Scientist aims for president … But will she be for science?

Earlier this year, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo stood before thousands of people gathered in Mexico City’s Zócalo, one of the world’s largest city squares, to kick off her campaign for Mexico’s presidency. “We will make Mexico a scientific and innovation power,” she vowed during her 1 March address. “To do this, we will support the basic, natural, social sciences, and the humanities. And we will link them with priority areas and sectors of the country”, writes Rodrigo Pérez Ortega for Science.

Sheinbaum Pardo, a 61-year-old environmental engineer who has served as Mexico City’s mayor and its environment secretary, has a hefty polling lead over her two opponents ahead of the 2 June elections. If she wins, she’ll become the first woman and the first researcher to lead the Latin American country of 128 million people. “I’m very excited,” she recently told Science during a wide-ranging interview.

Many in Mexico’s scientific community, however, are uncertain whether Sheinbaum Pardo, who is backed by a coalition of populist, left-of-centre parties, will deliver what it wants. She is a protégée of the current populist president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has pursued policies deeply unpopular with many scientists here, including cuts to research spending, a controversial restructuring of Mexico’s main science agency, and environmentally destructive development projects.
Full report on the Science site