CLAUDIA SHEINBAUM was sworn in as Mexico’s new president on Tuesday and said that she comes to the role accompanied by all the women who “dreamed” of doing so.
Ms Sheinbaum, the country’s first woman president, took the oath of office on the floor of Congress, lawmakers shouted “Presidenta! Presidenta!” using the feminine form of president in Spanish for the first time in over 200 years of Mexico’s history as an independent country.
In her inauguration speech, President Sheinbaum said that she came to power accompanied by all of the women who have struggled in anonymity to make their way in Mexico, including “those who dreamed of the possibility that one day no matter if we were born as women or men we would achieve our dreams and desires without our sex determining our destiny.”
Among the promises she listed during her speech, Ms Sheinbaum said she would limit prices for gasoline and food, expand cash hand-out programmes for women and children, support business investment, housing and passenger rail construction.
Ms Sheinbaum romped to victory in June with nearly 60 per cent of the vote.
After the inauguration, President Sheinbaum appeared at a mass rally in Mexico City’s main plaza to participate in a ceremony involving an all-women committee representing Mexico’s approximately 70 indigenous groups.
Ms Sheinbaum was blessed and brushed with herbs and incense by Ernestina Ortiz, a “spiritual guide,” who told the new president: “You are a voice for all of us who had no voice for a long time.”
Lucia Ruiz, was one of thousands trying to reach the main square to see the rally. She said that the new president “is going to represent us.”
She said: “We have always been governed by men and they think we’re incapable, but we’re not. We are the head of our families.”