“The time of women has come,” declared Juan Ramón de la Fuente Ramírez, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Mexico, spotlighting the landslide election of his country’s first female President, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo.  Describing the “Mexican humanism” that characterizes his Government’s vision, he said it aims to build a society of democracy, equality and shared prosperity for the benefit of everyone, putting the poor first.  His Government is motivated by a vision of justice, the separation of political and economic power, and is moving towards a “moral economy”.  This new political way, he said, gives agency and a voice to the historically marginalized, including women, indigenous persons and persons of African descent, among others.

“The results speak for themselves,” he said, pointing to the UN’s recognition that 13.5 million Mexicans have been lifted out of poverty due to labour justice and social programmes.  Also highlighting other achievements, he touched on the largest reforestation programme in the world, violence contained and an indigenous person being President of the country’s Supreme Court.  Against the backdrop of persisting poverty and an arms race in a world of exorbitant wealth, which fuel the flames of violence, he called for “a moral economy of well-being” worldwide, peace built from the bottom up, and addressing the structural causes of violence.  He also called for upholding international law alongside human rights, as war takes an “intolerable toll”, urging an end to the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. 

“We particularly reject the criminalization of people who, for whatever reason, have been forced to leave their homes and forced to migrate, whether to seek refuge or to escape conditions of injustice or poverty,” he continued.  Migrants are people with rights who care for their families and contribute to improving their host communities, he said, underscoring that only by understanding the phenomenon and addressing structural causes can progress be made towards a framework of global and regional collaboration, to move to a safer and more orderly mobility.  “Let there be no doubt,” he said, “Mexico will not tire in ensuring the protection of Mexican nationals outside the country.”