Speaker 1: Giddio and Giddia. Listener, there is a little warning because
Speaker 1: there are mentions of rape and sexual abuse in this episode.
Speaker 1: Take care.
Speaker 2: We just arrived in the Socalo.
Speaker 3: It's really crowded, a lot of people walking around.
Speaker 1: It's March of twenty twenty four, and I'm with my
Speaker 1: colleague and co executive producer of Latino USA. Her name
Speaker 1: is Penny Lei Ramidez, and right now we're at one
Speaker 1: of my favorite places in the city where I was born.
Speaker 1: It's called El Soclo, which is the main public square
Speaker 1: in Mexico. It's literally Elcason, the heart of the city.
Speaker 1: El Soclon is where everything happens in Mexico City. So
Speaker 1: maybe one day there's a concert by Paul McCartney or Prosalya,
Speaker 1: and maybe another day, like today, you're going to see
Speaker 1: dozens of police officers barricading the main buildings surrounding this plaza.
Speaker 1: Today is two days before the International Women's Day March,
Speaker 1: and so right before us is this large group of
Speaker 1: police officers. Can I ask you a question, g Lacino,
Speaker 1: what are you doing? A young police officer that I
Speaker 1: walk up to is actually laying steel fences all around
Speaker 1: the Soclo. He tells us that these barricades are meant
Speaker 1: to protect the surrounding buildings. All of this in anticipation
Speaker 1: of the upcoming International Women's Day march. They've got massive flyers. Okay,
Speaker 1: here they're gonna put another part of the wall together.
Speaker 3: Here we go.
Speaker 1: Now, you may be asking yourself, why are Mexican police
Speaker 1: putting up steel barricades throughout all of downtown Mexico City
Speaker 1: for women who are celebrating International Women's Day. And what
Speaker 1: you will hear is that the police will say that
Speaker 1: during this protests, some women, some radical protesters, do get
Speaker 1: a little violet. They have been accused, for example, of
Speaker 1: destroying storefronts or of writing the names of their abusers
Speaker 1: or rapists on the monuments as they march along the streets.
Speaker 1: But for some women, they actually believe that the government
Speaker 1: puts more money and effort into protecting buildings and storefronts
Speaker 1: than into protecting women and their safety and well being. Now,
Speaker 1: while Mexican women are getting ready to take part in
Speaker 1: what will be a massive march as usual, there's something
Speaker 1: else that's happening in the country that is completely new.
Speaker 1: That is Mexico's presidential campaign and two women are the
Speaker 1: front runners. On June second, Mexico will elect a female
Speaker 1: president for the first time in history.
Speaker 4: Mexico is having a historical process right now. I think
Speaker 4: Mexico it's like Fara de Luz, It's a lighthouse.
Speaker 1: We meet up with Susanna Ochoa. She's a young political activist.
Speaker 1: She's flat about having a woman in the highest position
Speaker 1: as the president of Mexico, but she also believes there's
Speaker 1: got to be a lot of grassroots activism still, but
Speaker 1: not everyone feels the same way. While we were in
Speaker 1: the socalo, my colleague and I remember Penny Lee Amidez.
Speaker 1: So Penni le walks up to a man who's in
Speaker 1: a wheelchair and she asks him how he feels about
Speaker 1: the upcoming election.
Speaker 5: Are you going to vote bothar porquino porquio quando mexicosta
Speaker 5: de la rigada la lagada.
Speaker 3: So this man in the socalo says that the Mexican
Speaker 3: economy is in a bad shape and that he's not
Speaker 3: planning to vote. But if you see the data, actually
Speaker 3: the Mexican economy is doing general well, so it seems
Speaker 3: like his problem is not with the economy, Maria, but
Speaker 3: with the candidates themselves.
Speaker 2: What do you think about a woman running your country,
Speaker 2: bedwindsor Bess.
Speaker 3: He told us that he is not okay with a
Speaker 3: woman running for president, and he wanted to say that it.
Speaker 2: Is a shame, a shame, a shame.
Speaker 3: And this is a paradox, Maria, because the reality is
Speaker 3: that Mexico will elect a female president before the United States.
Speaker 3: And it is true, it's not just a presidency. Right now,
Speaker 3: we have a woman leading the Supreme Court, we have
Speaker 3: a woman leading the National Institute of Elections, and half
Speaker 3: of the Congress is female.
Speaker 1: You know, that's right. Mexico has women in positions of power.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, the truth is that there
Speaker 1: is lingering sexism. There is this macho culture that is
Speaker 1: for president, and frankly, violence against women is out of control.
Speaker 1: Ten women are killed every day in Mexico, making it
Speaker 1: the fourth most dangerous country worldwide in which to be
Speaker 1: a woman, just after South Africa, Brazil and Russia. So
Speaker 1: to understand this paradox of how a country with such
Speaker 1: a violent history against women is now going to elect
Speaker 1: a woman president this hour, we're going to be reporting
Speaker 1: from my home country and understanding everything leading up to
Speaker 1: this historic election in Mexico from PRX and Fuduro Media.
Speaker 1: It's Latino USA. I'm Marie no Posa and today we're
Speaker 1: covering the presidential elections in Mexico. I traveled to Mexico
Speaker 1: with my colleague Beni Lei Ramirez to unpack this true
Speaker 1: historic moment. And before joining let you know usay, Benny
Speaker 1: Lay worked as an investigative correspondent in Mexico, and well
Speaker 1: she's been writing extensively on Mexican politics for more than
Speaker 1: a decade.
