Claudia Sheinbaum’s remarks on the United States come as Mexico debates education reform and navigates tense U.S.–Mexico relations watched closely by Latino communities.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has questioned whether the United States should be a model to follow, given that it has “a lot of drug addiction” and “many problems with values.”
The president made these remarks on Saturday during an event to present an educational center in Querétaro before a group of students, in which she defended her government’s decision to eliminate the exam for upper secondary education and the strategy of bringing educational centers closer to where students live as a way to reduce the number of young people who drop out due to difficulties in access.
While presenting her proposal to build more high schools close to students’ homes in El Marqués, Querétaro, she referred to the United States and its education system. “Using the United States as an example: do you know where young people go when they finish middle school? To the high school that is closest to them,” she said.
However, Sheinbaum prefaced that comment with another in which she questioned the idea that the northern neighboring country should be a model for Mexico. The government of Donald Trump has repeatedly pressured Mexico over the past year to do more in the fight against cartels and drug trafficking that sends drugs into U.S. territory.
“Well, in the United States… and it’s not that it’s a model, because they have many problems with values and many other things. Because there is a lot of drug addiction there and many issues that we do not have,” she said while defending the proximity-based education model.
Mexico and the United States have spent months navigating moments of friction alongside messages of cooperation regarding security policy and the fight against organized crime. The exchange of information on criminal targets has led to the arrest of some crime leaders and the transfer of prisoners from one country to the other.
At the same time, however, the Trump administration has suggested that it could intervene in Mexican territory to strengthen the fight against cartels—several of which have been classified by its administration as foreign terrorist organizations—something Sheinbaum has flatly rejected. These exchanges have also included gestures of recognition for Mexico’s efforts to reduce violence, such as those made this week by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who highlighted that Mexico is doing, in security matters, “more than ever.”
“You’re Tough,” said President Trump to Claudia Sheinbaum, the Mexican President.
