Xochitl Galvez, the maverick opposition candidate seeking Mexico's presidency

Record ID: 1820852

  • Title: Xochitl Galvez, the maverick opposition candidate seeking Mexico's presidency
  • Date: 28th May 2024
  • Summary: MONTERREY, NUEVO LEON, MEXICO (MAY 29, 2024) (REUTERS) STAGE ON GALVEZ'S OFFICIAL CAMPAIGN CLOSURE RALLY GALVEZ AND CANDIDATE FOR MAYOR OF MONTERREY ADRIAN DE LA GARZA SANTOS WAVING TO SUPPORTERS VARIOUS OF SUPPORTERS DURING RALLY (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) OPPOSITION PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, XOCHITL GALVEZ, SAYING: "We will bring freedom in place of today where an authoritarian
  • Embargoed: 11th June 2024 11:49
  • Keywords: Galvez Lopez Obrador Mexico Sheinbaum elections politics president
  • Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS, MEXICO
  • City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS, MEXICO
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: South America / Central America,North America,Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
  • Reuters ID: LVA007572526052024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Xochitl Galvez, the runner-up in Mexico's presidential election polls, is hoping to attract voters as an alternative to the current government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and his endorsed candidate, Claudia Sheinbaum.
    Galvez, who trails ruling party candidate Claudia Sheinbaum in the polls ahead of Sunday's vote, represents a coalition of opposition parties and vows to restore security to Mexico, where around 30,000 people are murdered every year and criminal groups wield far-reaching influence.
    Galvez has criticized the historic level of missing persons in Mexico and promised to end President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's policy of avoiding confrontations with organized crime and to combat the growing extortion of businesses and highway robberies. Still, she has pledged to maintain and enhance some of the current government's popular social programs.
    Born in Tepatepec, in the central state of Hidalgo, Galvez has described how the poverty and violence that she and her mother suffered at the hands of her father, an alcoholic rural teacher, motivated her to push forward.
    Galvez calls herself a rebel. She left home at the age of 17 for Mexico City to study and escape the social expectation in her home town that she marry young.
    In Mexico City she studied computer engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and specialized in robotics before founding technology companies.
    In 1999, the World Economic Forum named her one of the 100 global leaders of the future.
    Galvez is known for her casual and irreverent way of speaking, using colloquial slang in the face of a Mexican political tradition that remains largely formal.
    She usually dresses in colorful huipils, a handmade embroidered garment characteristic of the country's indigenous peoples, and she is a strong proponent of bicycles, riding one when she went to register her candidacy.
    She also emphasizes her indigenous Otomi heritage and her work with indigenous communities during her time in the cabinet of President Vicente Fox between 2000 and 2006. Galvez's political career also includes terms as a senator and mayor of the Miguel Hidalgo neighborhood in Mexico City.
    However, critics argue that the coalition backing her, composed of the center-left PRI, right-wing PAN, and leftist PRD, has been implicated in corruption and power abuse allegations.
    Current polls show Galvez trailing Sheinbaum by up to 20 points, who is expected to win Sunday's (June 2) election.
    (Production: Alberto Fajardo, Rodolfo Pena Roja, Nina Lopez)
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