Speaker 3: Yes, Maria, and I'm happy to go with you and
Speaker 3: to report what's going on in Mexican politics right now.
Speaker 3: So in this episode, you will hear us documenting the
Speaker 3: hope for me, it's hopeful.
Speaker 4: That a lot of young women and women that are
Speaker 4: really capable are taking apart in.
Speaker 3: Politics, the anger, and you will be hearing from the
Speaker 3: two female candidates themselves.
Speaker 1: The front runner is Claudia Schenebaum. Her main opponent is
Speaker 1: Sochil Galbez. And while we're talking Mexican politics, we're actually
Speaker 1: going to start our reporting in New York City and
Speaker 1: I'm going to hand it over to my colleague Benny Lay,
Speaker 1: who's going to report from their first.
Speaker 3: It's February twenty twenty four and I'm in downtown Manhattan
Speaker 3: entering a restaurant. It's a called Sunny Saturday, and we're
Speaker 3: here because Socil Galvez has been having an event with
Speaker 3: Mexicans live in New York. I'm surrounded by mostly upper
Speaker 3: class Mexicans, like business people, like lawyers and even architects,
Speaker 3: and they are gathering here today to meet in person
Speaker 3: with Socil Galvez and she's the Mexican leading opposition candidate.
Speaker 3: Many of the people here believe that social is the
Speaker 3: hope that their country needs after six years of the
Speaker 3: presidency of Andres Manuel Lopez Oredo and his party Morena.
Speaker 6: Honestly, Morena, or the ruling party right now, is not
Speaker 6: showing what real Mexic in the future can be.
Speaker 1: I was invited to meet Sochi, who I'm a great
Speaker 1: fan of.
Speaker 3: I'm not happy with the current Mexican government, and that's
Speaker 3: why I'm here.
Speaker 2: I wanted to thank her for being an inspiration.
Speaker 3: In twenty eighteen, Lopez Vrado became the first Mexican president
Speaker 3: in this century who won the election representing a coalition
Speaker 3: that was mainly leftist. Paris and now a woman with
Speaker 3: indigenous fruits, who almost all the time is wearing a wepeel,
Speaker 3: which is a traditional Mexican dress, is trying to challenge
Speaker 3: him and his body. And this is the opposition candidate
Speaker 3: Social ads.
Speaker 5: Into Lazia.
Speaker 1: So Pennile, Again, you're an expert on Mexican politics, so
Speaker 1: phyllis in on what you can about sochilgai this.
Speaker 3: Well, she's a computer engineer and also a businesswoman. And
Speaker 3: she says Maria that when she was studying to pay
Speaker 3: for her education, she was selling yello.
Speaker 1: You mean cello, like the dessert jello. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 3: But now she's been in politics for the last two decades,
Speaker 3: and she was a mayor of one of the boroughs
Speaker 3: of Mexico City, and she also was a senator. And
Speaker 3: the thing is that she has this kind of unique
Speaker 3: way of Approachian politics.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's unique, it's particular, it's attention grabbing. So,
Speaker 1: for example, in June of twenty twenty three, when Sochil
Speaker 1: Galvez was a senator, she dressed up as a dinosaur
Speaker 1: to criticize electoral reforms proposed by Lopez o Brador Lace Nadora.
Speaker 1: Sochil Galvez now we say dinosaur because in Mexico, when
Speaker 1: we refer to politicians who have been around a long time,
Speaker 1: we call them dinos saudios. And so yeah, she kind
Speaker 1: of stood out on the Senate floor holding a sign
Speaker 1: that read Jurassic Plan all of this while wearing a
Speaker 1: dinosaur costume.
Speaker 3: And of course something like this will grab the attention
Speaker 3: of the media.
Speaker 1: So it worked for her.
Speaker 3: But what even worked better is when she publicly took
Speaker 3: on President Lopes.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I remember that because Sochil Galvez arrives at
Speaker 1: the National Palace of Mexico. She's banging on the door
Speaker 1: after riding up on her bicycle. What Sochi says is
Speaker 1: that she wanted to set the record straight about an
Speaker 1: accusation that the president had made about her, and that
Speaker 1: she expected the president to open the door for her,
Speaker 1: but he refused, and this brought her well a lot
Speaker 1: of kind of performative attention.
Speaker 3: Yeah, of course it became a viral hit and from
Speaker 3: that moment the popularity of social among the opposition in
Speaker 3: Mexico grew like crazy.
Speaker 7: A politician who seemed to come from nowhere to secure
Speaker 7: the kindi deacy of a coalition of parties for the
Speaker 7: country's presidential elections. She Sochito Gallez, the plane speaking part
Speaker 7: Indigenous senator who started off as a street vendor and
Speaker 7: now runs two tech companies.
Speaker 1: And just a few months after being chosen as the
Speaker 1: opposition candidate, Souchil Galvez is on a plane heading to
Speaker 1: New York City and her first stop is in the
Speaker 1: Bronx at the Hunts Point Vegetable Market. And it was
Speaker 1: at the market where she met up with some Mexican
Speaker 1: voters who live in New York.
Speaker 3: And then she took a bike and she went to
Speaker 3: the New York Times to meet with reporters.
