AP PHOTOS: Mexicans choose between continuity and change in election overshadowed by violence
AP PHOTOS: Mexicans choose between continuity and change in election overshadowed by violence
FILE - A person holds a sign with a message that reads in Spanish: “We are all the same Mexico”, at an opposition rally called to encourage voting in the upcoming election, in the Zocalo, Mexico City’s main square, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme, File)
FILE - Supporters of presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum crowd into the Zocalo, facing the Cathedral, for her opening campaign rally in the Zocalo of Mexico City, March 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurea Del Rosario, File)
FILE - Ruling party presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum, center left, greets supporters at a campaign rally, flanked by mayoral candidate Clara Brugada and Morena party president Mario Delgado, in Mexico City, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
FILE - A shopper holds a postcard of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador that reads in Spanish: “AMLO, the coolest president,” for sale outside the presidential palace in Mexico City, March 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)
Presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum flashes a hand-heart sign during her closing campaign rally at the Zocalo in Mexico City, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum arrives at her closing campaign rally at the Zocalo in Mexico City, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
FILE - A woman holds up a sign with a message that reads in Spanish: “I’ll exchange my vote for my son,” referring to this year’s presidential election, during the annual National March of Searching Mothers, in Mexico City, May 10, 2024. The marchers say the government shows lack of interest in investigating the disappearances of Mexico’s over 100,000 missing people. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
Opposition presidential candidate Xochitl Galvez speaks during her closing campaign rally in Los Reyes la Paz, on the outskirts of Mexico City, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Supporters of opposition presidential candidate Xochitl Galvez chant her name at her closing campaign rally, in Los Reyes la Paz on the outskirts of Mexico City, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Opposition presidential candidate Xochitl Galvez waves a Mexican flag at her closing campaign rally in Los Reyes la Paz, on the outskirts of Mexico City, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
FILE - A woman suspected in the kidnapping and killing of an 8-year-old girl, is dragged out of a police vehicle by a mob in Taxco, Mexico, March 28, 2024. When Mexicans vote on June 2, they will do so in an increasingly polarized country that continues to struggle with staggering levels of violence. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File)
FILE - A cutout poster of ruling party presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum towers over supporters during her opening campaign rally at the Zocalo in Mexico City, March 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurea Del Rosario, File)
FILE - Erika Maria Cruz and her husband grieve next to the body of their son, Brando Arellano Cruz, fatally shot by police after he failed to pull over, in Lerdo de Tejada, Mexico, Jan. 19, 2024. When Mexicans vote on June 2, they will do so in an increasingly polarized country that continues to struggle with staggering levels of violence. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez, File)
FILE - Opposition presidential candidate Xochitl Galvez flashes a heart hand sign at a campaign rally, in the Zocalo, Mexico City’s main square, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme, File)
FILE - A car covered with handicrafts for sale is parked on a street in Mexico City, Dec. 4, 2023. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador swept into office in 2018 with the motto laying out his administration’s priorities: “For the good of all, first the poor.” (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)
FILE - Maria Hochihua Perez, who said her daughter Nimbe was disappeared five years ago, wears a sign offering a money reward, during the National March of Searching Mothers, in Mexico City, May 10, 2024. The march came two days after the López Obrador’s administration accused the press and volunteer searchers who look for the bodies of missing people of “necrophilia.” (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
Confetti showers presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum, right, and mayoral candidate Clara Brugada, as they raise their arms during Sheinbaum’s closing campaign rally at the Zocalo in Mexico City, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
FILE - A soldier removes the body of a howler monkey that died amid high temperatures in Tecolutilla, Mexico, May 21, 2024. Mexico has been baking under a heat wave so intense that howler monkeys have literally been dropping dead from the trees. Almost all of the country is suffering some level of water shortage due to the below-average rainfall. (AP Photo/Luis Sanchez, File)
FILE - Residents mounted on horses ride past fields charred by wildfires, amid a prolonged drought in La Tuna, Veracruz state, Mexico, May 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez, File)
