the problem going to be solved by eliminating the drug? Fentanyl? If there are consumers, they will invent another more dangerous, deadly substance because that is where the demand is. We have to take great care of that, because do you know how many people lost their lives due to the consumption of chemical drugs in our country last year? 600 people, for 100 thousand young people who lose their lives only due to the consumption of fentanyl. How do we preserve that? We have to do media campaigns to guide young people and continue to maintain the integrity of our families.

We reviewed the contracts of 8 privatized prisons . You know that during the neoliberal period everything was privatized, including prisons, garbage collection, water, not to mention banks, companies, Pemex, the Federal Electricity Commission, etc., etc.

Well, we did not act arbitrarily, we said: Look, this contract is unfair. Because, imagine, communication companies had privatized prisons; they had to be paid, whether the prisons were occupied or not, at the rate of five thousand pesos per day per inmate, it is like a hotel, not a grand tourism one, but like four or five stars. In addition, we had to provide food for the inmates and security. So, we told them: We are not going to take away your contracts, but we have to make a reduction to those contracts.

Do you know how much we saved? Ten thousand 782 million pesos in just eight prisons.

Another thing that is important is not allowing collusion between authorities and criminals. That allowed us to reduce, to a minimum, crimes by public officials, crimes by politicians, that – knock on wood – we have not suffered from.

Not allowing collusion between authorities and criminals allowed us to reduce crimes committed by public officials or politicians to a minimum. Touch wood, we have not suffered from that.

According to the quarterly survey of INEGI, the perception of insecurity is the best or least bad of the last ten years , at 59.4 percent; 15.5 percent less than when our government began.

Unlike what happened under neoliberal governments, there is no repression of the people , no massacres, no torture or disappearances; violations of human rights are not tolerated and there is no narco-state like the one that was established during the previous six-year term.

The National Guard was created , with 135,471 well-trained, disciplined and dedicated personnel to guarantee peace and public safety. The National Guard operates throughout the country in 594 facilities and most of the barracks and housing units were built by military engineers.

We are making progress in the investigation to find the young people from Ayotzinapa ; that is a pending matter, but my term as president has not yet ended and we will continue to search for the young people.

The Security Cabinet meets from Monday to Friday , every day, from 6 to 7 in the morning, with the participation of the Secretaries of the Interior, Public Security, Foreign Relations, Legal Counsel, Defense, National Guard, Navy and Intelligence, with the purpose of jointly addressing, every day, with perseverance, with urgency, all matters aimed at achieving peace, tranquility and governability in the country.

In the fight against organized crime, intelligence is used more than force and the fatality rate has been reduced. What is this fatality rate? To illustrate this important fact, it is worth mentioning that in 2011, during Felipe Calderón’s term, there were 1,076 clashes between the Armed Forces and criminal groups; 1,412 people lost their lives in them , 1,127 were wounded and arrested ; that is, there were 285 more dead than wounded and arrested. In contrast, last year, the clashes were reduced to 486 with a total of 271 dead, and 442 wounded and arrested; that is, there was less use of force and more respect for life.

In May 2022, the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of the Navy assumed control of 50 customs offices in the country . This has meant greater effectiveness in operations to combat smuggling and drug trafficking, and there has been a 4 percent increase in revenue in real terms.

Both border and maritime customs are being modernized and already have better facilities, new bridges, equipment and control and surveillance cameras.

The National Customs Agency , an administrative and military complex located in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, will be inaugurated at the end of this year .

Using dredgers built in the Navy shipyards and others acquired or rented, a comprehensive dredging program was carried out in rivers, streams and ports to improve maritime transport and prevent flooding.

With the support of municipal and state governments, the Navy has taken charge of keeping the beaches of the Caribbean Sea clean of sargassum, clean of sargassum throughout Quintana Roo.

I thank all members of the Armed Forces for their support and backing in ensuring peace, tranquility and progress in the country.

I am more than satisfied with the loyal, responsible and honest performance of the Secretaries of Defense and Navy, General Luis Cresencio Sandoval González and Admiral José Rafael Ojeda Durán.

The rush to grant mining concessions to national and foreign companies has been halted ; no permits have been granted for open-pit mining.

Nor has the planting or import of genetically modified corn for human consumption been authorized.

Drilling of crude oil and gas wells using fracking was banned .