Speaker 1: So Sochil Galvez seems to really like riding her bike
Speaker 1: too important places.
Speaker 2: It definitely gets hurt some attention.
Speaker 3: So after the New York Times, she toured New York
Speaker 3: for six days, and then she went off to Washington,
Speaker 3: d C. And she met with congressional committees and more
Speaker 3: members of the media. And all of this is an
Speaker 3: effort to court Mexican voters that are living in the
Speaker 3: United States and this voters matter Mania. Right now, we
Speaker 3: have over one hundred and fifty thousand Mexican voters registered
Speaker 3: to vote from the United States, and this number. It
Speaker 3: is important because just in two thousand and six, Felipe
Speaker 3: Galleron won the presidency of Mexico with a super tight
Speaker 3: margin of two hundred and forty three thousand votes.
Speaker 1: You know what, Pennilay, that was a nail binding election
Speaker 1: in two thousand and six. And it's because of that
Speaker 1: election that presidential candidates in Mexico understand full well that
Speaker 1: every single vote counts, even if it's from people living
Speaker 1: outside of Mexico. Now, the thing about Sochil Galvez Pennilay,
Speaker 1: is that she's got this pretty interesting, maybe strange coalition
Speaker 1: that is backing her. It's certainly the thing that made
Speaker 1: my eyes pop when I first heard about her candidacy.
Speaker 3: It is a coalige and that I will never thought
Speaker 3: I will see in my life.
Speaker 1: And since Penny, you've been covering Mexico for half of
Speaker 1: your career as a journalist, why don't you give us
Speaker 1: a quick rundown of Mexican politics as fast as you
Speaker 1: can for our listeners.
Speaker 3: Yeah, of course, So this is a story. Most of
Speaker 3: the twentieth century, Mexico was ruled by a party called
Speaker 3: Partido Revolutionari Institutional or the PRE and for seven decades
Speaker 3: they run the country on a nationalist platform. Then in
Speaker 3: the year two thousand, the right wing party Partido National
Speaker 3: ORPAN won the presidency, and this is the moment that
Speaker 3: Mexicans called the transition to democracy.
Speaker 1: La cons politica de lososunidos Mexicanos.
Speaker 2: But the corruption was rampant, both in the PRE and
Speaker 2: in the PAN.
Speaker 3: So in twenty fourteen another party was founded, and it's
Speaker 3: called Movimiento re National or MORENA. And who do you
Speaker 3: think founded this third party, Maria.
Speaker 1: I'm going to take a big guess and say it
Speaker 1: is the current president. His name is Andres Manuel Lopez.
Speaker 6: Obradoral I patriot Camentel Cargo, the Presidente Republica cal.
Speaker 2: Pueblo mea con ferido.
Speaker 3: And his platform has been really anti PRE and anti PAN.
Speaker 3: But now time has passed and Morena has been also
Speaker 3: dealing with its own corruption scandals. It's also true that
Speaker 3: despite all of this, in just a decade, Morena rose
Speaker 3: from being a street focused social movement to becoming this
Speaker 3: huge ruling party that has been winning the presidency, winning
Speaker 3: most of the governorships, and also representing more more than
Speaker 3: half the Congress.
Speaker 1: That's true any lay it really was quite a rise
Speaker 1: for Morena to come from the streets all the way
Speaker 1: to the presidential palace. So we have these two candidates,
Speaker 1: the two women, but there's also a third candidate. He's
Speaker 1: a man. His name is Jorge Alberts Minus, and he
Speaker 1: really wasn't getting much attention at all until he released
Speaker 1: a song that went virals.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it is a song called Presidente Minus, and now
Speaker 3: he has millions of views on YouTube and on TikTok.
Speaker 1: But let's get back to Sochi Galvez, who is the
Speaker 1: main opponent here, and let's talk a little bit more
Speaker 1: about that strange coalition of the pretty and the fun.
Speaker 1: Dear listener, you may be saying, what does that really mean?
Speaker 1: It would essentially mean as if the Democrats and the
Speaker 1: Republican parties would run on a joint ticket. That's how
Speaker 1: strange this coalition is.
Speaker 3: So we decided to go straight to the source and
Speaker 3: ask social directly.
Speaker 1: And that's coming up after the break. Stay with us,
Speaker 1: don't go by us. Hey, welcome back. It's let you know, USA.
Speaker 1: I'm Maria no Josa and I'm with my colleague Benny Leiramidez.
Speaker 1: Today we're covering the Mexican presidential elections, which are historic
Speaker 1: because in twenty twenty four, Mexico, a country of more
Speaker 1: than one hundred and twenty million people and one of
Speaker 1: the top commercial partners for the United States, will be
Speaker 1: electing its first ever woman president, Danny lay.
Speaker 3: Yes Maria So so far, we met up with supporters
Speaker 3: for the opposition candidate Sochi Galvez in a restaurant in Manhattan,
Speaker 3: and now we'll be talking to the candidate herself.