FILE - Opposition presidential candidate Xóchitl Galvez greets supporters at a campaign rally in Huixquilucan, Mexico, April 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
FILE - Migrants wait in line for a hot meal at the Casa INDI shelter in Monterrey, Mexico, April 11, 2024. Monterrey has increasingly become a critical way station, for tens of thousands of migrants. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)
FILE - A charcoal drawing depicting opposition presidential candidate Xóchitl Gálvez, and other gifts from her constituents, decorate her childhood bedroom she shared with her sisters, in Tepatepec, Mexico, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File)
FILE - Relatives and friends carry the coffin that contains the remains of a man slain in a mass shooting, into a church for a funeral service in Huitzilac, Mexico, May 14, 2024. When Mexicans vote June 2, they will do so in an increasingly polarized country that continues to struggle with staggering levels of violence. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File)
FILE - Women play their drums as they march against gender-based violence marking International Women’s Day, in Mexico City, March 8, 2024. With two women leading in the country’s presidential race, Mexico will likely elect its first female president on June 2. (AP Photo/Aurea del Rosario, File)
FILE- Magdalena Hernández Santiz cuts weeds using a machete as her husband, Pedro Cruz Gomez, sprays their field with herbicides before planting corn in the Tojolabal village of Plan de Ayala, Chiapas state, Mexico, May 2, 2024. Seventy years ago, Mexican women won the right to vote, and today the country is on the verge of electing its first woman president. Yet some of the Indigenous women who will vote in Sunday’s national election still don’t have a voice in their own homes and communities. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
Pedestrians are reflected in a storefront window as they look at bridal gowns, in Mexico City, Thursday, May 30, 2024. Mexicans will vote Sunday in an election weighing gender, democracy and populism, as they chart the country’s path forward in voting shadowed by cartel violence. With two women leading the contest, Mexico will likely elect its first female president. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A supporter of presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum takes a selfie backdropped with a campaign poster during Sheinbaum’s closing campaign rally at the Zocalo in Mexico City, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
FILE - A peace flag flutters on the perimeter fence of the Saint Francis Xavier Parish church, where two Jesuit priests were murdered in 2022 by gang leader “El Chueco,” in Cerocahui, Mexico, May 12, 2024. When Mexicans vote June 2, they will do so in an increasingly polarized country that continues to struggle with staggering levels of violence across its territory. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)
FILE - A person holds a sign with a message that reads in Spanish: “We are all the same Mexico”, at an opposition rally called to encourage voting in the upcoming election, in the Zocalo, Mexico City’s main square, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme, File)
FILE - A person holds a sign with a message that reads in Spanish: “We are all the same Mexico”, at an opposition rally called to encourage voting in the upcoming election, in the Zocalo, Mexico City’s main square, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme, File)
FILE - Supporters of presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum crowd into the Zocalo, facing the Cathedral, for her opening campaign rally in the Zocalo of Mexico City, March 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurea Del Rosario, File)
FILE - Supporters of presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum crowd into the Zocalo, facing the Cathedral, for her opening campaign rally in the Zocalo of Mexico City, March 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurea Del Rosario, File)
FILE - Ruling party presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum, center left, greets supporters at a campaign rally, flanked by mayoral candidate Clara Brugada and Morena party president Mario Delgado, in Mexico City, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
FILE - Ruling party presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum, center left, greets supporters at a campaign rally, flanked by mayoral candidate Clara Brugada and Morena party president Mario Delgado, in Mexico City, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
FILE - A shopper holds a postcard of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador that reads in Spanish: “AMLO, the coolest president,” for sale outside the presidential palace in Mexico City, March 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)
FILE - A shopper holds a postcard of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador that reads in Spanish: “AMLO, the coolest president,” for sale outside the presidential palace in Mexico City, March 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)
Presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum flashes a hand-heart sign during her closing campaign rally at the Zocalo in Mexico City, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum flashes a hand-heart sign during her closing campaign rally at the Zocalo in Mexico City, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum arrives at her closing campaign rally at the Zocalo in Mexico City, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum arrives at her closing campaign rally at the Zocalo in Mexico City, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
FILE - A woman holds up a sign with a message that reads in Spanish: “I’ll exchange my vote for my son,” referring to this year’s presidential election, during the annual National March of Searching Mothers, in Mexico City, May 10, 2024. The marchers say the government shows lack of interest in investigating the disappearances of Mexico’s over 100,000 missing people. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
FILE - A woman holds up a sign with a message that reads in Spanish: “I’ll exchange my vote for my son,” referring to this year’s presidential election, during the annual National March of Searching Mothers, in Mexico City, May 10, 2024. The marchers say the government shows lack of interest in investigating the disappearances of Mexico’s over 100,000 missing people. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
Opposition presidential candidate Xochitl Galvez speaks during her closing campaign rally in Los Reyes la Paz, on the outskirts of Mexico City, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Opposition presidential candidate Xochitl Galvez speaks during her closing campaign rally in Los Reyes la Paz, on the outskirts of Mexico City, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Supporters of opposition presidential candidate Xochitl Galvez chant her name at her closing campaign rally, in Los Reyes la Paz on the outskirts of Mexico City, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Supporters of opposition presidential candidate Xochitl Galvez chant her name at her closing campaign rally, in Los Reyes la Paz on the outskirts of Mexico City, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Opposition presidential candidate Xochitl Galvez waves a Mexican flag at her closing campaign rally in Los Reyes la Paz, on the outskirts of Mexico City, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Opposition presidential candidate Xochitl Galvez waves a Mexican flag at her closing campaign rally in Los Reyes la Paz, on the outskirts of Mexico City, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
FILE - A woman suspected in the kidnapping and killing of an 8-year-old girl, is dragged out of a police vehicle by a mob in Taxco, Mexico, March 28, 2024. When Mexicans vote on June 2, they will do so in an increasingly polarized country that continues to struggle with staggering levels of violence. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File)
FILE - A woman suspected in the kidnapping and killing of an 8-year-old girl, is dragged out of a police vehicle by a mob in Taxco, Mexico, March 28, 2024. When Mexicans vote on June 2, they will do so in an increasingly polarized country that continues to struggle with staggering levels of violence. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File)
FILE - A cutout poster of ruling party presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum towers over supporters during her opening campaign rally at the Zocalo in Mexico City, March 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurea Del Rosario, File)
FILE - A cutout poster of ruling party presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum towers over supporters during her opening campaign rally at the Zocalo in Mexico City, March 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurea Del Rosario, File)
FILE - Erika Maria Cruz and her husband grieve next to the body of their son, Brando Arellano Cruz, fatally shot by police after he failed to pull over, in Lerdo de Tejada, Mexico, Jan. 19, 2024. When Mexicans vote on June 2, they will do so in an increasingly polarized country that continues to struggle with staggering levels of violence. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez, File)
FILE - Erika Maria Cruz and her husband grieve next to the body of their son, Brando Arellano Cruz, fatally shot by police after he failed to pull over, in Lerdo de Tejada, Mexico, Jan. 19, 2024. When Mexicans vote on June 2, they will do so in an increasingly polarized country that continues to struggle with staggering levels of violence. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez, File)
FILE - Opposition presidential candidate Xochitl Galvez flashes a heart hand sign at a campaign rally, in the Zocalo, Mexico City’s main square, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme, File)
FILE - Opposition presidential candidate Xochitl Galvez flashes a heart hand sign at a campaign rally, in the Zocalo, Mexico City’s main square, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme, File)
FILE - A car covered with handicrafts for sale is parked on a street in Mexico City, Dec. 4, 2023. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador swept into office in 2018 with the motto laying out his administration’s priorities: “For the good of all, first the poor.” (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)
FILE - A car covered with handicrafts for sale is parked on a street in Mexico City, Dec. 4, 2023. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador swept into office in 2018 with the motto laying out his administration’s priorities: “For the good of all, first the poor.” (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)
