In Her Second Cry of Independence, Sheinbaum Reasserted National Sovereignty
This article originally appeared in the September 16, 2026 edition of Contralínea, one of Mexico’s leading investigative journalism outlets.
Mexico City. From the presidential balcony of the National Palace, and before a Mexico City Zócalo packed with people, President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo delivered her second Cry of Independence, commemorating the 216th anniversary of the heroic feat. As it closed, she reasserted national sovereignty: “Long live a free, independent, and sovereign Mexico!” “Long live!” rang out in unison among those in attendance, amid a jubilation that spread across the historic center of Mexico City.
She reiterated this stance this morning, during the military parade. “September 16, Independence Day, is the living memory of Mexico. It always means holding our heads high and shouting to the four winds that: Mexico will never be anyone’s colony or protectorate! Long live Independence! Long live sovereignty! May Mexico live forever, long live Mexico, long live Mexico!”
Mexico does not bow down, does not kneel, and Mexico is never for sale.
President Claudia Sheinbaum
Before the troops of the Army, the Navy, and the National Guard who marched, as well as the people who gathered to witness it, Sheinbaum Pardo stated that “it is the responsibility of all generations of Mexican women and men to honor what cost lives: to defend the homeland, safeguard sovereignty, and make social justice a reality, for which so many have given their lives.”
She added that, even though some people might wish otherwise, “Mexico cannot be understood without its noble, brave, and hardworking people. Nor can it be understood without its constant struggle for sovereignty and independence. Because in the early morning of September 16, 1810, something was born that has accompanied our people for more than two centuries: the conviction that freedom is won, sovereignty is defended, and a just and dignified homeland is built every day.”
Beyond recalling history, the president also noted that it is that heroic feat of the people, of the heroes and heroines, that “motivates us today. It is the example of our people who have always fought to decide their own destiny; it is the pride of a people who knew how to stand with Hidalgo and Morelos; it is the pride of those who take their destiny into their own hands.”
Below is the second Cry of Independence that the President of the Republic, Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, delivered on the night of September 15 from the National Palace, before ringing the bell:
Mexican women, Mexican men:
- Long live Independence!
- Long live Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla!
- Long live Josefa Ortiz Téllez-Girón!
- Long live José María Morelos y Pavón!
- Long live Leona Vicario!
- Long live Vicente Guerrero!
- Long live Gertrudis Bocanegra!
- Long live Guadalupe Victoria!
- Long live Antonia Nava!
- Long live the heroines and heroes who gave us a homeland!
- Long live the Indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples!
- Long live our migrant sisters and brothers!
- Long live the dignity of the people of Mexico!
- Long live freedom!
- Long live equality!
- Long live justice!
- Long live democracy!
- Long live a free, independent, and sovereign Mexico!
- Long live Mexico!
- Long live Mexico!
- Long live Mexico!
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