Claudia Sheinbaum was sworn in as Mexico's first female president

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Claudia Sheinbaum took the oath of office Tuesday as Mexico's first female president in more than 200 years of independence. She promised to protect an expanded social safety net and other popular policies introduced by her predecessor, but faced pressing problems.

The 62-year-old scientist and politician welcomes a country with a number of immediate challenges, chief among them persistent high levels of violence, a faltering economy and the hurricane-hit resort of Acapulco, which she plans to visit on Wednesday.

While former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office six years ago declaring “For the good of all, first the poor” and promising a historic change from the neoliberal economic policies of his predecessors, Sheinbaum promised continuity.

She is committed to preserving his legacy of greater support for the poor and increasing militarization of domestic security, but many Mexicans remain hopeful that she will eventually emerge from his terrible shadow.

Despite her promise of continuity, she is a completely different personality.

“López Obrador was an extremely charismatic president and that charisma often allowed him to cover up some political mistakes that Claudia Sheinbaum would not have that opportunity to do,” said Carlos Pérez Ricart, a political analyst at the Mexican Center for Economic Research and Teaching. “So where López Obrador was charismatic, Claudia Sheinbaum must be effective.”

He doesn't leave her with an easy situation.

Her first trip as president will be to the flood-hit resort of Acapulco on the Pacific coast.

Hurricane John, which struck last week as a Category 3 hurricane, then reemerged and struck again as a tropical storm, dumped four days of incredibly heavy rain that killed at least 17 people along the coast around Acapulco. Acapulco was devastated by Hurricane Otis in October 2023 and had not yet recovered from that blow when John struck.

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Sheinbaum also has to contend with raging violence in the cartel-dominated northern city of Culiacán, where factional fighting broke out within the Sinaloa cartel after drug lords Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López were arrested in the United States after heading there A small plane flew in on July 25th.

López Obrador has long sought to avoid confrontation with Mexico's drug cartels and has openly appealed to the gangs to maintain peace among themselves. But the limits of this strategy are becoming clear in Culiacán, the capital of the state of Sinaloa, where shootings continue to erupt on the city's streets. Local authorities and even the army – which López Obrador has relied on for everything – have essentially admitted that the fighting will only end when cartel bosses decide to end it.

But that's just the latest hotspot.

From Tijuana in the north to Chiapas in the south, drug-related violence is increasing, displacing thousands of people.

As Sheinbaum inherits a huge budget deficit, unfinished construction projects and a burgeoning bill for her party's spending programs — all of which could cause financial markets to crash — perhaps her biggest concern is the possibility of a Donald Trump victory in November. 5 US presidential election.

Trump has already promised to impose 100 percent tariffs on vehicles made in Mexico. Although this would likely violate the current U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, there are other things Trump could do to make life difficult for Sheinbaum, including his promise of massive deportations.

The situation with its northern neighbor was already tense after López Obrador said he would “put relations with the US Embassy on hold” following public criticism of planned judicial reform.

First lady Jill Biden struck an optimistic tone for relations with the new Sheinbaum administration, saying at a reception on Monday: “I know that under Dr. Sheinbaum's presidency will continue to build a more prosperous, safer and more democratic region – and the steps we will take in our U.S.-Mexico partnership.”

There are areas where Sheinbaum could try to take Mexico in a new direction. For example, she has a Ph.D. in energy engineering and has spoken about the need to address climate change. López Obrador built a huge new oil refinery and invested money in the state oil company. But its budget obligations don't give her much leeway.

Jennifer Piscopo, a professor of gender and politics at Royal Holloway University of London who has studied Latin America for decades, said Mexico's election as its first female leader was important because it showed girls that they can do it too, but can do it also create unrealistic expectations.

“Woman Firsts are powerful symbols, but they do not gain magical power,” she said. “Especially when the governance challenges are so great, expecting magical solutions overnight can also lead to great disappointment.”