A woman in the presidency, a woman in charge of the capital. Sunday June 2, Mexicans brought women to power. If the victory of Claudia Sheinbaum, left-wing presidential candidate, was announced, that of Clara Brugada at the head of Mexico was more uncertain. But the mayor of Iztapalapa won with more than 51% of the votes, according to still partial results, confirming the left-wing anchoring of the city of 9 million inhabitants.
Morena’s left wing
An economist by training, Clara Brugada, 60, embodies a grassroots left. Born in Mexico City into a family originally from Chiapas, she grew up in the capital before leaving to live as a teenager, after the death of her father in 1978, in Chiapas, a poor state marked by inequalities in the south of the country. , on the border with Guatemala. It was in San Cristobal de Las Casas that his desire to study economics was born, to combat poverty and social injustice.
Having passed through popular organizations in her youth, it was from below, and not within the party apparatus – the PRD (Party of the Democratic Revolution), from 1995 to 2012, then Morena (National Regeneration Movement) , since its creation in 2014 – that it has established itself as a figure of the Mexican left. Mayor from 2018 to 2023 of Iztapalapa, one of the 16 districts of the capital, the most populous and the most popular in Mexico City, she became one of the leaders of the left and feminist wing of Morena.
The “utopias” of Clara Brugada
At the head of Itzapalapa, where nearly 2 million inhabitants live, on the eastern edge of Mexico City, Clara Brugada has worked to change the image of these working-class neighborhoods long synonymous with insecurity and poverty. One of the symbols of her management was the creation of “utopias” (“unity of transformation and organization for inclusion and social harmony”), cultural and sports centers that she had built in Iztapalapa.
Colorful, modern, these centers are – for the moment, other projects having already been launched – numbering 12, spread across the entire district. They offer numerous free activities – climate change museum, music and computer workshops, prevention of sexual violence, sports lessons, etc. – in areas where supply has often remained limited.
Among the most spectacular “utopias”, there is that of Quetzalcoatl, where an old Boeing 737 was converted into a library… During her campaign, Clara Brugada committed to continuing this effort in the event of victory, but this time- here on the scale of the entire capital, displaying the goal of opening a hundred “utopias” during his six-year mandate.
A triumphant left in Mexico
The victory of Clara Brugada, larger than expected in this stronghold held by the left since 1997, the year of the first election of the mayor of Mexico City by popular vote, and where the right dreamed of alternation, confirms the good results of the Mexican left , in the wake of the presidential mandate of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (2018-2024), nicknamed Amlo.
Despite a mixed record from the head of state, with in particular an increase in cartel violence, Mexicans voted on Sunday for continuity. Loyal to Amlo, Claudia Sheinbaum handily won the presidential election on Sunday with almost 60% of the votes, while her coalition won a large majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate.
