The British newspaper The Guardian recently published a long-form profile of President Claudia Sheinbaum, adding to the heightened international focus on Mexico as the country co-hosts the 2026 FIFA men’s World Cup.
The article was published on The Guardian website on June 11 — the opening day of the World Cup — under the headline “How did Mexico’s president become the world’s most popular leftwing leader?” It was also published as the feature story of the June 19 edition of The Guardian Weekly magazine, whose cover carried a photo of Sheinbaum along with the headline “I, Claudia: How Mexico’s president became the world’s most popular leftwing leader.”
Un artículo publicado por el medio británico ‘The Guardian’ calificó a la presidenta de México, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, como “la líder de izquierda más popular del mundo”.
También destacó que dirige un país “muy machista” y que fue elegida en medio de comentarios abiertamente… pic.twitter.com/WfYcKU8aN4
— La Jornada (@lajornadaonline) June 20, 2026
Written by Rachel Nolan, an assistant professor at Boston University’s Pardee School of Global Studies, the article is one of numerous Mexico-focused pieces published by leading international media outlets this month.
Among them are an opinion piece published by The New York Times under the headline “Mexico Can’t Go On This Way“; an article published by The Economist under the headline “The World Cup will test Mexico’s control over its territory“; and a story published by The Wall Street Journal under the headline “World Cup Puts Mexico’s Cartel Crisis on the Global Stage.”
Compared to those pieces, The Guardian’s profile slants positive, although it does note that Sheinbaum has major problems and major challenges to deal with.
A ‘statistics person’ who has ‘changed relatively little despite her rise to power’
After a lengthy introduction based largely on an interview with Sheinbaum’s Mexico City-based dressmaker Olivia Trujillo, The Guardian’s profile notes that Mexico’s president — the country’s first female president — “is one of the most popular democratically elected leaders in the world,” with an approval rating hovering “about 70% or above.”
Here is a summary of 10 other key points in the article, which notes that Sheinbaum has a background as both an academic and an activist.
- The Guardian highlights that Sheinbaum is “an inspiration” for many leftists around the world. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani “has signalled his admiration for Sheinbaum on many occasions, saying she ‘has shown what can be won when you’re willing to fight,’” Nolan writes.
- The Guardian writes that “[d]eftly running down the clock during tariff negotiations with Donald Trump last year was a demonstration of [Sheinbaum’s] signature attitude, which she calls cabeza fría, coolheadedness under pressure.”
- The Guardian notes that Sheinbaum is a very different leader to her predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador. “Where AMLO, as he is known, was flamboyant, she is subdued. Where he was impulsive, she is cautious. Where he was a politician to the bone, she is a former professor,” Nolan writes.
- The Guardian seeks to dispel the assertion (by government critics and others) that Sheinbaum is a puppet of AMLO. “According to those inside Morena, AMLO has not been picking up the phone to bother his protege, though a common debate among the chattering class in Mexico is whether the continued dominance of his loyalists means that Sheinbaum holds little power,” Nolan writes.
- While Sheinbaum’s leadership style and background are different from those of AMLO, their politics are very similar, The Guardian notes. “Sheinbaum has so internalised AMLO’s politics that interventions from him are unnecessary,” Nolan writes.
- The Guardian says that Sheinbaum’s two biggest challenges as president “are tightly linked.” The “first is tackling what is usually – but somewhat misleadingly – called the war on drugs,” Nolan writes. “The second is handling Mexico’s relationship with its overbearing neighbor to the north.”
- The Guardian describes Sheinbaum as a “statistics person” who is “universally agreed to be a detail-obsessed micromanager.” The president is “a statistics person and the statistics surrounding this epidemic of violence are very, very bad,” Nolan writes. “Between 2018 and 2020, an average of one person in Mexico was killed every 15 minutes. Things have improved slightly, but the homicide levels, and the fact that more than 1 million people are internally displaced, are more typical of a country actively at war than one that is not.” The assertion that “things have improved slightly” undersells the reduction in homicides this year, per government data, although it should be noted that there is skepticism about the accuracy of the official statistics.
- The Guardian notes that the ruling Morena party has remained popular despite the persistence of problems such as the missing persons crisis. “Morena’s lack of progress on disappearances has not dented its popularity. For many voters, rather than focusing on an intractable problem, it makes more sense to pay attention to the truck, painted with Morena colours, that drives into your remote town to install solar panels for free,” Nolan writes.
- The Guardian notes that Sheinbaum is simultaneously accessible and inaccessible to the media. “The president has not given a single sit-down interview since taking office. Instead, journalists are all cordially invited to the mañanera, a daily press briefing created by AMLO and continued by Sheinbaum, which is broadcast on television and online, and widely watched across the country,” Nolan writes.
- The Guardian contends that Sheinbaum — who served as Mexico City mayor before becoming president — has not changed much as a person despite her political ascension. “Those who know her told me that Claudia has changed relatively little despite her rise to power,” Nolan writes. “In a video two years ago, her husband, Jesús María Tarriba, noted that he met her in university and ‘she is the same to this day.’”
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