Speaker 1: In fact, we got a chance to do a full
Speaker 1: sit down interview with her in a midtown Manhattan studio
Speaker 1: late one evening in March. She came in surrounded by
Speaker 1: her campaign staff, which to me was a little surprising
Speaker 1: because it was all men except for one woman who
Speaker 1: was carrying her clothes. Now, Sochi was very approachable when
Speaker 1: we all first arrived, so right off the bat we
Speaker 1: asked her what she would do differently as the leader
Speaker 1: of this interesting coalition. So so chill, to be honest
Speaker 1: with you, I said, wait a second, so ChIL is running,
Speaker 1: but the pree is supporting her, the band is supporting her,
Speaker 1: And I had a little bit of a of a
Speaker 1: brain explosion. I was like, what have I seen? You're
Speaker 1: no respons So she told us that she is not
Speaker 1: the one who is responsible for the corruption that is
Speaker 1: brought on by these parties in the past. Then she
Speaker 1: doubled down and she said that if there was corruption
Speaker 1: in this coalition, that she would punish this person, even
Speaker 1: if it's within her own group. Then I asked, sochil
Speaker 1: Galbez about what this particular historic election means. Did you
Speaker 1: imagine that a Mexico could exist where a woman could
Speaker 1: be running for president in your lifetime? No, mi ma,
Speaker 1: She says she never imagined that women could be in
Speaker 1: such positions of power in Mexico, as they were always
Speaker 1: subjugated to the domestic sphere, making tortillas, bringing in the firewood.
Speaker 1: So I asked her how she defined herself, and she
Speaker 1: says that she considers herself a woman of the center left.
Speaker 1: And how do you define feminism?
Speaker 8: So you sentiva in totlus temas enuestra be the personal, and.
Speaker 1: She said that she believes in equality for all women
Speaker 1: in terms of political, economic, and reproductive rights. And to
Speaker 1: emphasize why this matters to her, she told us she
Speaker 1: suffered violence as a child.
Speaker 8: Ire brutalmentrio lento.
Speaker 1: This story has become a part of Sochil Galvez's some speech.
Speaker 1: Her father, she says, was a violent man who terrorized
Speaker 1: her as a child. One time, she tells us in
Speaker 1: the interview, he pointed a shotgun at her mother and
Speaker 1: threatened her. She says that they escaped, but that this
Speaker 1: experience marked her. And then I asked her what she
Speaker 1: thinks the solution might be for this kind of gender
Speaker 1: based violence in Mexico. Ins what so she said to
Speaker 1: us was that women in Mexico need a support system
Speaker 1: in cases of violence, and that men need to know
Speaker 1: that if they commit violence against women, they will be prosecuted.
Speaker 1: Then we moved on to another topic which actually matters
Speaker 1: to Mexican voters in the US. Here's my colleague, Pennilet, So.
Speaker 8: What are your thoughts regarding immigration Mexico, Comette reverro Guando Ceta.
Speaker 3: She said, Mexico made a big mistake when it agreed
Speaker 3: to the Remaining Mexico Program.
Speaker 1: Now, remember, Remain in Mexico was a policy implemented by
Speaker 1: Donald Trump. It required migrants seeking asylum to remain in
Speaker 1: Mexico as they awaited their court dates in the United States,
Speaker 1: which had never happened before.
Speaker 3: So Basically, what she is proposing is that Mexico continues
Speaker 3: with the program as long as the United States gives money.
Speaker 3: So that Mexico, and I'm going to emphasize this because
Speaker 3: it's a direct.
Speaker 2: Port from her treats immigrants with the dignity that they do.
Speaker 1: Now, that's an interesting choice of words. So then I
Speaker 1: asked her what she would plan to do instead, So,
Speaker 1: what is your fresh new approach towards the issue of immigration,
Speaker 1: Pomena Mundi. Now, she did not really answer the question,
Speaker 1: but she did say to us that we needed to
Speaker 1: understand that immigration is a worldwide problem and therefore the solution,
Speaker 1: she said, was to sit and talk.
Speaker 8: Since Semossa Marino is the place.
Speaker 1: She replied that if we don't sit and have a dialogue,
Speaker 1: young people will keep dying on both sides of the border.
Speaker 3: For over an hour, we spoke about Mexican politics, and
Speaker 3: we questioned her plans for the government if she was
Speaker 3: to come to power.
Speaker 1: Then, in the middle of it all, kind of out
Speaker 1: of nowhere, the so ChIL Galvez threw some serious shade
Speaker 1: at her opponent, Claudia shame bomb yok Okay Clauda. She
Speaker 1: so ChIL Galvez told us that her rival would never
Speaker 1: give us a chance to do an interview like the
Speaker 1: one she did with us. Well, obviously we wanted to
Speaker 1: get that interview with Claudia shame bomb, and we wanted
Speaker 1: to talk with other Mexican voters on the ground witnessing
Speaker 1: this historic ellection.
Speaker 3: So we got on a plane and we traveled to
Speaker 3: Mexico City.
Speaker 1: So we are beginning our first day of reporting on
Speaker 1: the ground in Mexico City. I barabarrier. We're stuck in traffic.
Speaker 1: This wall is pretty intense. I'm like pretty hot, it's
Speaker 1: very hot.
Speaker 3: Actually, we were on our way to a market in Istapalapa,
Speaker 3: and this is one of the poor and biggest towns
Speaker 3: of Mexico City. The population here is over one point
Speaker 3: eight million.
Speaker 1: We had heard that Sochi Galvez was having an event here.
Speaker 1: We are now coming upon the part of the market
Speaker 1: and there are people gathered. They are all Soachi supporters.
Speaker 1: I see a man carrying a flag of the bun
Speaker 1: the Bartido, a national.
