This woman holds the future of the entire continent in her hands

The last politician in Latin America to legally gain a similar level of power to Claudia Sheinbaum last weekend was Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez. He transformed the most oil-rich country in the world into his socialist state. The result is known: eight million refugees – a quarter of the population – violence, hunger and lack of fuel. Today, Venezuela is a dictatorship under Chavez’s successor Nicolas Maduro.

The left-wing populist Sheinbaum (61) can now count on a similar power base in Mexico as the young Chavez once did. Clear majorities in the chambers must also enable structural constitutional reforms. The young, but already dominant left-wing populist party Morena will particularly benefit from this.

This has the potential to cause conflict, for example in relations with the US: Sheinbaum promised to respect the ‘sovereignty’ of other states. This mainly concerns the left-wing autocracies in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. This could become a problem, especially if Donald Trump is elected in November.

There are already many voices in the US demanding that Latin America should solve the migration problem itself if it supports left-wing dictatorships. Trump had already agreed to punish Sheinbaum’s predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador with punitive tariffs. Now Joe Biden is also starting to tighten the reins on the election campaign and tighten border policy.

Sheinbaum will not take office until October 1. Every word she says on the migration issue will be carefully considered in the final stages of the US election campaign. Rarely has a Mexican inauguration been awaited with such excitement in the US. Sheinbaum has the opportunity to position himself in advance: elections will take place in Venezuela on July 28.

Opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzales is clearly leading the polls. The regime in Caracas has since withdrawn the invitation from the EU observer committee, and only a fraction of the millions of Venezuelans in exile were allowed to attend. The only thing that can currently stop Maduro from rigging the elections is the democratic left in Latin America by taking a clear stand in favor of basic democratic rights.

This particularly affects Colombian President Gustavo Petro, Brazilian President Lula da Silva and the future President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum. If they do not do this, the mass exodus from Venezuela will continue. And sooner or later, this will probably catch up with Sheinbaum politically.