Businesswoman with indigenous roots: Xochitl Galvez, the woman who will confront the ruling party in Mexico

Senator Xochitl Galvez, of the National Action Party (PAN), will be the opposition candidate in the elections next June in Mexico. This was reported by the Organizing Committee of the Broad Front for Mexico, an alliance of three formations made up of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) and the PAN itself.

According to local Mexican media, the meeting lasted until late into the night and it was decided to dispense with the internal primary elections, which should have taken place next Sunday, September 3, and to opt for Galvez after the other pre-candidate, PRI member Beatriz Paredes assumed that the distance against her opponent was “irreversible.”

In fact, the final decision fell into the hands of the PRI’s 32 state steering committees, as well as its 2,450 municipal steering committees and 90,000 local sections, and was announced by the leader of the national leadership Alejandro Moreno, who acknowledged the defeat of his candidate .

“The information indicates a broad and consolidated advantage on the part of our partner and part of the Broad Front for Mexico, Xochitl Galvez,” said Moreno after revealing a survey that positioned Galvez with 57.58% of preferences over Paredes. “We have made the decision to support the sole candidacy in the person of social Galvez to head the Broad Front for Mexico,” he stressed.

In this way, Xochitl Galvez becomes the face of the opposition to stand up to the ruling party of the Morena party, which has not yet decided on its candidate.

The most recent polls published by the newspaper ‘La Reforma’ suggest that the one best positioned to continue the legacy of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador under the umbrella of Morena is the former mayor of the capital, Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum, who counts with 37% of the supports within the training. She is followed by Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrad with 22%.

Also, according to the same survey, if the presidential elections were to take place today, Sheinbaum would prevail with 46% against Galvez, who would obtain 23% of the votes. Therefore, the future of the North American country will be, if nothing changes, in the hands of the first duel of women aspiring to lead the Executive.

Indigenous roots and successful businesswoman

Xochitl Galvez now aspires to reach the Presidency of Mexico, but the senator’s path to get here was long. The senator is from the central state of Hidalgo, where she was born in February 1963 within the framework of the Otomi indigenous community. She claims to have a strong character: “I listen, but I don’t take orders from anyone,” she recently said in an interview with the Mexican media outlet ‘Milenio’.

In several interviews he has commented that to pay for his high school studies he sold jellies in his town until he managed to win a scholarship to study computer engineering in the capital.

After graduating, he managed to create his own technology company called High Tech Services, based on the construction of intelligent buildings. His business success led him to obtain several contracts with the State.

Galvez has received several awards during her professional career, including the Businesswoman of the Year award for two consecutive years: in 1994 and 1995.

In the political sphere, Xochitl Galvez landed in 2003 in the general direction of the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples during the six-year term of Vicente Fox.

Seven years later, he ran for governor of the state of Hidalgo, but failed to gain sufficient support. However, from 2015 to 2018 she became the head of the state mayoral delegation, until on September 1 of that same year she proclaimed herself senator of the Republic for the National Action Party (PAN). Now, she is used to being seen riding a bicycle through the streets of the capital.

Since then, he has belonged to several important commissions, among which are Mobility, Indigenous Affairs, Anti-corruption or Climate Change. He has often argued with Lopez Obrador on issues such as sexist violence or the war against organized crime, to which he says you have to “throw ovaries”.

What does Galvez propose?

During the second regional forum of the Broad Front organized in mid-August, the now candidate for the presidential house proposed a 10-point plan called“Xochitlnomics” to, according to her, create a “viable future for Mexico.”

This strategy is based on reducing inequality and defending the rule of law, and consists of proposals such as the persecution of institutional corruption, the defense of national security, the construction of infrastructures based on green and sustainable energy or the creation of a system universal protection.

Galvez has also expressed his interest in leading a war strategy against drugs that is far removed from AMLO’s policies, although without specifying what his plan would be to tackle organized crime that is eating away at the Mexican State.

On issues such as migration, he has shown himself in favor of the approach nearshoring, which aims to bring producing companies closer to their final consumption destinations. To do this, he wants to establish a program through which migrants are certified to have certain job skills and are allowed to work in sectors that benefit from this project, such as electricians, engineers or welders.

Some ambitions that remain to be seen if they can materialize, since the electoral campaign in Mexico is far from beginning, at least officially.

With local media and EFE