Speaker 2: We approach a fifty year old woman. She is a
Speaker 2: street vendor.
Speaker 3: She is selling to status and she says that she's
Speaker 3: a strong Galvez supporter.
Speaker 1: So what in particular, do you like about Sochisona.
Speaker 3: She says that she likes Galvez because she is humble.
Speaker 1: And then as we're walking away, another woman in the
Speaker 1: market started literally yelling a political slogan at us, all
Speaker 1: of this in support of Claudia. Shamebam again. She's the
Speaker 1: candidate coming from the ruling party of Morina. So no
Speaker 1: no starko claudialloies so no.
Speaker 2: No estarco Claudiao.
Speaker 1: Obviously, we approached her to find out more, because who
Speaker 1: yells at reporters just like that? Why did you start
Speaker 1: screaming for Claudia? Just as we walked by Mostrado, she
Speaker 1: tells us that she believes that Claudia is the one
Speaker 1: who has shown true solidarity with the people. Now you
Speaker 1: might be wondering, dear listener, who exactly is Claudia Shanbaum.
Speaker 1: She represents the party in power, but she is a
Speaker 1: candidate all on her own. So Penny tell us a
Speaker 1: little bit more about Claudia Shanbaum.
Speaker 3: So Shanbaum was born to a secular Jewish family in
Speaker 3: Mexico City.
Speaker 2: She is a scientist.
Speaker 1: Actually it's interesting because she's a scientist, but she was
Speaker 1: a political activist and this started decades ago when she
Speaker 1: was a university student.
Speaker 2: I'm from as beginnings.
Speaker 3: She went on and she became the Secretary of the
Speaker 3: Environment of Mexico City, and all this happened in the
Speaker 3: early two thousands when Lopez o Rador was the city
Speaker 3: major and since then their political careers have been united.
Speaker 1: Then in twenty eighteen, Claudia becomes the mayor of Mexico City,
Speaker 1: which is huge, it's one of the largest cities in
Speaker 1: the world. And at the same time Andres Manuel Lopez
Speaker 1: o Rador becomes the president. So yes, their political careers
Speaker 1: are connected. They have a close relationship.
Speaker 9: Yer Mumino well, she the center Andre Man's douin Mosam.
Speaker 1: The opposition likes to say that Claudia Schambaum got this
Speaker 1: coveted position because of her loyalty to Lopez Obrador, and
Speaker 1: she says that claim is misogynistic.
Speaker 5: Or do you want to start and applica.
Speaker 3: What is true is that to this day Lopez of
Speaker 3: Rador still has a high approval rating and now his
Speaker 3: followers are supporting Claudia as well.
Speaker 2: And we got a sense of this when we met
Speaker 2: with this guy.
Speaker 6: San Andres re Travez, San Manuel to Pueblo.
Speaker 3: His name is Armando Monterre and he's selling well Lopez
Speaker 3: of Rador stuff just a few steps from the National
Speaker 3: Palace where the president.
Speaker 2: Tell us, why you.
Speaker 3: Have an entire stand with amlos souvenirs and now Claudia souvenirs.
Speaker 6: Because people ask for it. I mean, we started with
Speaker 6: a few things and then people come saying why don't
Speaker 6: you do like keyholders and other things like like magnets
Speaker 6: and stuff pants or spends.
Speaker 1: So what's going on with Claudia? And shamebam.
Speaker 6: She's so popular right now because we expect her to
Speaker 6: be the Mexico president, and for what we're seeing around here,
Speaker 6: people loves her too.
Speaker 1: What about you? The people loves me too. We left
Speaker 1: El Sookalo and continued on our tour of Mexico City,
Speaker 1: which by the way, included our search to get the
Speaker 1: interview with Claudia Shanebaum because for months we've been sending emails,
Speaker 1: making calls and we haven't gotten a lot of response.
Speaker 3: And then we learned that Claudia was hosting a rally
Speaker 3: in a small town in the outskirts of Mexico City.
Speaker 2: The name of this place is Tulti Land.
Speaker 3: So of course, we woke up super early, we changed
Speaker 3: our entire agenda for the day and we went there.
Speaker 3: We are in front of the Palazio Municipal and we
Speaker 3: are waiting for the moment when Claudia Shameebaue arrives.
Speaker 2: We were told that.
Speaker 3: Between seven thousand and eight thousand people are going to
Speaker 3: be gathering today here.
Speaker 1: This was a presidential campaign rally, like so many that
Speaker 1: I've covered in the United States. So we found a
Speaker 1: supporter who, like many of these folks, had traveled quite
Speaker 1: a bit to get to this rally. Why did you
Speaker 1: want to come with your nephews today, Imania? She said
Speaker 1: that she plans to support Claudia Shamebaum because she believes
Speaker 1: that she's the best candidate for the presidency. And then
Speaker 1: we asked another supporter who was there, and she responded
Speaker 1: by saying, it's not just Claudia that she's voting for,
Speaker 1: but she wants to vote for the entire party of Morena.
Speaker 3: And after almost two hours of waiting, Claudia finally arrived.
Speaker 1: I was expecting her to make something of a bigger
Speaker 1: grand entrance, but she kind of walked slowly through the
Speaker 1: center of the crowd, waving and shaking hands and hugging
Speaker 1: people and taking selfies, and then she walked up to
Speaker 1: the stage.
