_{Photo: (l-r) Claudia Sheinbaum, President of Mexico and John Briceno, Prime Minister of Belize}

by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Wed. Oct. 2, 2024

The Government of Belize issued a press release on Monday, September 30, to inform the public that the Prime Minister of Belize, Hon. John Briceño, had departed the country to attend a ceremony in Mexico during which the change of presidential command took place to mark the transfer of authority to Mexico’s President-Elect, Her Excellency Dra. Claudia Sheinbaum.

Sheinbaum secured the seat as Mexico’s 66th president in the 2024 Mexican general election on June 2 in a landslide victory over the other presidential candidates – Xóchitl Gálvez of Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) and Jorge Máynez of Movimiento Ciudadano—after receiving 61.18% of the votes of an estimated 35,924,519 Mexicans.

She was sworn in as Mexico’s 66th and first female president on Tuesday, October 1, at Palacio Legislativo de San Lázaro in Mexico City. Supporters of Sheinbaum welcomed her by chanting “Presidenta!”

“For the first time, women are arriving to direct the destiny of our beautiful nation, and I say we’re arriving because I’m not arriving [to power] on my own; all women are arriving,” she said during her inaugural speech.

She further added, “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.”

Sheinbaun is a scientist-turned-politician who holds a Ph.D. in energy engineering and once served as mayor of Tlalpan, a borough in Mexico City.

She succeeds Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), who served as president from 2018 to 2024, and she will hold the presidency seat for the next six years.