A few days before the revolution begins in the ruling Morena party, there is not a single light in Mexico that does not shine on the opposition, and the opposition has only one name: Xóchitl Gálvez (Tepatepec, 60 years old), the indecipherable woman that some place on the left and others on the right. What a remedy, he has the absurd task of representing three parties of different stripes and bringing an equally diverse electorate onto his ticket if he wants to win the country’s presidency in June 2024.
The candidate who recently emerged victorious from a prematurely aborted primary process and has to face the onslaught of a president of unprecedented popularity has a hoarse voice these days, but it does not stop, from the party to the Congress, from the Congress to Chiapas , from Chiapas to the capital, from meeting to meeting. This interview takes place in the huge gray van that takes her to the airport, just 25 minutes of hurried conversation in which she will say that she is not afraid to discuss abortion, even though it is a “divisive” topic, exactly like their opinion. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. She will also say that on the right she only has the bench on which she sits in the Senate, the PAN, and that it must be others who wink at the far right, not her. She, like the President, is entrusted to the Virgin of Guadalupe and ready to fight. He asks only one thing: “Leave me alone.”
Senator Xóchitl Gálvez.Hector Guerrero
Questions. There will be a mass bathing this Sunday.
Answer. That’s what I like best. I think I’m really here for the citizens. What I like most is being with people.
Q The president just delivered his government report and you tweeted, “Blah blah blah, lies, blah blah blah, lies.” Wasn’t there some truth in that?
R. There are some, let’s see, I raise the issue of social programs, but this has been reported on for four years, I don’t see anything new. It’s not about the health system catastrophe, the bankruptcy of Pemex, the CFE, the 50 million Mexicans without access to health care, the 400,000 people in extreme poverty, the Mayan train that runs at 30 trains an hour that destroyed this Jungle, a refinery that is not refining and will not be refining for a long time… it’s like mashing your finger.
Q Where do you stand ideologically?
R. Center, center left.
Q And you have nothing good to say about this six-year term?
R. I save social programs and end outsourcing [subcontratación]I would like to believe that there has been equality in tax relief, but no, there are still privileged people. The thing is that López Obrador does not have a left-wing government, he continued his policies and bet on fighting dirty energies does not mean being left. Neglecting women’s demands is not left-wing.
Q If the vote scheduled for this Sunday between Beatriz Paredes (PRI) and you had ended, would Paredes have won this missing election, given the solid network that the PRI has throughout the territory?
R. They didn’t have that… there were 2,300,000 people on the registry [donde se inscribieron quienes querían votar]only I had reached a million, with citizens without a party, another 200,000 that the PAN had given me, plus 300,000 that the PAN had given to Santiago Creel [que se decantó por apoyarla], they make 1,500,000. Well, the PRI would have maybe 700,000, that is… I got the signatures in the first few weeks, 150,000. It’s not to be despised at all, but the press must recognize that there was an organic phenomenon towards me, organic, no one can contradict me about that, that the millions of people who signed up, no one assumed they did it out of conviction .
Xóchitl Gálvez on board his truck. Hector Guerrero
Q And if one had won the polls and the other the street elections, what would have happened?
R. I would have loved it if there had been an election, I would have preferred it, but how can there be one when a candidate is eliminated and she has decided to drop out?
Q Has she decided? Wasn’t there pressure from above?
Q Beatriz is not a woman who will let anyone pressure her, she is one of the most established and right-wing politicians in this country and she said it clearly when asked: “Do you think I will let myself be pressured?” ?’. I think this detracts from Beatriz’s abilities. She is a woman who makes her own decisions, just like me.
Q You talked about the need to also focus on the capital of Mexico. Do you think Beatriz Paredes could be that candidate for the city?
R. Only she can decide, you have to choose the best team in the capital, whoever it may be, and I don’t know if she has that claim, she has already been a candidate for Mexico City twice.
Q And Sandra Cuevas?
R. I don’t know, I’m not entirely clear… I heard that I want to be Minister of Public Security, but I’m not sure if I want to be head of government.
Q What do you think about her, do you know her?
R. I hardly know her.
Q They ask the parties to let it happen. In your opinion, to what extent can the parties of the Frente Amplio por México prevail in the presidential race?
R. All parties have their good and bad sides, and so do all citizens. What I want to say is that they allow me… What brought me here? I have my own personality, I’m disruptive, an outsider and I don’t want to be pigeonholed. What people like is a bit of confidence, that jumping in, telling things like they are, that’s what I’m saying when I say leave me alone.
Q But it is difficult to campaign without parties.
R. Of course the parties will be there, but people want something different, so the parties opened their internal selection process to citizens and somehow a first part emerged because I started from scratch and got 55 points. This is an effort, I was ready for Sunday, I completed my agenda on Saturday in Chiapas.
Q When you’re trying to get people from as wide a political spectrum as the PRI, so diverse, plus the PAN and the PRD to vote for you, how can you get people as diverse as you to vote for you?
R. There are things that can be salvaged from every game. The PRI is a party that founded the Bank of Mexico, a key institution, it gives the country stability, social security, the ISSTE, it believes in institutions and I like that. The PAN aims to promote business development and free competition, the common good, based on the vision of avoiding avoidable pain. About the PRD, I love this whole social justice bit on the left, their avant-garde recognition of the LGBTIQ+ community in Mexico City, equal marriage, this whole progressive agenda. And until the civil movement, I can also represent a progressive MC agenda with which I share a lot.
Q MC is now very divided.
R. It is divided, but at the moment I don’t want to talk about the division, but about its agenda, because at the end of the day I am not a married woman with an ultra-right or ultra-left agenda, I am a woman of freedom, who strives for the people to live on their own Strength, on our own strength, to move forward, that the chances are there, that we level the ground, but I can keep up with the games well.
