In a 67-minute speech at the National Palace on Tuesday, President Claudia Sheinbaum delivered her second annual government report. A month shy of completing her second year in office, she touted achievements across a wide range of areas and declared that her administration is “transforming public life in this country.”
Later on Tuesday, prominent opposition politicians presented a fundamentally different view of the state of the nation, asserting that Mexico, as a country, has not in fact improved under the leadership of Sheinbaum and her predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-24).
While opinion poll results show that Sheinbaum is a highly popular president, millions of Mexicans oppose her government.
In speeches in a general session of Congress on Tuesday, two of Mexico’s best-known opposition politicians, Sen. Ricardo Anaya of the National Action Party and Sen. Alejandro Moreno of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, outlined some of the main grievances that they — and many other Mexicans — have with the federal government and the broader Morena party-backed “fourth transformation” political movement that was founded by López Obrador and is now led by Sheinbaum.
They included grievances about insecurity, even though the president on Tuesday touted a 51% reduction in homicides (in July compared to the final month of López Obrador’s term).
They included claims that the government is shielding a ruling Morena party governor accused by U.S. prosecutors of drug trafficking in league with the Sinaloa Cartel, even though Sheinbaum has said on repeated occasions that her administration won’t protect anyone who has committed a crime.
And they included accusations that the government is attempting to silence or censor government critics, even though the president says her administration will always respect freedom of speech.
Jorge Álvarez Máynez, national leader of the Citizens Movement party, also offered an appraisal of Mexico almost eight years after Morena first came to power. His remarks, and those of Anaya and Moreno, are covered below.
Ricardo Anaya, National Action Party (PAN) senator and former presidential candidate:
“It was said that Mexico is at peace, that homicides had already gone down. I wish that were true; it isn’t.”
In the Legislative Palace of San Lázaro on Tuesday afternoon, Sen. Ricardo Anaya told his colleagues that he was at the rostrum to “seriously respond” to Sheinbaum’s second government report, which he asserted was “unfortunately riddled with lies.”
In his speech, Anaya sought to demonstrate that the Morena party government is failing to uphold its own ethos: “Don’t lie, don’t steal and don’t betray the people.”
“First they promised not to lie. This morning it was said that Mexico is at peace, that homicides had already gone down. I wish that were true; it isn’t,” the senator said.
“And I don’t say it with my numbers, I say it with yours, with those of the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System [SESNSP],” he said.
Mi respuesta al informe de Claudia Sheinbaum:
Maquillan las cifras, esconden el robo y protegen a los narcopolíticos. Prometieron no mentir, no robar y no traicionar al pueblo. Fallaron en las tres. pic.twitter.com/mNr6cx12NQ— RicardoAnayaC (@RicardoAnayaC) September 2, 2026
Anaya, who contested the 2018 presidential election as the candidate for the PAN, said that the average daily homicide rate before Morena took office in late 2018 was 70.
“In this six-year term of government, according to you, it’s 63. Seven fewer [homicides per day] is the apparent miracle,” he said.
“But this document — yours, not mine — has another column,” Anaya said as he held up a crime statistics report.
“It’s called ‘other crimes that threaten life and physical integrity.’ There are deaths listed there as well, but those — in a devious and deceitful manner — weren’t counted in this morning’s report. Those deaths, with you [in office], went from 15 to 40 per day,” he said.
Anaya also said that the number of daily reports of disappearances has increased from 16 to 31 under Morena’s rule.
“Disappearances doubled,” he said.
“So, do the math with me because it’s a primary school calculation. Homicides went down by seven per day in one column [but] went up by 40 in the other two,” Anaya said.
“Even though they fudge the numbers, in Mexico no one was brought back to life,” he said.
Anaya apportioned blame for the allegedly fudged numbers to authorities in Mexico’s 32 federal entities, the majority of which are governed by Morena. His claim that homicide statistics are being manipulated has also been expressed by security analysts and others.
Is security in Mexico improving or are the numbers being manipulated?
Anaya proposed a “public and technical review of the methodology” used by the SESNSP — which compiles crime data it receives from state Attorney General’s Offices — “so that no dead person can change columns.”
“Counting correctly is not a technicality; it’s the first requirement for governing truthfully,” Anaya said.
The PAN senator also accused the government of seeking to silence critical voices with its General Guidelines for the Protection of the Rights of Audiences.
“Huachicol fiscal is the largest robbery in the history of our country.”
Anaya asserted that the government has also broken its “do not steal” maxim.
“Huachicol fiscal is the largest robbery in the history of our country,” he said, referring to a fuel smuggling/tax evasion offense in which high-ranking members of the Mexican Navy and customs officials were allegedly involved.
“And it’s not [just] the opposition saying it. The federal tax prosecutor said it in this chamber: 600 billion pesos (US $35.45 billion),” Anaya said.
“… Six-hundred billion pesos is the hospital that wasn’t built, it’s the medicine that wasn’t supplied,” he said.
“It’s a second promise broken,” Anaya said before proposing the creation of a “special commission to investigate huachicol fiscal,” a crime that Sheinbaum says her government has “practically” eliminated.
The commission, he said, should be “plural,” but chaired by “the opposition.”
Anaya said that the commission could begin by looking into allegations that a company called Portacelis is involved in huachicol fiscal.