Speaker 3: In her speech, she said that this is a time
Speaker 3: for women. But then she started talking about Lopez o
Speaker 3: Rador and his government accomplishments, and she said that she
Speaker 3: will continue implementing his policies.
Speaker 1: Now, dear listener, we are not going to get into
Speaker 1: all of the particularities of trying to lock down an
Speaker 1: interview with a presidential candidate. But what we did do
Speaker 1: is make the decision to go to this event, and
Speaker 1: that did lead us to getting a yes. We were
Speaker 1: told that we would get five minutes with the candidate
Speaker 1: after her speech, and well, because Claudia Schenbaum spent four
Speaker 1: years living in Berkeley, California when she was working on
Speaker 1: her PhD, she agreed to speak with us in English.
Speaker 1: It's very emotional to think that there will be a
Speaker 1: Mexican woman running the presidency. You know, I'm talking to
Speaker 1: one of the most powerful Mexican women in the country.
Speaker 1: What's going on for you? What's in your heart?
Speaker 9: It's responsibility. I know I represent the Mexican women. I
Speaker 9: know I represent my ancestors and my daughter, my granddaughters.
Speaker 1: What is your message to Latino Mexican voters in the
Speaker 1: United States about this election in your candidacy, We're.
Speaker 9: Going to fight for them for their rights, and we're
Speaker 9: going to fight for the families in Mexico. We want
Speaker 9: welfare for all the Mexicans.
Speaker 3: Now, you have said a few days ago that Biden
Speaker 3: and Trump should stop stop talking about the Mexican elections.
Speaker 3: Why you said that and what's your plan regarding immigration?
Speaker 9: The best way to reduce migration is to invest in
Speaker 9: the countries where people have to live and want to
Speaker 9: go to the US. Either if Biden wins or Trump wins.
Speaker 9: There are a lot of problems in the US, and
Speaker 9: it's better that their campaign not use Mexico as the problem.
Speaker 9: We are not the problem. We're part of the solution.
Speaker 2: What's going to be unique about your government.
Speaker 9: Well, you know, I'm a scientist, so I'm going to
Speaker 9: put a lot of effort in science and development. We're
Speaker 9: going to go for women rights, and we're going to
Speaker 9: continue bringing education, a good health system for the people, housing,
Speaker 9: and what I call the rights for the Mexican people.
Speaker 1: Interestingly, while we were prepping for this interview, I found
Speaker 1: out that when Claudia was mayor. She organized a boxing
Speaker 1: class in the middle of the Sokalo as a kind
Speaker 1: of Guiness World Records competition, and well, I'm a dedicated boxer,
Speaker 1: So I asked her about this at the very end
Speaker 1: of our interview.
Speaker 5: Are you a boxer?
Speaker 1: I'm a fighter, and I would call that a touchet.
Speaker 3: Well, now we have the two female candidates on the record,
Speaker 3: but this election is not just about them.
Speaker 1: So when we come back to your listener, we're going
Speaker 1: to hit the streets of Mexico City. We're going to
Speaker 1: cover the International Women's Day protest, and we're going to
Speaker 1: hear from women voters about this historic presidential election in Mexico.
Speaker 1: Stay with us. Yes, Hey, we're back and we're covering
Speaker 1: the historic Mexican presidential elections where a woman will be
Speaker 1: president this year. And we've spoken now to both candidates,
Speaker 1: Claudia Schambaum and Sochil Galvez, and I'm reporting this story
Speaker 1: on the ground with my colleague Beni le Ramidez, so
Speaker 1: Benny Ley. Mexico is known as being a country that
Speaker 1: is machista, but it does raise a question, right, which is,
Speaker 1: how does a country get to a point where it
Speaker 1: has two female candidates running for president. I mean, how
Speaker 1: does it happen?
Speaker 2: So it took a lot of years, Maria.
Speaker 3: Since twenty fourteen, so a decade ago, Mexico has been
Speaker 3: approven several bills around gender party.
Speaker 6: The same SIE devotes head project to Cretopulic as a
Speaker 6: reformer Premier Articul.
Speaker 3: It was actually female legislators who have been pushing for
Speaker 3: an amendment to the Constitution, and this amendment demanded that
Speaker 3: women occupy at least fifty percent of all nominations for office.
Speaker 3: And after years, the Congress finally approved it and it
Speaker 3: became law in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1: Mexico is one of only six in the world to
Speaker 1: have achieved gender parity in Congress. So, you know, right now,
Speaker 1: in the United States, we like to think that there's equality,
Speaker 1: but even though we have a record number of women
Speaker 1: in the US Congress, it's only twenty eight percent percent
Speaker 1: of seats that are held by women. So Mexico is
Speaker 1: actually way ahead of the game compared to the US
Speaker 1: when it comes to gender parity in politics.
Speaker 3: And in Mexico, this law applies to the all three
Speaker 3: branches of government, so the municipal, the state, and the federal.
Speaker 1: And when I think about politics in Mexico as a kid,
Speaker 1: the notion of women having parody and being in power,
Speaker 1: I mean it was like a pipe dream.
Speaker 3: Yes, But more women elected and in public service doesn't
Speaker 3: mean that life is easier for women in general. Violence
Speaker 3: is still very high against women in Mexico.
Speaker 7: A crime for justice at the funeral for Lustra queer
Speaker 7: padilla and life was brought to a brutal end when
Speaker 7: a killers Downstown with petrol and center on fire.
