Mexican Education / Fuel Smuggling

OECD recognition of Mexican Education. Claudia Sheinbaum highlighted that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) had positively noted the country's showing in science on the PISA international assessment. According to the president, the organization linked this outcome to the impact of La Nueva Escuela Mexicana (The New Mexican School), the education model her administration has promoted, as well as to the commitment shown by teachers and the curiosity and drive of students to keep questioning and learning despite ongoing challenges in the education system.

Fuel Smuggling. President reported measurable progress in curbing huachicol, the illegal trafficking and theft of fuel that has long drained revenue from Mexico's state oil sector and fed organized crime networks. She attributed the improvement to new government strategies and to traceability mechanisms now used to monitor fuel movement across the supply chain, tools she said were not previously in place and that have made it harder for smuggling operations to go undetected.

"Fuel smuggling has dropped a great deal," she affirmed, presenting the figures as evidence that enforcement and monitoring efforts are working.

Security. Sheinbaum Pardo reaffirmed continuity with her predecessor's security doctrine, explicitly aligning herself with former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's view that public safety cannot rest on enforcement alone. She argued that lasting security depends on tackling the underlying social conditions that drive people toward crime and violence, including access to quality education, stable housing, and decent job opportunities, all of which she said are being incorporated into her administration's National Security Strategy.

Judicial Reform. The president defended the controversial overhaul of Mexico's Judicial Branch, arguing that early results show it is delivering on its promise to end what critics long described as a culture of excess and privilege among top judicial officials. She pointed specifically to justices on the newly composed Supreme Court, noting that they now operate under reduced salaries, smaller year-end bonuses (aguinaldo), and lower allowances for representation expenses compared to their predecessors.

"The privileges that existed before are gone," she asserted, holding up these changes as proof that the reform, which reshaped how judges and justices are selected and compensated, is functioning as intended.