What is Happening in Mexico?

May 2024 Elections: Mexico

Key Points

  • Claudia Sheinbaum won the Mexican Presidential elections, held on 2 June 2024. As the first female President of Mexico, Sheinbaum, a climate scientist, will take office on 1 October 2024.

  • Cartel violence remains at a high point. The conflict has produced around 11,000 internally displaced persons, and drug trafficking networks still have significant control of the country through intimidation and bribery.

  • The Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) cartels remain the most powerful criminal networks in Mexico, having expanded their operations globally as transnational criminal organizations.

  • As the last stop of the current migratory corridor to the United States, Mexico is in negotiations with Biden’s cabinet to establish direct deportations to home countries for non-Mexican migrants.

  • The new President will face several environmental challenges, such as an extreme heat wave, water crisis and deforestation.

  • It is expected that Sheinbaum will continue with the constitutional reforms proposed by her predecessor, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO).

Summary