Speaker 1: As a society, we reached our lowest point.
Speaker 4: This crime went under the radar because of all of
Speaker 4: the violence were surrounded by.
Speaker 3: That's the thing, maney, Yeah, that more women holding positions
Speaker 3: of power. Actually, gender based violence is on the rise
Speaker 3: in Mexico.
Speaker 1: Yeah. In fact, national survey data has revealed that seventy
Speaker 1: percent of women in Mexico have experienced some form of
Speaker 1: violence in their lifetimes and that for forty percent of women,
Speaker 1: that violence comes from a partner.
Speaker 3: So how is it that in the same country where
Speaker 3: women are systematically of use, we end up having two
Speaker 3: female presidential candidates.
Speaker 1: And in order to understand this pretty profound paradox, we
Speaker 1: spoke with the Dicia Bonifas, who is getting ready to
Speaker 1: attend the International Women's Day March.
Speaker 5: Inton says cibo ya la marcha ado sannos.
Speaker 1: Monifaz is a Mexican lawyer, one of the top experts
Speaker 1: on gender equality in all of Latin America. So we
Speaker 1: asked her about the fact that Mexico is going to
Speaker 1: have a female president before the United States.
Speaker 5: Sinos moestre Mexico yego only.
Speaker 1: Bil Mexico is at a level Latisia said that is
Speaker 1: comparable to Argentina, Brazil, or Chile, all of which have
Speaker 1: had female presidents. And then she said there must be
Speaker 1: something going on in the US that in this upcoming
Speaker 1: election you have a rematch between two old men, both
Speaker 1: with very polarizing policies.
Speaker 3: And then she told us that there is an international
Speaker 3: Bill of Rights for women that protects them against all
Speaker 3: forms of discrimination. One hundred and eighty nine countries have
Speaker 3: signed it so far, and the United States is not
Speaker 3: one of them.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm sorry to say that I'm not surprised by that.
Speaker 3: So yeah, on paper, Mexico might seem more advanced than
Speaker 3: the United States, but as I said before today, there
Speaker 3: are still huge unresolved issues for Mexican women.
Speaker 2: Remember this, About ten women are killed every day in Mexico.
Speaker 3: Sometimes it is because of the violence related to drugs
Speaker 3: or to human trafficking, but most of the times it
Speaker 3: is a domestic issue, so women are killed by their
Speaker 3: intimate partners or by the relatives and impunity for judicial cases.
Speaker 2: It is still at over ninety five percent.
Speaker 5: Nomos logrado at the Reserve Como el Mexico.
Speaker 3: So, according to Leticia, Mexico is well positioned in terms
Speaker 3: of political representation, but terrible in terms of violence against women.
Speaker 1: And that's why we decided to attend the International Women's
Speaker 1: Day March as part of our street coverage. So we
Speaker 1: got to the march around three o'clock, almost two hours
Speaker 1: after it had started. It was packed with thousands and
Speaker 1: thousands of women. In twenty sixteen, there were six thousand
Speaker 1: people marching. This year it was over one hundred and
Speaker 1: eighty thousand.
Speaker 3: And we saw women walking, dancing, holding signs, chanting, and
Speaker 3: also jumping.
Speaker 1: Okay, so this was in fact one of my favorite
Speaker 1: chants in the march. And the women are saying, if
Speaker 1: you don't jump, you're a macho. So of course everybody
Speaker 1: starts jumping. I mean even me, so all around me
Speaker 1: women are wearing purple and green, which are the colors
Speaker 1: that signified justice, dignity, feminism, and support for the legalization
Speaker 1: of abortion. I have to say, we saw young women,
Speaker 1: older women, were women. We saw women wearing well, kind
Speaker 1: of racy clothes. And this is to say that when
Speaker 1: you're part of this march, as a woman, you get
Speaker 1: to dress however you want. In this march, you're going
Speaker 1: to be safe, and so women just show off their bodies.
Speaker 3: And it was really something to see.
Speaker 1: Now, the streets were in fact lined with hundreds upon
Speaker 1: hundreds of police officers, but the ones that we saw
Speaker 1: were all women, So of course we went up to
Speaker 1: speak to a couple of them.
Speaker 5: The men.
Speaker 3: Listen on the last movie.
Speaker 1: This particular officer said that she was happy to participate
Speaker 1: in the march, even if from the sidelines. She said
Speaker 1: she loved witnessing other women telling their stories and feeling free,
Speaker 1: even if just for a day.
Speaker 3: From there, we kept marching and we met this young
Speaker 3: girl and she was wearing this heavy makeup and a
Speaker 3: mini dress and on her arm written with a sharpie,
Speaker 3: she had her name, her phone number, and a message
Speaker 3: that said that she was allergic to ibuprofend.
Speaker 2: And she said that this was for her own safety.
Speaker 1: What does your sign say?
Speaker 6: You can watch me, but you can touch me.
Speaker 1: The two women who are running as a young feminist,
Speaker 1: You're like, you're not You're not buying it. Why not isab?
Speaker 1: She said she's happy about having female candidates, but she
Speaker 1: does not feel represented because of everything that is behind
Speaker 1: these candidates.
Speaker 2: As we continued on the chance.
Speaker 3: Were louder and louder, and most of them were against violence.
