Narcoparties and contaminated water, the four key moments of the second debate in Mexico

The presidential candidates of Mexicothe official Claudia Sheinbaum and the opponents Xóchitl Gálvez and Jorge Álvarez Máynez, offered this Sunday a harsh second debate in which four key moments stood out.

The favorites, Sheinbaum and Gálvez, exchanged direct blows and left behind the coldness and rigidity of their first face to face within the framework of the electoral campaign for the presidential elections on June 2.

“Morena has become a narco party”

The opposition Gálvez started with a frontal attack against Sheinbaum and brought up the wave of violence that Mexico is experiencing linked to organized crime and drug trafficking gangs despite the fact that the axes of the conversation were economic in nature.

“The criminals already have a party. (The ruling National Regeneration Movement) Morena has become a narco party”, he assured.

“Hugs to criminals are over“, added the opponent in reference to the motto of “hugs and not bullets” used by the current president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to define his security policy that seeks to target the causes of violence and not repression.

Sheinbaum quickly responded by stating that the “The only declared narco-government that has existed is that of former President Felipe Calderón (2006-2012) of the National Action Party (PAN).”, a party that is part of the coalition led by Gálvez.

Claudia, the candidate of lies and contaminated water

Given the wide advantage that Sheinbaum shows in the polls, Gálvez decided to insist on criticizing the ruling party for her lack of independence and accused her of being controlled by López Obrador, who came to power in 2018 and will leave office in October.

“Claudia is the candidate of lies“said the opponent.

In this sense, he took advantage of the current controversy over the poor quality of water in Mexico City and took out a bottle of contaminated liquid and challenged Sheinbaum to take a drink.

“I would ask you to drink this water“Gálvez stated, before which Sheinbaum opted for silence and avoiding confrontation.

The slander of the PRIAN candidate and an unnamed Xóchitl

For his part, and throughout the debate, Sheinbaum avoided referring to his rival by name and limited himself to addressing her as the “PRIAN candidate,” in reference to the sum of the traditional Mexican parties, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). ) and the bread.

“I told them there was going to be slander: honesty”Sheinbaum stated.

The former head of Government of Mexico City insisted on the achievements of President López Obrador and promised to continue on the current president’s agenda.

“Before, those at the top were supported. Now those from below are supported (…) Neoliberalism failed”he added.

Álvarez Máynez, the irrelevance of the distant third

Although there are three candidates, the face-to-face ended up being an almost exclusive confrontation between Sheinbaum and Gálvez, since the third candidate, Álvarez Máynez, from the opposition Citizen Movement, went almost unnoticed.

He barely managed to include references to a multicultural country in which “Spanish is not the only language” and where renewable energies should be key to the economic development of the country.

He ended his speech by reading a list of wishes and political requests from his five-year-old son.