Quick Facts About Mexico’s Jewish President-elect, Claudia Sheinbaum (2024)

• By Brian Fishbach
• Published June 4, 2024

Mexico elected a new president this week, with former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum becoming the country’s first female and first Jewish President.

What’s Sheinbaum’s Jewish background?

Sheinbaum was born on June 24 1962 in Mexico City, Mexico. Her father, Carlos Sheinbaum Yoselevitz, was a chemical engineer and businessman who passed away in 2013. Sheinbaum’s paternal grandparents were Ashkenazi Jews who fled Lithuania to Mexico in the 1920s.

Her mother is Annie Pardo Cemo, a biologist and professor emeritus at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Sheinbaum’s maternal grandparents were Sephardic Jews who fled Bulgaria during the Holocaust.

NPR reported in 2018 that “Sheinbaum says she celebrated holidays at her grandparents’, but her home life was secular.” She grew up with two siblings.

What’s Sheinbaum’s current family situation?

Sheinbaum married Jesús Maria Tarriba Unger, a banker, in 2023. She was previously married to Carlos Ímaz Gispertfor 29 years. Together they had one daughter, and Sheinbaum was the step-mother to Ímaz’ son.

What’s Sheinbaum’s educational and professional background?

Sheinbaum earned multiple degrees from UNAM: an undergraduate degree in physics, a Master’s degree in Energy Engineering and a Ph.D. in Energy Engineering.

She was Secretary of the Environment for Mexico City from 2000-2006. In 2007, Sheinbaum received a Nobel Peace Prize as a member of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, for their “Mitigation of Climate Change” report.

In 2015, Sheinbaum was elected Mayor of Tlalpan, Mexico City’s fourth-most populous borough. From 2018-2023, Sheinbaum was the Mayor of Mexico City, the most populated city in North America (9.2 million). She resigned in June 2023 to run for President.

What happened in the Mexico elections?

As of this writing, Sheinbaum won 59.35% of the vote (33,226,602), while her opponents Xóchitl Gàlvez received 27.9% and Jorge Máynez received 10.41%. Sheinbaum is a member of the left-wing Morena party— Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (National Regeneration Movement). Sheinbaum will be inaugurated on October 1, 2024.

Mexico as a country had a violent election cycle across its municipalities, with 37 candidates being assassinated. It has a population of over 127 million, making it the 10th most-populated in the world.

How many Jews are in Mexico?

There are between 40,000-50,000 Jews residing in Mexico.

What have people said about Sheinbaum’s Jewish identity?

“As a Mexican Jew, I view Claudia Sheinbaum’s election as President-elect of Mexico with a mix of pride and hope,” Mexican Jew and Los Angeles resident Nargis Zarrinkhoo told The Journal. “While it has been troubling for many in our community that she has downplayed her Judaism, I believe this new chapter in her political career presents a unique opportunity. In light of the historical and recent challenges faced by the Jewish community in Mexico, including the tragic attack on the Israeli Embassy in Mexico City, it is more important than ever for our leaders to acknowledge and embrace their heritage. I hope that Sheinbaum will use her newfound platform to shine a light on her Jewish identity and foster greater understanding and solidarity within the broader Mexican society. This could pave the way for a more inclusive future, where diversity is celebrated and the importance of being Jewish is celebrated. Bringing light to the years that we have contributed in Mexico, as Mexican Jews. It’s time for our communities to be recognized.”

“I hope that Sheinbaum will use her newfound platform to shine a light on her Jewish identity and foster greater understanding and solidarity within the broader Mexican society.”- Nargis Zarrinkhoo

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The day after Sheinbaum’s Presidential election victory, The Forward published an opinion piece, “I’m a Mexican Jew. I wish Claudia Sheinbaum would embrace the complexity of our shared heritage.”

Daniel Fainstein, the dean of Jewish Studies at the Hebraica University in Mexico City, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 2023 that “She’s not seen as, let’s say, one of us. I think that she’s seen as someone from Jewish origins that is developing her work as an academician and then as a politician.”