Q Don’t you think that the Frente Amplio also has to wink at the extreme right in order to get enough votes?
R. There will be people in the Frente Amplio who wink at the extreme right. I believe that we have many visions of the country. At the moment I want to focus on what worries all Mexicans, namely insecurity. 164,000 people murdered is not good accountability from this government, it is a failure. That is the priority. 50 million people without access to health services is also a failure. The abandonment in the countryside… What I believe is that today the rights are clearly enshrined in the Constitution, I am obliged to apply the law, but there are agendas that we have to work on that are harming Mexico, are doing at the moment we don’t. We don’t have to see where we are. Where we polarize, but where we unite.
Gálvez cycling through Mexico City. HENRY ROMERO (Portal)
“I will give the far right clean energy so they can do business”
Q Don’t you try to gesture to the right?
R. I will give legal certainty to the far right, I will give them clean energy so they can do business. [se ríe]and they will pay taxes because they will do more business, free enterprise is clear, I am not someone who believes that the government must have monopolies.
Q But there is abortion, religion…
R. Perhaps you have no idea of the extent of my religiosity.
Q Is she very religious?
R. Yes, but I am very respectful.
Q What do you believe in?
R. I believe in God.
Q And one more thing: What is your devotion?
R. I entrusted myself to the Virgin of Guadalupe to start this project.
Q Oh yeah?
R. Yes, I am very religious, but I have no right to impose my vision on others.
Q Do you believe in the non-denominational character of Mexico?
R. I think that people… I would do a lot, for example, that women who decide to have children are supported, because there is a lot of talk about taking care of women, but they are alone, they have no one Whether in daycare centers or all-day schools, they don’t have well-paid jobs because there are many women who want to have children but don’t feel up to the situation. Mexico helps its women very little. I wish they could make a decision based on the possibilities.
Xóchitl Gálvez during an event with fans in Acapulco.David Guzmán (EFE)
“The justice system is full of people who stole bread from the corner.”
Q Are there any concrete ideas to combat insecurity?
R. Hugs instead of bullets was not a security strategy, it was a pact with crime, a criminal strategy. I rely on intelligence, strengthened local and state police, technology and artificial intelligence. The part presented by Marcelo is the key. [Ebrard, aspirante de Morena a la presidencia] It’s fine, but we need to do more and stop criminalizing everything. The justice system is full of people who stole a loaf of bread from the corner. We will deal with crimes of less than 10,000 pesos in a different justice system, we will leave the crimes that really burden Mexicans to the criminal justice system. And in our hearts we must side with the victims; and firmness, I don’t have to say it by any means, but it requires ovaries, courage.
Q How is this solidity realized?
R. Well, apply the law. Whoever does it pays, it’s that simple. Of course we have to strengthen public ministries, pay them better, eliminate corruption, ensure that there is no impunity, we have to deal with the causes that create poverty, poverty in the cities… I suggest, I say, I can’t make suggestions, but I do We have to dream of a system in which, in high-crime neighborhoods, there are spaces for children aged 12 to 18, in where we take them after high school to play sports, to music academy, to learn a craft or to develop a technical activity. Get them off the streets. Violence against women also has to do with their lack of economic performance; without economic capacity, they cannot leave a violent home. You have to use resources, the city police, when a victim calls you, investigate the matter, visit her, otherwise the husband will kill her after a while.
Q Do you think that corporations and the richest in Mexico pay enough taxes?
R. I lifted it. There are two options: take more from those who have the most and give more to those who have the least. I believe they are both: those who have the most have to contribute, there is no doubt about it, but many of them believe that what they have put in will be stolen from them. , then we have to give them security, online accounting, we have to say what the government is spending the money on. At the Dos Bocas refinery they spent 360,000 million, they had agreed that it would be 160,000. Another 200,000 were spent and we don’t know how.
Q Do you think the richest people would be happy knowing that their money was going to specific projects?
R. We need to stop spending money like idiots. Pemex has invested 800,000 million and is bankrupt. Is there any point in continuing to put money into it?
Q And in education and health?
R. We need a universal protection system where we have to consider how it is financed and the strategy must be, yes, that they invest more in what they have the most, but those who have the least must make an effort, to move forward . Let them study so that they can have a well-paying job in the long term. In the health sector, they should be careful and not decapitalize themselves, because these days most people go to the pharmacies around the corner to get medical care.
Q Do you believe in a public education and healthcare system?
R. I believe in a public education system, a public health system, and a public treasury.
Q And what do you have on the right?
R. Nothing more than the party on whose bench I sit [se ríe]
Q That’s all?
R. My vision… I fought for the passage of the law so that domestic workers have social security, so that farm workers… for the rights of indigenous peoples…
Q Abortion is almost a reality in Mexico through legal means. Would you be willing to legislate on this?
R. The court has already decided that women should not be criminalized.
Q The court, but no law was made.
R. It depends on all parties, and this government, which describes itself as left-wing, has not dealt with the issue. The parties must want to get involved in it, because it needs a legislative majority.
Q Would you do it?
R. I would at least take part in the debate, I am not afraid of discussions, the least we can do is a debate. I think that this issue could divide more than it unites at this moment, let’s put it better: the issues that unite us right now.
Q You say that you are very rebellious and don’t pay much attention to the teams you advise.
R. I pay a lot of attention to the teams. If they call me stupid, I don’t accept it, but if they are intelligent, yes. In politics there is a lot of bluffing, there are a lot of people who give you very little advice, but I have very capable people and I would almost say that my team makes the decisions.
Q Will they vote for you in your city?
R. Of course they will vote for me in my city, more than you can imagine, Morena blames.
Q Will you stop being colloquial? The people on the right say they have to qualify this…
R. I think it’s worse to misbehave with your neighbor than to say a bad word.
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