Sheinbaum’s Choice for Chief of Staff a Blast From the Past

Claudia Sheinbaum won the Mexican presidential election on June 2nd and is scheduled to take office on October 1st.

As part of the transitional period between her election and inauguration, she has been selecting her team.

Sheinbaum’s choice for Chief of Staff – a very important position – is none other than Lazaro Cardenas.

For students of 20th-century Mexican history, that rings a bell.

Lazaro Cardenas (pictured left) was president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940.

Cardenas is famous for the petroleum expropriation
and for breaking up the haciendas and apportioning
land to the peasants.

Lazaro’s son Cuauhtemoc Cardenas (pictured right) was a politician who ran for president in 1988, 1994, and 2000; served as a Senator from 1976-1980 and as Jefe de Gobierno of Mexico City from 1997 to 1999, and was one of the founders of the PRD party. Cuauhtemoc is now 90.

Cuahtemoc’s son, and thus Lazaro’s grandson, is Lazaro Cardenas, or Lazaro Cardenas Batel in the Spanish-surname system. Cardenas Batel is the one who’s been chosen to be the Chief of Staff of President Sheinbaum beginning October 1st.

Here’s a photo of Lazaro Cardenas Batel with President-Elect Claudia Sheinbaum:

All 3 generations of the Cardenas family served as mayor of Michoacan, the state in which Grandfather Cardenas was born. Here is a map showing the location of Michoacan, in red:

To summarize, for her Chief of Staff, Claudia Sheinbaum selects the grandson of the Cardenas family, who has the same name as the grandfather. It’s a Blast from the Past.