The president’s call has arrived. Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed this morning that she invited Luisa María Alcalde to the Legal Counsel of the Presidency to replace Esthela Damián, who asked to leave the position to seek the governorship of Guerrero in 2027. This invitation will precipitate changes in Morena’s leadership and in the presidential cabinet, where the departure of the Secretary of Welfare, Ariadna Montiel, could also be confirmed to take the reins of the Morena party.
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In her conference this morning, the president confirmed the rumor that has been circulating for months in the corridors of power about the departure of Luisa María Alcalde, who ten days ago had said that she would remain at the head of the party, and that the only reason she would leave the position would be a call from the president. That call has arrived amidst a series of praises from Sheinbaum, who has described the young leader as an excellent lawyer “who has played a great role at the head of Morena.” Even so, the president reported that Alcalde asked her for a few days to think about it.
Sheinbaum has said that all her collaborators have the right to aspire to popularly elected positions and party leadership, but for this they must leave the Government, and has hinted that this could be the case for Secretary Ariadna Montiel, who is mentioned as the next national president of Morena. In the case of Esthela Damián, one of her closest collaborators since the head of government of Mexico City, she had only joined the legal counsel of the Presidency last November, after the departure of Ernestina Godoy, who replaced Alejandro Gertz in the Attorney General’s Office.
The new changes in Sheinbaum’s team began last week with the departure of Citlalli Hernández from the Secretariat for Women, who now presides over Morena’s Election Commission, a strategic position in defining candidacies and alliances for 2027. Regarding Montiel’s eventual departure from her cabinet, the president has said that she has the right to participate in a process to seek Morena’s leadership, but has not confirmed whether the secretary has already communicated her intention to join the party.
The president admitted this morning that there have been information leaks that placed these issues in the media and has anticipated criticism and speculation, denying the influence of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador in these changes. “There is no red phone from Palenque to Palacio Nacional,” she said.