A campaign was launched to recover archaeological pieces and historical documents from the country that were illegally removed and remained abroad. In total, we have recovered 14,047 archaeological, historical, ethnographic and documentary items. I would like to thank my wife Beatriz Gutiérrez for helping us and also for participating in a group of writers and cultural promoters who carried out, throughout the country, the National Reading Strategy and the rehabilitation of historical archives, including the modernization of the National Archives.

We are proud to have found and transferred to our country, after 129 years, the remains of the revolutionary Catarino Erasmo Garza Rodríguez from Bocas del Toro, Panama to his native Matamoros, where we will deliver these remains and erect a monument, a sculpture. We also fulfilled the wish of General Felipe Ángeles that his wife, Clara Krause, be buried next to him.

Likewise, the remains of General José María Dionisio Melo y Ortiz , Colombia’s only indigenous president, who fought during the Reform Movement alongside General Ángel Albino Corzo and under the orders of President Benito Juárez, are being sought in La Trinitaria, Chiapas, for which he was assassinated in 1860 by a gang of conservatives operating in our territory. He had been secretary to Simón Bolívar.

We have not failed to commemorate a single relevant historical date, especially those linked to our Independence, the Reform movement and the 1910 Revolution. The first year we dedicated it to Emiliano Zapata; 2020 to Leona Vicario; 2021 to Independence; 2022 in honor of Ricardo Flores Magón; 2023 to Francisco Villa and this year to Felipe Carrillo Puerto.

These days we are going to inaugurate the Museum of Muralism in the beautiful building of the Secretariat of Public Education.

The renovation of the house where President Benito Juárez García lived in Veracruz and the cultural center where the historic Reform Laws were issued in 1860 have been completed .

In the old Scop Center , affected by the 2017 earthquake, the murals by the artists José Chávez Morado, Juan O’Gorman, Francisco Zúñiga, Guillermo Monroy, José Gordillo, José Best Berganzo, Arturo Estrada Hernández, Luis García Robledo and Rosendo Soto, as well as the sculpture A Cuauhtémoc by Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt, were carefully dismantled, and the project to re-exhibit them in a park that will be created on that same site, here in Mexico City, is about to begin, right, Claudia?

44 protected natural areas were declared , covering 3.1 million hectares, and our government has implemented the most resolutions of this kind in history. The second was the government of General Lázaro Cárdenas del Río, which has much more merit, the government from 1934 to 1940, which already had the vision of protecting nature and the environment.

In 2023, the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve decree was modified , increasing its area to 728,908 hectares, making it the second most important rainforest reserve after the Amazon.

Conahcyt’s budget was increased . The number of postgraduate and research scholarships increased from 113,366 in 2018 to 139,084 to date. Conahcyt, together with a private company in the country, developed the Mexican vaccine Patria against COVID.

Conahcyt has carried out very important research, such as the one that allowed us to have special ventilators to care for COVID-19 patients .

In addition, it has developed research to have biological herbicides that can be an option or alternative to glyphosate .

It is also very important to note here that lithium has been nationalized and technology is being developed to exploit it and use it in the manufacture of electromechanical equipment and energy storage and backup systems. All of this within the framework of what is known as the Sonora Plan.

To guarantee the right to information and to uphold freedom of expression and reply, a press conference was established, “the morning press conference” , a circular and open dialogue that we hold from Monday to Friday from 7:00 to 10:00 in the morning, on average; so far we have held 1,418 conferences.

Every weekend we have been supervising works and collecting the feelings of the people in communities, towns and municipalities of the country . We have visited some states more than 50 times.

According to INEGI, social trust in government increased by 132 percent between 2017 and 2023; and according to the OECD, in terms of social trust, we rank third among all countries that make up that organization for economic development.

We always maintained communication with the people , we never separated ourselves from the people. At the National Palace alone, the Citizen Service Office received 536,297 people; many received a favorable response and all, at least, were listened to and treated with respect.

We are fulfilling the commitment we made to the families of the miners from Pasta de Conchos , Coahuila. Ramps and shafts of considerable depth have been built and we have already managed to reach the galleries where the bodies of the miners are believed to be. We have even found and identified one of them and the search continues. Likewise, in the El Pinabete mine we have recovered six bodies of the 10 deceased miners and the search continues.

