English Translation
By Pedro Salvador Guerrero
The following is an excerpt from today’s “Mañanera”, the daily press conference held by the President of Mexico, during which government officials present information on national issues and respond to media narratives. This week’s “Detector de Mentiras”[1] segment focuses on misinformation related to the judicial branch, security policy, social welfare programs, and economic performance under President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration. It also draws clear distinctions from the policies of former President Felipe Calderón, particularly in the context of the war on drug trafficking: “Calderón declared war. We build peace.”
Transcript translation:
Those who defended the war on drug trafficking declared by Felipe Calderón and led by his Secretary of Public Security, Genaro García Luna—currently imprisoned in the United States for committing the very crime he was supposed to fight, drug trafficking—are now inventing non-existent similarities and continue to justify the massacres and García Luna’s collusion with organized crime. Why do they refuse to acknowledge that a different strategy, one that prioritizes addressing the causes of violence, does produce results, as has been shown here every Tuesday, every two weeks?
On the other hand, social welfare programs continue to be attacked with lies. Let’s watch this week’s Lie Detector video:
Non-existent comparisons between President Claudia Sheinbaum’s security strategy and Felipe Calderón’s war on drug trafficking, and alarms over the alleged depletion of government funds in Mexico, are among the false claims identified this week by the lie detector.
1. “President Claudia Sheinbaum is copying Felipe Calderón’s security strategy.”
“So all of this has led many analysts to say, hey… It’s good that President Sheinbaum has abandoned the ‘hugs, not bullets’ strategy and returned to Calderón-style gunfire.”
False!
In the first six months of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration, intentional homicides decreased by 14%, going from a daily average of 86.9 to 74.7. In contrast, during Calderón’s war, according to data from the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System, intentional homicides increased by 19% in the first half of 2007 compared to the same period in 2006.
President Sheinbaum: “No way! Nothing to do with it. Calderón declared war. We build peace. Calderón carried out extrajudicial executions linked to foreign agencies. We do not. We uphold the law. Investigations are opened, and arrests are made. Back then, collateral damage was dismissed. Now we protect the people of Mexico.”
2. “President Claudia Sheinbaum replicated Calderón’s eco-stove program.”
False!
The efficient wood-burning stoves for welfare will be built by the program’s beneficiaries. Through the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Welfare, materials will be provided for one million stoves, along with training and support. In contrast, Felipe Calderón’s administration subcontracted companies for the development and delivery of eco-stoves, installing only 384,783—77% of their goal.
The welfare wood-burning stoves are based on Claudia Sheinbaum’s undergraduate thesis in physics, where she demonstrated their effectiveness in the Purépecha community of Cherán, Michoacán. These stoves were also part of the Environmental and Climate Change Program for Mexico City (2019–2024), which achieved an annual reduction of over two million tons of carbon dioxide and improved the city’s air quality through the installation of efficient wood-burning stoves.
3.“President Claudia Sheinbaum claimed that if everyone uses less electricity, prices will go down.”
False!
President Claudia Sheinbaum’s statement circulating on social media was taken out of context. On March 29, during the presentation of the “Sol del Norte” photovoltaic panel program, she explained that this initiative seeks to lower electricity rates without reducing consumption by installing solar panels in 5,000 homes.
President Sheinbaum: “But our goal is to lower electricity costs even more. How will we do it? Well, if less electricity is consumed, less will be paid. But it’s not about consuming less by turning off air conditioning or fans. No. This year, panels will be installed in 5,000 homes, and next year we will expand this.”
4. “The Mexican government is running out of tax revenue.” “Back in our country, the government is bankrupting Mexico and indebting future generations. It distributes money to privileged groups like CNTE.” “Depending on the government is a trap, because as long as they have something to give, all is well. But the day it runs out, there is no Plan B.”
False!
Tax revenue collected by the Mexican government from January to March 2025 increased by 19.7% compared to the previous quarter in 2024, with an additional MXN 333.028 billion collected, reaching a total of MXN 1.717 trillion.
Additionally, the Ministry of Finance reported projected GDP growth between 1.5% and 2.3% for 2025 and stated that public debt remains on a stable and sustainable path, comparing favorably to peer economies in Latin America.
5. “The judicial election ends the separation of powers and democracy.” “A judicial reform that ends the separation of powers, ends constitutional checks and balances, and also ends democracy.”
False!
The judicial reform did not change the government’s democratic system established in the Political Constitution, nor did it alter the separation of powers. The reform introduced democratic participation through citizen involvement in the selection of judiciary members and mechanisms to prevent corruption in the judiciary.
The judicial election does not entail fiscal or monetary restructuring and therefore does not create uncertainty in investment criteria. Furthermore, foreign direct investment in Mexico reached MXN 36.872 billion in 2024—the highest amount recorded to date—according to the Bank of Mexico and the Ministry of Economy.
6.“The Government of Mexico seeks to spy on, monitor, and control the population through biometric data.”
False!
The proposed reform on forced disappearance establishes the creation of a single identity platform, intended for authorities and private entities with access to biometric data to share sufficient information with security authorities. The goal is to gather adequate information on missing people to improve the efficiency of their prompt identification and search.
[1] “El Detector de Mentiras” (The Lie Detector) is a Wednesday segment from the daily presidential press conference in Mexico, produced by “Infodemia,” and presented by Miguel Ángel Elorza-Vásquez. It is designed to address misinformation in national and international media coverage of Mexico. This translation provides an English version of the segment from April 9, 2025, ensuring accessibility for English-speaking or reading audiences interested in Mexican political discourse and media narratives.
Mexican Press Agency is part of ALMA, which is dedicated to news and information about Mexico and Mexicans in the United States and is a fiscally sponsored project of Social Focus, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Redwood City, California.
