At her Wednesday morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke about her government’s transfer to the United States on Tuesday of 37 cartel figures. (Read Mexico News Daily’s report here.)
She also offered some advice to cell phone users to help them avoid becoming victims of crime, and took a moment to endorse the speech Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney made on Tuesday at the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
Here is a recap of the president’s Jan. 21 mañanera.
Sheinbaum: Don’t answer telephone calls from unknown numbers
Late in her press conference, Sheinbaum told reporters that Mexico was one of a small number of countries where mobile telephone SIM cards could be purchased without the need to show identification.
However, as of Jan. 9, that is no longer the case.
Sheinbaum said that the previous situation made it easy for people to commit crimes over the telephone, including extortion and fraud.
The government’s objective now, she said, is for every SIM card — or chip as a SIM is commonly known in Mexico — to be “linked to a person.”
“As that happens, it will be much more difficult to use a phone … [to commit a crime], Sheinbaum said.
That said, the president acknowledged that many calls with a criminal intent are now being made with “numbers that come from outside Mexico.”
Sheinbaum subsequently advised Mexicans not to answer calls from numbers they don’t recognize.
“It is important that we do not answer calls from numbers that are not identified in our contacts,” she said.
Responding to privacy concerns related to the need to register and link a cell phone number to one’s personal identity, Sheinbaum stressed that telephone companies rather than the government stores people’s personal information.
She indicated that authorities, when investigating a crime facilitated by the use of a telephone, can ask for information from telecommunications companies as they seek to establish the identity of the perpetrator.
Sheinbaum praises Carney’s WEF address
Early in her Q&A session with reporters, Sheinbaum praised Prime Minister Carney for his speech in Davos.
“[It was a] very good speech by Carney, by Prime Minister Carney, I don’t know if you heard it,” she said.
“[It was] very much in tune with the current times,” Sheinbaum said.
During his address, Carney asserted that the rules-based international order is undergoing a “rupture, not a transition.”
The Canadian prime minister “never mentioned President Trump by name, but his reference was clear,” wrote The New York Times, noting that “the speech came as President Trump doubled down on his threats to take Greenland away from Denmark.”
Mexico’s ‘advantages’ as an investment destination, according to Sheinbaum
A reporter asked the president what message her government was seeking to send to international investors at the WEF meeting in Davos, where Environment Minister Alicia Bárcena and Altagracia Gómez, head of the government’s Advisory Council for Regional Development and Relocation, are representing Mexico.
“That Mexico is open to private investment from different countries, to foreign direct investment,” Sheinbaum responded.
She also said that Mexico’s representatives would promote the Economic Development Hubs for Well-being, new industrial corridors that will be located in various states across the country.
Asked what “advantages” Mexico offers to investors, Sheinbaum first cited the “hardworking” and “responsible” people of Mexico and the presence of “a government recognized by its people.”
Mexico falls from PwC’s list of top 10 countries to invest in
She also mentioned “certainty” and her government’s vision of investment “not just as a means of growth” but also as “a means of creating employment with wellbeing.”
Citing additional advantages, Sheinbaum spoke about Mexico’s “proximity to the United States,” the “trade openness” it has “with various countries around the world” and “the scheme we are implementing to integrate production chains” in North America.
Although she mentioned certainty as an “advantage” offered by Mexico, the Trump administration’s undermining of the USMCA free trade pact via the implementation of various tariffs on Mexican goods has decreased certainty for investors in Mexico. Some Mexican government initiatives, such as the controversial judicial reform and the disbandment of various autonomous agencies, have had the same effect, according to critics of Sheinbaum and her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Foreign investment in Mexico increased last year, but the government is eager to attract even more international capital as it seeks to make its Plan México economic initiative a success.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