This government has been characterized by guaranteeing equality in every sense. In June 2023 there was a cabinet made up of 10 women and 10 men.

*Mexico Solidarity’s Kurt & José Luis from Soberanía: The Mexican Politics Podcast*

The coverage of public media has been expanded . Currently, channels 22, 11, 14 and 21 maintain an audience of 7 million 427 thousand viewers daily.

The secular state has been asserted. We are respectful of all religions and non-believers. It is a source of pride to be able to report that we have strengthened moral, cultural and spiritual values. We have undertaken an open campaign against classism, racism and discrimination. We have exalted the cultural greatness of Mexico.

We will continue to defend family integration in all its forms, the family in its traditional and modern conception because it is an institution that unites us, is a symbol of fraternity, produces happiness and protects us mutually. Let us not forget that thanks to this, as I have already said, we have been able to stop the temptation of drug use that finds fertile ground when there is a lack of love, frustration and abandonment among young people.

In this six-year term we laid the foundations for the transformation that the country needed. It has become clear, among other things, the urgent need to separate economic power from political power and for the government to represent everyone, rich and poor, country people and city people, believers and non-believers; we need, we must not forget this, we need to continue with this policy: an authentic democracy, not a simulation, not an oligarchy with a façade of democracy, true democracy, power of the people, we want Kratos with Demos . Democracy, we have said it several times, is made up of two parts, Demo s is the people, Kratos is power, democracy is the power of the people, what the oligarchs want is Kratos without Demos , they want power without the people. To hell with that!

We have upheld and proven the principle that, for the good of all, the poor come first .

Thirty million households out of the 35 million that exist in our country receive at least one welfare program or a small portion of the public budget, and the rest, those who do not receive direct support, ultimately also benefit because the country has economic growth , consumption capacity, jobs and better salaries, and this reaches the middle classes and all the way up the social pyramid. Here I repeat the peasant chocojarocha phrase that “when the cornfield grows well, it is enough even for the bird.”

It has been demonstrated that it is possible to govern for the benefit of all Mexicans without accepting recipes, models or agendas imposed by international financial organizations or by hegemonic powers of any political or ideological persuasion.

Throughout the six-year term, although we were attacked and slandered by our adversaries as has rarely been seen in our history, we never, ever persecuted, censored or repressed anyone .

It is a source of pride to have been able to demonstrate that transformation can be achieved with the support of the people, even if one is opposed by oligarchic powers and the media or manipulation that in other times imposed ways of thinking and acting in benefit of their interests.

Now I’m done, friends:

As you know, I am about to finish my term and I want to confess, here, in the main square, in the main public square of Mexico, in this Zócalo where we have so often gathered during our fight for justice and democracy: I am going to retire with a clear conscience and very happy.

First of all, nothing makes me happier than having achieved, with the support of many of you, of millions of Mexicans, reducing poverty and inequality in the country. I am also leaving with peace of mind because the person to whom I will hand the presidential sash by mandate of the people is an exceptional woman, experienced, honest and, above all, with good feelings and a good heart; in line with the founding principles of our transformation movement and an authentic defender of equality, freedom, justice, democracy and sovereignty: Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo.

Furthermore, I retire with the pride and honor of having served a good, hard-working, intelligent, fraternal people, heir to the great virtues and values of the ancient Mexicans, heir to the dignity and patriotism of our selfless heroes and heroines, both known and anonymous heroes and heroines.

Much was done by everyone and from below. There is no doubt that we advanced in the revolution of consciences and the foundations were laid to consolidate the new policy called Mexican Humanism , which in essence is to recognize and care for those at the bottom, who remained forgotten and humiliated; we made it clear that power only has meaning and becomes a virtue when it is placed at the service of others.

But even with all that has been achieved, we are still clearly experiencing backwardness due to the long and stormy period in which the government was in the hands of insensitive oligarchs who never cared about the well-being of the people and only dedicated themselves to plundering and preventing the progress with justice of those of us who were born and live in this paradise called Mexico.

For this reason, it is essential to continue fighting to strengthen what has been achieved and to continue building a new, generous and eternal homeland. Let us remember that life is too short to waste it on things that are not worth it, and let us never, ever forget that happiness does not reside in money, in material possessions, in titles or fame, or in the search for power for power’s sake. Happiness is being at peace with oneself, with one’s conscience and with one’s neighbor.