“The company is called Portacelis and the name that appears again is that of the friend of Andy, Amilcár Olán,” he said, referring in the first instance to Andrés Manuel López Beltrán, a son of ex-president Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Morena’s former secretary of organization.
“The problem isn’t that Andrés Manuel López Obrador has been stripped of his [U.S.] visa. The problem is that you don’t want to ask a single question. … That is the country you’ve built — one in which your surname determines whether you’re investigated or exonerated,” Anaya said.
“Sovereignty isn’t impunity.”
Finally, Anaya asserted that the government hasn’t fulfilled its pledge to “not betray the people.”
“In a country ravaged by homicides, oppressed by extortion, the worst possible betrayal has a verb, the verb pactar,” he said, alleging that the federal government has a pact with organized crime.
To support his claim, Anaya referred to U.S. prosecutors’ drug trafficking accusations against Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya, a Morena politician who is currently on leave.
“A grand jury decided to bring criminal charges against Rubén Rocha Moya for drug trafficking. A federal judge issued an arrest warrant. The State Department formally requested his provisional detention for the purpose of extradition. Today marks 126 days, and they keep telling us there is no evidence,” he said.
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Anaya asserted that there is indeed evidence linking Rocha to drug trafficking, citing an allegation that he met with Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, among other supposed examples of proof.
“Proof is not lacking here. What we have in abundance is protection,” he said.
“… Sovereignty is not impunity,” Anaya said, referring to Sheinbaum’s assertion that Mexican authorities can’t detain and extradite Rocha unless they are satisfied that the United States allegations are supported by sufficient proof.
“… The same apparatus that protects Rocha Moya, imprisons Ernesto Ruffo,” he said, referring in the second instance to a former PAN governor of Baja California who faces organized crime, fuel theft and tax evasion charges.
Alejandro Moreno, national leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and a federal senator:
“Eight years after the Morena governments began, the outcome is a country that is divided, fractured, indebted, bogged down and engulfed in violence.”
Speaking before Congress on Tuesday, Senator Alejandro Moreno was also highly critical of the current federal government and its predecessor — i.e. the administration led by former President López Obrador.
“Eight years after the Morena governments began, the outcome is a country that is divided, fractured, indebted, bogged down and engulfed in violence,” he said.
Moreno, a former governor of Campeche, asserted that the Sheinbaum administration doesn’t have a “national project” or “answers” to the problems Mexico faces.
Although Sheinbaum has an approval rating of 68% according to the most recent El Financiero poll, the senator claimed that her government is rejected by Mexicans.
Claro, en MORENA sí “Juntos han hecho historia”, pero por haber hecho un pacto inconfesable entre el gobierno y la delincuencia organizada.
Un pacto que se ha convertido en un régimen criminal transnacional y que hemos denunciado ante todos los organismos internacionales por… pic.twitter.com/oOeS2Qd8M1
— Alejandro Moreno (@alitomorenoc) September 2, 2026
He asserted that the government is seeking to “put an end to free media outlets” and “destroy the voices of the opposition, canceling the most fundamental freedoms in our country.”
Moreno went on to say that “the Morena government is impunity disguised as false defense of national sovereignty.”
He accused the Sheinbaum administration of protecting Morena governors and other officials wanted by “foreign governments and mainly the government of the United States.”
Moreno also accused the government of making a “shameful pact” with organized crime, a claim that the Trump administration has also made.
He said that if the government had a “modicum of decency,” it would “break its pact with the organized crime cartels and take away the protection of” López Obrador, Andy López Beltrán, Senator Enrique Inzunza, Baja California Governor Marina del Pilar Ávila and Tamaulipas Governor Américo Villarreal.
“They’ve ruined peace; they’ve destroyed Mexicans’ quality of life.”
Moreno also claimed that the current government “has ruined peace” and “destroyed Mexicans’ quality of life.”
“They systematically eliminated everything that had a stamp of autonomy,” he said, referring to the government’s abolition of various watchdog agencies, including the now-defunct National Transparency Institute.
Moreno asserted that at elections in 2027, “with a large party and citizens coalition,” the opposition will win a congressional majority.
“And have no doubt, in 2030, with the people of Mexico behind us, we’re going to win the presidency of the republic,” he said.
Jorge Álvarez Máynez, national leader of Citizens’ Movement and a former presidential candidate:
“Hospitals and healthcare centers still don’t have medicine.”
In a video posted to social media, Jorge Álvarez Máynez, MC’s candidate at the 2024 presidential election, said that eight years after Morena took power, “Mexico is not making progress.”
Ya son 8 años de Morena en el poder.
Y aún con todo el poder, México no está avanzando.
El gobierno prometió mucho y ha cumplido poco. Pero México es más que su gobierno.
México tiene alternativa. pic.twitter.com/ywiO7JYpsx
— Jorge Álvarez Máynez (@AlvarezMaynez) September 2, 2026
“Insecurity continues affecting the lives of millions of families,” he said.
“Hospitals and healthcare centers still don’t have medicine,” Álvarez Máynez asserted.
“And people continue battling to reach the end of the month,” he said, referring to the challenge of making ends meet.
Álvarez Máynez also said that after eight years of Morena governments, “corruption and abuse of power have not gone away.”
“… They promised to be different from the PRI but they failed to deliver on that too,” he said.
“We have a government that promised a lot but which has achieved very little,” Álvarez Máynez said.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
