Sheinbaum’s mañanera in 60 seconds
- 🇲🇽🇺🇸 Not Trump’s doing: Sheinbaum said she doesn’t believe Trump has personally “led” U.S. interference in Mexican affairs, pointing instead to far-right sectors who want a bad bilateral relationship while reiterating that dialogue between the two governments remains strong.
- ❓ Obama or Bush? The president raised the possibility that Calderón’s drug war was conceived by U.S. agencies rather than the former president himself — though her suggestion that Barack Obama may have been behind it appears wrong, as George W. Bush was in office when the war on drugs launched in late 2006.
- ✏️ Teacher talks: Sheinbaum expressed confidence that talks with protesting CNTE teachers will produce progress before the World Cup kicks off June 11, even as she acknowledged some of their demands — including a 100% pay rise — cannot be met on budgetary grounds.
Why today’s mañanera matters
President Claudia Sheinbaum held her Monday morning press conference the day after she delivered a lengthy speech at a rally in Mexico to mark the second anniversary of her election as Mexico’s first woman leader.
In that address, Sheinbaum declared that Mexico “is not anyone’s piñata” as she railed against U.S. interference in Mexican affairs in light of the CIA’s alleged participation in a drug lab raid in Chihuahua in April and U.S. prosecutors’ request for the arrest of Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya and various other current and former officials accused of drug trafficking in league with the Sinaloa Cartel.
One significant development at today’s mañanera was Sheinbaum’s statement that she doesn’t believe U.S. President Donald Trump has “led” the United States’ meddling (or alleged meddling) in Mexican affairs.
Also of note was the president’s apparently erroneous suggestion that former U.S. President Barack Obama may have come up with the idea of launching a “war” on Mexican drug cartels almost two decades ago.
Sheinbaum: ‘I don’t think it’s President Trump who has led this offensive’
A reporter told the president that she was “more direct” in the remarks she made about the United States on Sunday, and asked her what “diplomatic actions” she would consider taking to avoid U.S. interference in Mexico’s affairs.
“There is a lot of dialogue with the United States,” responded Sheinbaum, who, in light of the CIA’s alleged participation in the drug lab raid in Chihuahua, recently offered a lesson on Mexico’s legal framework to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
“I confess, she added, “I don’t think it’s President Trump who has led this offensive on different issues.”
Sheinbaum was referring to U.S. interference in Mexican affairs as well as an alleged media offensive against her government that she says is funded and promoted by “national and international conservative sectors,” including sectors of the U.S. media and far-right U.S. politicians.
She said that her administration wants “a good relationship with the United States government” and “all its areas” — i.e., all its departments and agencies.
Yesterday, during the event marking two years since her historic electoral victory, President Claudia Sheinbaum (@Claudiashein) reaffirmed Mexico’s commitment to addressing shared challenges with the United States:
“We will continue to collaborate to prevent drugs from crossing… pic.twitter.com/RLS2mvEdgp
— Embassy of Mexico in the U.S. (@EmbamexEUA) June 1, 2026
Sheinbaum reiterated that there is “a lot of communication” between the Mexican and U.S. governments before adding:
“As I said yesterday, I think there are sectors of the United States far right who don’t want there to be a good relationship, who want there to be a bad relationship with Mexico, who don’t agree with the government we lead for ideological reasons.”
Sheinbaum has maintained an amiable relationship with Trump even as the U.S. president threatens to take unilateral action against Mexican cartels in Mexico and accuses his counterpart and her government of being “very afraid” of cartels. The two presidents have spoken by phone on numerous occasions and met face-to-face at the FIFA men’s World Cup draw in Washington, D.C., last December. However, Sheinbaum and Trump have not yet held formal one-on-one talks to discuss the many and varied challenges in the bilateral relationship, including ones related to security and trade.
Was Calderón’s war on drugs Obama’s idea? Sheinbaum suggests it may have been — even though the 44th US president wasn’t yet in office
A reporter asked the president whether there were any parallels between Chihuahua Governor Maru Campos and former President Felipe Calderón (2006-12) given the “possibility” that the former violated the constitution by allowing CIA officers to participate in a drug lab raid alongside state forces and the latter “opened the doors” to the “fast and furious” gunwalking sheme, a highly-controversial initiative of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
“We’ll always be left with the question of whether the war against the narco was an idea of Felipe Calderón or an idea of Obama because Obama was in government,” said Sheinbaum, somewhat changing the focus of the interaction.
Shortly after he took office in late 2006, Calderón launched a militarized “war” against Mexico’s notorious drug cartels. The U.S. president at the time — and until January 2009 — was George W. Bush, not Obama. Therefore, Sheinbaum’s suggestion that Calderón’s war on drugs could have been Obama’s idea appears to be refuted by the simple fact that Obama was not sworn in as president until more than two years after it started.
Sheinbaum frequently rails against Calderón’s security strategy, pointing out that it caused homicide rates to surge and highlighting that the security minister under the ex-president was Genaro García Luna, who in 2024 was sentenced to 38 years in prison in the U.S. after he was convicted of colluding with the Sinaloa Cartel.
On Monday morning, Sheinbaum also raised the possibility that U.S. government agencies, rather than the U.S. president (Bush or Obama), had the idea of launching a “war” on Mexican drug cartels.
“It was the time when the DEA had the greatest opening [to operate] in Mexico, with Felipe Calderón,” she said.
“Complete openness. … Particularly in the period of Calderón, the doors were opened to U.S. agencies in Mexico,” Sheinbaum said.
“… With [former President Enrique] Peña [Nieto] as well … although [Mexico] was less open. And then when President [Andrés Manuel] López Obrador arrives, he says ‘foreign agents can be here, they can do their work but in coordination with the government of Mexico and they have to have their permits and … it was put into law [and] we took it to the constitution,” she said.
Sheinbaum confident that progress will be made in talks with protesting teachers
Sheinbaum told reporters she is confident that progress will be made in talks between the federal government and members of the CNTE teachers union before the commencement of the World Cup on June 11.
World Cup prep collides with teacher protests at Mexico City’s Zócalo
Teachers affiliated with the CNTE have been protesting in Mexico City, Oaxaca and elsewhere as they seek to pressure the government to meet their demands. Those demands include a 100% pay increase and the repeal of the 2019 education reform as well as the 2007 ISSSTE (State Workers’ Social Security Institute) Law, which changed their pension system and will leave them — they say — considerably worse off in retirement.
Sheinbaum expressed confidence that progress will be made in talks with the CNTE even as she highlighted that “some” of the protesting teachers’ demands can’t be met for budgetary reasons.
“I’m confident that the talks will go well,” she said, referring to dialogue between the CNTE, the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Public Education.
“We’re going to place trust in that [process],” Sheinbaum added.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
