After attending the World Cup draw in Washington, D.C., on Friday and leading a rally in Mexico City’s central square, the Zócalo, on Saturday, President Claudia Sheinbaum returned to the Treasury Hall of the National Palace on Monday morning to preside over her regular press conference.
Here is a recap of the president’s Dec. 8 mañanera.
Sheinbaum thanks Mexicans for attending her ‘7 years of transformation’ rally
Asked about the huge rally she led in the Zócalo on Saturday to mark the seventh anniversary of the “fourth transformation” (4T) political movement, Sheinbaum first thanked everyone who attended the event.
The Mexico City government put the attendance at “more than 600,000 people,” a figure 35 times higher than the estimated turnout of 17,000 at a so-called “Generation Z” protest against insecurity in the capital on Nov. 15.
“They came from the entire republic,” said Sheinbaum.
“… [There was] a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of young people. A lot of young people organized a march. … [There were] a lot of families, a lot of joy, the people were happy,” she said.
During her address to a sea of supporters in the Zócalo, Sheinbaum said that in 2018, the people of Mexico “took a wise and brave decision to begin a new stage” in Mexico, that of the country’s “rebirth” with Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) “at the front.”
The president, who took over the position of leader of the 4T from AMLO nine months before she won the presidential election in 2024, also said that Mexico has gone from being “a country governed by an oligarchy” to “a true democracy where the government works for everyone, but especially those who need the most help.”
Meeting with Trump and Carney was ‘very friendly,’ says Sheinbaum
Sheinbaum told reporters that her meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the World Cup draw in Washington D.C. last Friday was a “very friendly” affair.
Trump showed “a lot of respect toward Mexico” and “we’re always going to thank him for that,” she said.
Trump said on Sunday that he, Sheinbaum and Carney “spoke for a half hour.”
“Very good, very productive, talked mostly trade,” said the U.S. president, who this year has imposed tariffs on a range of imports from Mexico and Canada, undermining the USMCA free trade pact.
On Monday morning, Sheinbaum said that she is “convinced” that “Mexico always has to seek a good relationship with the United States for many reasons.”
The reasons she cited were that:
- Mexico and the United States are neighbors.
- 40 million Mexicans live in the U.S. and “we always have to defend them.”
- It’s “better to reach agreements” than to have “confrontations.”
Sheinbaum told reporters on Friday that she had spoken to Trump about “a lot of issues,” but the 2026 USMCA review wasn’t one of them.
Asked whether she had invited Trump to Mexico, she responded:
“Yes. He also invited me to come here [to Washington, D.C.] again. We’ll agree on a date.”
Mexico’s week in review: Sheinbaum draws Mexico’s World Cup fate — and Trump’s praise
Sheinbaum reiterates that she won’t attend World Cup opening in CDMX
After highlighting that the late Queen Elizabeth II and former Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff are the only two female heads of state to have participated in a FIFA World Cup opening ceremony, and noting that no president of a host country has ever been absent at “this inauguration,” a reporter asked Sheinbaum whether she would reconsider attending the event in Mexico City next year.
“No,” came the response from the president, who has pledged to give her complimentary ticket to a Mexican girl or young woman who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to attend the World Cup opener.
“I’m going to watch the opening ceremony with the people in the Zócalo,” Sheinbaum said.
“And I’m going to give my ticket to someone who would never have the opportunity to go. There’s nothing wrong with that. On the contrary, it represents who we are,” she said.
After the June 11 opening ceremony at the Estadio Banorte (AKA Estadio Azteca) — a cavernous stadium in southern Mexico City that will be known as Mexico City Stadium during the World Cup — Mexico’s national team, El Tri, will play South Africa in the inaugural match of the quadrennial tournament.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