FILE - Maria Hochihua Perez, who said her daughter Nimbe was disappeared five years ago, wears a sign offering a money reward, during the National March of Searching Mothers, in Mexico City, May 10, 2024. The march came two days after the López Obrador’s administration accused the press and volunteer searchers who look for the bodies of missing people of “necrophilia.” (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
FILE - Maria Hochihua Perez, who said her daughter Nimbe was disappeared five years ago, wears a sign offering a money reward, during the National March of Searching Mothers, in Mexico City, May 10, 2024. The march came two days after the López Obrador’s administration accused the press and volunteer searchers who look for the bodies of missing people of “necrophilia.” (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
Confetti showers presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum, right, and mayoral candidate Clara Brugada, as they raise their arms during Sheinbaum’s closing campaign rally at the Zocalo in Mexico City, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Confetti showers presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum, right, and mayoral candidate Clara Brugada, as they raise their arms during Sheinbaum’s closing campaign rally at the Zocalo in Mexico City, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
FILE - A soldier removes the body of a howler monkey that died amid high temperatures in Tecolutilla, Mexico, May 21, 2024. Mexico has been baking under a heat wave so intense that howler monkeys have literally been dropping dead from the trees. Almost all of the country is suffering some level of water shortage due to the below-average rainfall. (AP Photo/Luis Sanchez, File)
FILE - A soldier removes the body of a howler monkey that died amid high temperatures in Tecolutilla, Mexico, May 21, 2024. Mexico has been baking under a heat wave so intense that howler monkeys have literally been dropping dead from the trees. Almost all of the country is suffering some level of water shortage due to the below-average rainfall. (AP Photo/Luis Sanchez, File)
FILE - Residents mounted on horses ride past fields charred by wildfires, amid a prolonged drought in La Tuna, Veracruz state, Mexico, May 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez, File)
FILE - Residents mounted on horses ride past fields charred by wildfires, amid a prolonged drought in La Tuna, Veracruz state, Mexico, May 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez, File)
FILE - Opposition presidential candidate Xóchitl Galvez greets supporters at a campaign rally in Huixquilucan, Mexico, April 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
FILE - Opposition presidential candidate Xóchitl Galvez greets supporters at a campaign rally in Huixquilucan, Mexico, April 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
FILE - Migrants wait in line for a hot meal at the Casa INDI shelter in Monterrey, Mexico, April 11, 2024. Monterrey has increasingly become a critical way station, for tens of thousands of migrants. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)
FILE - Migrants wait in line for a hot meal at the Casa INDI shelter in Monterrey, Mexico, April 11, 2024. Monterrey has increasingly become a critical way station, for tens of thousands of migrants. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)
FILE - A charcoal drawing depicting opposition presidential candidate Xóchitl Gálvez, and other gifts from her constituents, decorate her childhood bedroom she shared with her sisters, in Tepatepec, Mexico, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File)
FILE - A charcoal drawing depicting opposition presidential candidate Xóchitl Gálvez, and other gifts from her constituents, decorate her childhood bedroom she shared with her sisters, in Tepatepec, Mexico, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File)
FILE - Relatives and friends carry the coffin that contains the remains of a man slain in a mass shooting, into a church for a funeral service in Huitzilac, Mexico, May 14, 2024. When Mexicans vote June 2, they will do so in an increasingly polarized country that continues to struggle with staggering levels of violence. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File)
FILE - Relatives and friends carry the coffin that contains the remains of a man slain in a mass shooting, into a church for a funeral service in Huitzilac, Mexico, May 14, 2024. When Mexicans vote June 2, they will do so in an increasingly polarized country that continues to struggle with staggering levels of violence. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File)
FILE - Women play their drums as they march against gender-based violence marking International Women’s Day, in Mexico City, March 8, 2024. With two women leading in the country’s presidential race, Mexico will likely elect its first female president on June 2. (AP Photo/Aurea del Rosario, File)
FILE - Women play their drums as they march against gender-based violence marking International Women’s Day, in Mexico City, March 8, 2024. With two women leading in the country’s presidential race, Mexico will likely elect its first female president on June 2. (AP Photo/Aurea del Rosario, File)
