The first trip of the elected president of Mexico Claudia Sheinbaum was marked Friday by the collision of a car in her convoy which caused the death of an elderly person traveling in another vehicle, said the office of the future president.
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The accident took place in the northern mining state of Coahuila, where Mexico’s first female president-elect was traveling with outgoing left-wing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Mme Sheinbaum, who will take office on October 1, arrived a few minutes later to inquire about “the state of health of the people being cared for by the rescue teams,” her team’s statement said.
“We deeply regret that a person died in the other vehicle,” added the statement about this accident in Monclova.
The president-elect assured the press that members of her team had been “hospitalized” and that they were doing well, according to a video on social networks.
The vehicle of Ms. Sheinbaum’s team was traveling “excessively speeding,” the city’s mayor, Mario Alberto Dávila, of the National Action Party (PAN, right, opposition), told reporters.
Mme Sheinbaum and his convoy were traveling from Monterrey to the neighboring state of Coahuila to join Mr. López Obrador.
They went to the Pasta de Conchos mine site, where 65 miners died on February 19, 2006 in an accident.
Human remains from the 18-year-old tragedy were found at a depth of 146 meters on Wednesday, local authorities said. Only two bodies were found after the accident.
“Since then, you have taken the lead in a fight to find your loved ones and for justice,” declared the president-elect, declaring that she felt “very strong emotions”.
The future president “will continue the transformation of our country”, declared for Mr. Lopez Obrador, who installed the left in power in 2018.
“We have implemented social welfare programs,” he added, recalling that all elderly people had the right to 100 pesos (7.45 Canadian dollars) per day.
“It is no longer a program, it is a constitutional right for all elderly people,” he insisted.
