Tereso Medina Ramírez, deputy general secretary of the Mexican Workers Confederation (CTM), reported that this February 9 it will issue an official public position on the XVII Ordinary National Congress, in a message that will address the terms of the institutional transition of the labor union.
This technical pronouncement occurs after confirmation that Carlos Aceves del Olmo He will not continue as head of the general secretariat of the CTM beyond February 23, 2026, the date on which his current statutory period expires.
Aceves del Olmo’s decision constitutes a break with the historical line of succession of the confederation, which had been characterized by keeping its leaders in office until their death, as occurred in the periods of Fidel Velázquez Sánchez, Leonardo Rodríguez Alcaine and Joaquín Gamboa Pascoe.
The positioning of Tereso Medina will be the first indicator on the methodology that the confederation will follow to ensure its institutional stability until the closing of the Aceves del Olmo cycle in 2026.
Regarding the other candidates that have been mentioned, such as Gerardo Cortés, Bimbo union leader, or Armando Neyra, linked to the soft drink industry, or Fernando Salgado, deputy general secretary, there is still no official statement.
It should be noted that “the CTM must move towards new leadership under a different labor regulatory framework, derived from the 2019 reform and the commitments of the T-MEC, which require board election processes through personal, free, direct and secret voting,” Germán de la Garza, labor specialist at Fisher Phillips.
The CTM’s structure is the coordination of state federations and industry unions throughout the country. “The scheduled departure of the current leadership allows the organization room for maneuver to structure an operational transition that avoids power vacuums,” estimated De la Garza.
Medina Ramírez has indicated that Your message will be shared through official channelsseeking to follow up on issues that directly impact national cetemism in the short and medium term.
Transition a challenge for the CTM
Regarding these implications, Alfonso Bouzas, a labor specialist, considers that the transition represents a critical challenge for the survival of the confederation model in Mexico. The specialist points out that the replacement of Carlos Aceves del Olmo is not just a change of names, but a stress test for a structure that historically operated under immovable leadership.
Likewise, he indicated, the scheduled departure of the current leader forces the headquarters to face the need to manage a succession without the figure of a top boss to dictate the line of action, which could lead to internal fragmentation if it is not possible to consolidate an institutional identity that transcends people.
From a legal perspective, Bouzas maintains that this transition It occurs at the moment of greatest vulnerability for traditional unionismbecause the new rules of labor democracy prevent transfers of command by chief appointment.
“The success of this change, operationally led by figures such as Tereso Medina, will depend on whether the new leadership is capable of moving from vertical control to authentic representation that responds to the demands of freedom of association and the international surveillance commitments derived from the T-MEC,” he noted.