Speaker 3: They were screaming, whoever to them alive, bring them back alive.
Speaker 3: We approach another woman and I asked her why you're
Speaker 3: here today for women, for my niece, so that we
Speaker 3: can come back without having to tell someone that we came.
Speaker 2: Back safe, and I can just wear whatever I.
Speaker 3: Want without feeling like someone's gonna harass me in the street.
Speaker 1: We marched for hours. We walked more than one point
Speaker 1: five miles from the start of the march at the
Speaker 1: Monument of the Mexican Revolution two elk, which is the
Speaker 1: final stop, and there we heard something called batucadas.
Speaker 3: And also cumbia. But of course, even though we were
Speaker 3: attending the march as journalists. We also at times got
Speaker 3: emotional because we are not only Mexican women.
Speaker 2: In my case, you one Mexican.
Speaker 1: I'm Mexican American, but.
Speaker 3: Also because we have been living through that same violence
Speaker 3: and impunity.
Speaker 1: Now, dear listener, I have to be honest with you.
Speaker 1: As a journalist, I cover protests, but I don't really
Speaker 1: participate in them. But this was a highly emotionally charged
Speaker 1: moment and march suddenly I found myself with a sharpie
Speaker 1: in my hand, and I was writing the name of
Speaker 1: my rapist on one of those steel barriers. And honestly,
Speaker 1: this was just a very unexpected moment. So it says,
Speaker 1: and I just wrote this on the wall. It says
Speaker 1: he raped me when I was sixteen. I never said yes.
Speaker 1: I don't have shame in saying that. And as a journalist,
Speaker 1: I have to speak the truth. I'm a survivor, and
Speaker 1: I identify with so many of the women here who
Speaker 1: have also been raped and assaulted. And part of the
Speaker 1: moment is to write his name on this wall, which
Speaker 1: I did, so thank you.
Speaker 3: Almost an hour later, and just after the sunset, we
Speaker 3: finally made it to the Ccalo, we heard a chance
Speaker 3: saying feminism is gonna win, is gonna win. We were exhausted,
Speaker 3: but at the same time beaming with energy, so we
Speaker 3: made it to the end of the marsh. How do
Speaker 3: you feel, Maria.
Speaker 1: I feel like the women of Mexico have got so
Speaker 1: much tenacity and energy and spirit. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: solidarity and it's so powerful to be out here. It
Speaker 1: was something I always wanted to do, and now I
Speaker 1: want to come back as a Mexican.
Speaker 3: Woman because if we come back next year, we will
Speaker 3: see how Mexican women are reacting to having a female
Speaker 3: president inside the National Palace and all this even here
Speaker 3: that are saying it's not enough just to be a woman.
Speaker 2: You need to do things.
Speaker 1: You need to have an openly feminist government, and having
Speaker 1: a woman president, according to the women who are many
Speaker 1: of the women who are marching here, is a step,
Speaker 1: but it's not going to solve the problems.
Speaker 2: But there was one thing missing in the Socaalo.
Speaker 1: Maria, Yeah, and it was a big thing that's missing.
Speaker 3: Yes, the Mexican flag, this huge monumental flag that is
Speaker 3: always waving at the center of the square, and it
Speaker 3: was just not there.
Speaker 2: Is never there for these marches because.
Speaker 3: The government makes a point of removing it. So when
Speaker 3: the world sees these pictures of the Women's March, they
Speaker 3: won't know that these images are from Mexico.
Speaker 1: Well, Penny, the Mexican flag might not be flying in
Speaker 1: the Sokolo, but the symbolism is there regardless. And yes,
Speaker 1: while Mexico is a machista country, it's also a country
Speaker 1: filled with powerful women, both in and out of politics.
Speaker 1: It's a country where huge debates are happening now on
Speaker 1: social justice, on political rights, militarization, feminism, class issues, human rights.
Speaker 1: I mean, you name it. There will be a Mexican
Speaker 1: woman in the presidential palace elected this year. And so
Speaker 1: the question might be, dear listener, which country is more machista,
Speaker 1: Mexico or the United States. This episode was produced by
Speaker 1: Fernando Ernandez Becerra, Beenie Ramirez, and Roxana Aguire. It was
Speaker 1: edited by Mitra bon Shahi. It was mixed by Stephanie
Speaker 1: Lebau and Julia Caruso. The Latino USA team includes Victoria Estrada, Brinaldo,
Speaker 1: Leanos Junior, Andrea Lopez Grusado, Jni mar Marquez, Marta Martinez,
Speaker 1: Mike Sargent, Nor Saudi and Nancy Trujillo. Benileei Ramirez is
Speaker 1: our co executive producer. Our marketing manager is Luis Duna.
Speaker 1: Our theme music was composed by Senia Rubinos. I'm your
Speaker 1: host and executive producer Maria jo Josa. Join us again
Speaker 1: on our next episode. In the meantime, I'll see you
Speaker 1: on all of our social media, especially on Instagram. Ex
Speaker 1: di do ya tu savez not teva yaes chao.
Speaker 2: Latino USA is made possible in part by the Ford Foundation,
Speaker 2: working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide,
Speaker 2: the John D. And Catherine T.
Speaker 3: MacArthur Foundation, and the Heising Simons Foundation, unlocking knowledge, opportunity
Speaker 3: and possibilities.
Speaker 2: More at hsfoundation dot org