Change of course in Mexico’s new hegemonic party. President Claudia Sheinbaum has completed a series of political moves that guarantee her control of Morena, the ruling party, created in its day in the image and likeness of Andrés Manuel López Obrador. In a move that had been an open secret in recent months, she has put an end to the troubled management of two young and inexperienced leaders, such as Luisa María Alcalde, president of the party, and Andrés Manuel López Beltrán, organization secretary and son of the former president, who took over the leadership in September 2024. Sheinbaum has decided to place Ariadna Montiel, one of the officials closest to the president and until now head of the powerful Ministry of Welfare, which operates the Government’s social programs, at the head of the cherry-colored formation, as confirmed by EL PAÍS from sources in the party and the federal cabinet. The maneuver completes a movement of pieces that began last week with the resignation of Citlalli Hernández from the Ministry of Women and her subsequent incorporation into the party as head of the strategic Elections and Alliances Commission.
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Sheinbaum’s intervention in Morena aims to bring order to the formation founded by López Obrador ahead of the major 2027 midterm election. With this, the president breaks the prudent distance she had maintained from the party since taking office. Sheinbaum is very keen for Morena to arrive at the election with optimal candidates and strong alliances with the ruling party’s political partners, the Labor Party and the Green Party, according to people aware of the preparations for the contest. These two conditions were beyond the control of the current leaders, Alcalde and López Beltrán, who have a personal dispute between them that has affected the party’s preparation for the elections.
Next year’s election is crucial for the ruling bloc, which above all seeks to retain the qualified majority in the Chamber of Deputies that has allowed it to approve constitutional changes without major hurdles. In addition, several governorships and hundreds of positions in local congresses and city councils are at stake. Sheinbaum is mindful of the major defeat in the 2021 midterm election, when, while she was head of government of Mexico City, the ruling party lost half of the capital. The disastrous result was partly explained by the president’s decision not to manage the party and the government at the same time; her absence, however, was not compensated by strong leadership that would guide Morena’s political operation at the local level.
Montiel has yet to formally submit her resignation from the Ministry of Welfare, although she has already informed her close collaborators of the reshuffle. To finalize her complex chess move, Sheinbaum has removed Esthela Damián, the current presidential legal advisor, from her position so that Alcalde, who is a trained lawyer, can occupy that spot after leaving the party leadership. Damián will seek to run as Morena’s candidate for the Government of Guerrero, where she is from. Meanwhile, López Beltrán is still debating whether to seek a candidacy or retire from politics.
For several months, Sheinbaum remained on the sidelines of the dispute between Alcalde and López Beltrán, but she has decided to take the helm and straighten the course of the formation just as internal negotiations for the definition of candidacies begin. The appointment of Citlalli Hernández aimed to safeguard this process; specifically, to ensure that positions on the electoral ballot are not negotiated under the table and to curb the influence of governors and parliamentary leaders in the selection of candidates.
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Hernández’s arrival at the leadership also aimed to mend Morena’s relationship with the PT and PVEM, which had been severely damaged after the pressure exerted by the ruling party to approve the electoral reform proposed by Sheinbaum, which the allies considered very harmful to themselves. The PT and PVEM leaders brought their complaints to the president regarding what they considered mistreatment and impositions from Alcalde. The wear and tear brought the ruling alliance to the brink of rupture and, for now, led each party to field its own candidates in several elected positions, which jeopardizes the ruling bloc’s dominance in Congress and in the states it already politically controls. The president took note of the complaints and entrusted Hernández with acting as an interlocutor with the allies even weeks before formally sending her to the elections portfolio in Morena.
Ariadna Montiel’s move is also crucial. The secretary is in charge of the powerful army of Servants of the Nation, officials who visit citizens door-to-door to register them in the registry of social aid beneficiaries. The vast majority of these public servants come from Morena’s ranks; in fact, during electoral periods, they have worked as vote promoters for ruling party candidates. For this reason, the opposition has launched its strongest criticisms against this diffuse structure between party and government.
Montiel was recruited into the Ministry of Welfare by López Obrador. She was one of the few officials who held the same portfolio in the current administration. Montiel earned Sheinbaum’s trust by supporting her in the Morena internal contest for the presidential candidacy and López Obrador’s succession. The ruling party aspirants engaged in a fierce contest that led the party to one of its biggest internal crises. One of the aspirants, Marcelo Ebrard, at the time denounced the alleged interference of Montiel and her army of Servants of the Nation to favor Sheinbaum. This complaint was never clarified; Ebrard toned down his claims and joined Sheinbaum’s cabinet as Secretary of Economy.
The president has made her government-to-Morena leadership reshuffles discreetly and has personally managed them with all involved, whose merits in their respective roles she has acknowledged, according to the consulted sources. These sources indicate that Sheinbaum had planned for Montiel’s replacement to also happen last week, along with Hernández’s, but Alcalde showed reservations about the moves happening all at once. The president has completed the pincer movement with the intention of no longer worrying about the party and fully focusing on governing.
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