FILE- Magdalena Hernández Santiz cuts weeds using a machete as her husband, Pedro Cruz Gomez, sprays their field with herbicides before planting corn in the Tojolabal village of Plan de Ayala, Chiapas state, Mexico, May 2, 2024. Seventy years ago, Mexican women won the right to vote, and today the country is on the verge of electing its first woman president. Yet some of the Indigenous women who will vote in Sunday’s national election still don’t have a voice in their own homes and communities. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
FILE- Magdalena Hernández Santiz cuts weeds using a machete as her husband, Pedro Cruz Gomez, sprays their field with herbicides before planting corn in the Tojolabal village of Plan de Ayala, Chiapas state, Mexico, May 2, 2024. Seventy years ago, Mexican women won the right to vote, and today the country is on the verge of electing its first woman president. Yet some of the Indigenous women who will vote in Sunday’s national election still don’t have a voice in their own homes and communities. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
Pedestrians are reflected in a storefront window as they look at bridal gowns, in Mexico City, Thursday, May 30, 2024. Mexicans will vote Sunday in an election weighing gender, democracy and populism, as they chart the country’s path forward in voting shadowed by cartel violence. With two women leading the contest, Mexico will likely elect its first female president. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Pedestrians are reflected in a storefront window as they look at bridal gowns, in Mexico City, Thursday, May 30, 2024. Mexicans will vote Sunday in an election weighing gender, democracy and populism, as they chart the country’s path forward in voting shadowed by cartel violence. With two women leading the contest, Mexico will likely elect its first female president. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A supporter of presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum takes a selfie backdropped with a campaign poster during Sheinbaum’s closing campaign rally at the Zocalo in Mexico City, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A supporter of presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum takes a selfie backdropped with a campaign poster during Sheinbaum’s closing campaign rally at the Zocalo in Mexico City, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
FILE - A peace flag flutters on the perimeter fence of the Saint Francis Xavier Parish church, where two Jesuit priests were murdered in 2022 by gang leader “El Chueco,” in Cerocahui, Mexico, May 12, 2024. When Mexicans vote June 2, they will do so in an increasingly polarized country that continues to struggle with staggering levels of violence across its territory. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)
FILE - A peace flag flutters on the perimeter fence of the Saint Francis Xavier Parish church, where two Jesuit priests were murdered in 2022 by gang leader “El Chueco,” in Cerocahui, Mexico, May 12, 2024. When Mexicans vote June 2, they will do so in an increasingly polarized country that continues to struggle with staggering levels of violence across its territory. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)
MEXICO CITY (AP) — When Mexicans go to the polls on June 2, they will do so in an increasingly polarized country that continues to struggle with staggering levels of violence across large swathes of territory.
Dozens of organized crime gangs now control towns, neighborhoods and rural hamlets. Mexico’s largest cartels have opened up new violent fronts in far-flung corners like the jungle-clad stretches of the Mexico-Guatemala border. They not only fight amongst themselves, but extort even the lowest on the economic ladder to fuel their illicit enterprise.
Even the Catholic church has been compelled to intervene, attempting to negotiate peace in conflict zones, but seeing its own priests kidnapped and killed.
Mexico’s next president will almost certainly be a woman. Both the leading candidates are women and the third, a man from a smaller party, trails. That prospect has raised hope among some in Mexico’s most marginalized sectors, including Indigenous women and the country’s 2.5 million domestic workers, that their voices will be heard. One of the two women candidates offers continuity. The other promises change.
Other women, the mothers of Mexico’s more than 100,000 disappeared, have less reason to hope they will see change. Outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s policy of “hugs, not bullets” to confront drug cartels has not managed to significantly reduce the killings. His predecessors’ strategy of pursuing drug lords in an all-out war didn’t improve things either.
Some Mexicans are hopeful that either of the leading candidates could accelerate Mexico’s hesitant and limited steps toward clean energy. Most agree that fossil fuel-loving López Obrador, who has maintained an outsized presence in the election even without appearing on the ballot, represented a step back – he built a massive new oil refinery and put clean energy producers at a disadvantage.
His anointed successor, front-runner and former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum has a background in climate science. With much of the country suffering under water shortages and a prolonged drought, there is a certain urgency and thirst for action.
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