Ilan Stavans, an author and professor of humanities and Latin American and Latino culture at Amherst College, wrote a New York Times opinion piece in March 2024 that

“Even if she long ago walked away from her religious roots, the catastrophic Israel-Hamas conflict could become a particularly thorny subject for her. Left-wing governments in the region like those of Venezuela, Brazil, Nicaragua and even Mexico have a strong anti-Israel bent, and like it or not, Jews in the Americas are often associated with Israel.”

What was the birther movement launched against Sheinbaum?

Early in the campaign Sheinbaum faced a birther movement, whichclaimed she was not born in Mexico. On June 28, 2023, she shared a photo of her birth certificate on X with the caption, “Stop your speculations, here goes my birth certificate again. I am 100% Mexican, proudly the daughter of Mexican parents.”

(Translation provided by Google Translate).

A month later, former Mexican President Vicente Fox, who held the office from 2000 to 2006, attempted to belittle her by referring to Sheinbaum as merely a “Bulgarian Jew.” He later apologized saying “I have a profound respect for the Jewish community.”

What was Sheinbaum’s reaction to Hamas’ attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023?

Sheinbaum has not weighed in on the situation. Throughout the day of the attacks, Sheinbaum made 10 posts on Instagram. Nine of which were recapping a campaign visit to the Mexican state of Jalisco. The other post was a car selfie celebrating a hat with her name on it.

What has Sheinbaum said in the past about Israel?

In the Mexican Newspaper La Jornada, Sheinbaum wrote a letter to the editor in January 2009 during the a three-week battle between Hamas and Israel:

“Save the world that today is called Gaza

“I come from a Jewish family and I am proud of my grandparents and my parents. My paternal grandmother, exiled from Lithuania for economic and racial reasons, arrived in Mexico with part of her family in the second decade of the 20th century. My paternal grandfather arrived in Mexico around the same time, also exiled from Lithuania, for political and racial reasons: He was Jewish and a communist.

“My maternal grandparents came to Mexico fleeing Nazi persecution. They were saved by a miracle. Many of my relatives from that generation were exterminated in the concentration camps. Both families decided to make Mexico their homeland. I was raised as a Mexican. Loving its history and its people. I am Mexican and that is why I fight for my country. I cannot and do not want to deny my history, to do so would be, as León Gieco says, to deny the soul of life. But I am also a citizen of the world, because of my history and because that is how I think it should be.

“I am referring, of course, to libertarian, humanist, non-racist men and women who fight for peace … ‘Imagine,’ as John Lennon composed. Therefore, because of my Jewish origin, because of my love for Mexico and because I feel like a citizen of the world, I share with millions the desire for justice, equality, fraternity and peace, and therefore, I can only see with horror the images of the state bombings. Israeli in Gaza … No reason justifies the murder of Palestinian civilians … Nothing, nothing, nothing, can justify the murder of a child. For this reason, I join the cry of millions around the world who are calling for a ceasefire and the immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian territory. As Alberto Szpunberg, Argentine poet, said in a recent letter: ‘that is what it is about: saving a world, this unique and anguished world that we all inhabit, that belongs to everyone and that today is called Gaza.’”

(Translation provided by Google Translate)

What has Mexico’s outgoing President said about Israel?

In November 2023, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said, “We — and I want to be very clear when I say this — are not going to break relations with Israel, or take a position beyond calling for peace. Everything that is happening is very sad, very painful, very inhumane. Irrationality is what is predominating. Of course I am for peace and for a ceasefire.”

On April 10, 2024, this statement appeared on the official X account for López Obrador : “The president @lopezobrador_ pointed out … that our country has a centuries-old tradition in the protection of persecuted people and the right to asylum; from the Jewish community to the exiles of the continent.”

(Translation provided by Google Translate)

On April 15, two days after Iran’s attacks on Israel, the official X account of López Obrador wrote “Mexico’s position regarding the conflict between Israel and Iran is to seek dialogue and to end the war, commented the president @lopezobrador_ . He called for more U.N. activity and spoke out against Israeli authorities carrying out retaliation against Iran.”

(Translation provided by Google Translate)