▲ After the earthquake that interrupted his conference, he made calls to find out its effects.Darkroom Photo
From the Editorial
La Jornada Newspaper
Saturday, January 3, 2026, p. 7
At the dawn of 2026, President Claudia Sheinbaum announced “five good economic news”, a sign of the certainty that her government is having.
The first of them is that Mexico is the second country with the lowest unemployment in the world; Then, the president highlighted that the Mexican peso is the second Latin American currency that appreciated the most against the dollar with 13.8 percent (only below the Colombian currency, which did so by 14 percentage points).
Thirdly, he highlighted that the Mexican Stock Exchange had its best year since 2009, while the Institutional Stock Exchange had its best performance since it opened in 2018.
Likewise, he reported that until last October foreign visitors to Mexico increased 13.6 percent and, finally, he recalled that as of January 1, the minimum wage increased 13 percent.
Likewise, when taking stock of the economic behavior of 2025, he highlighted that, according to The Wall Street JournalMexico was the country that emerged the best from the modifications in the United States tariff policy.
Sheinbaum stated that there are other products that are being exported more, including some from the electronics industry. “This has increased total exports to the United States. But at the same time, we became the first country that buys more products from that nation. That means that there is a strengthening of economic integration. And that will continue, beyond the revision of the trade agreement itself.”
Later, when asked about the balance of the left-wing and right-wing governments in Latin America, the President referred to the behavior of the currencies as a comparison parameter, since while in Colombia and Mexico they appreciated significantly, in Argentina (governed by the right-wing Javier Milei), they depreciated 40 percent. He pointed out that the results are there as a formula for evaluating performance, highlighting that results are being produced in our country.
“It was said before that if a progressive government came to power, the currency would be devalued because of what we represent, but look at Argentina, where is it? (…) If there was no certainty in the countries, then they would not be buying pesos in Mexico. And this shows that there is certainty in the national economy, in addition to our own. Well, we are above the euro.”
He stressed that for the right, the defense of freedom is only reduced to market freedom, which is of no use when there are salaries that are not even enough to buy the basics.
Later, he reported that starting next week, conferences will be held outside the city on Thursdays and Fridays, until a cycle is completed in the 32 entities. Initially they will start in Cuernavaca, Morelos, and Acapulco, Guerrero.
“Bartlett has themes in his life”
When referring to the former director of the Federal Electoral Commission, Manuel Bartlett Díaz, the president recalled that in his career there is an evident controversy, since he was the Secretary of the Interior when the electoral fraud occurred in the 1988 elections in Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas with that famous fall of the electoral system, about which he already spoke several times.
However, he said, “we are left with the last part, which is the patriotic defense of the energy sector.
“Bartlett has issues in his life (…) what is true is that he made a staunch defense of Pemex, of the Federal Electricity Commission. That is very important for the country, at a time when not many did.”
