The year 2025 ends with high levels in Mexico’s political temperature. Among other developments, three stand out: (i) a march attributed to Generation Z, young people supposedly dissatisfied with the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum; (ii) the resignation of the Attorney General of the Republic, Alejandro Gertz Manero; and (iii) the reappearance of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

It is often assumed that, in high-impact political events, public attention devoted to one issue quickly gives way to the next, and so on. Nevertheless, the current moment in Mexican politics has brought these matters together almost simultaneously, preventing the operation of the principle that a new scandal displaces the one currently in the spotlight.

The murder of the mayor of Uruapan, in the state of Michoacan, triggered a mobilization attributed to young people from the so-called Generation Z, joined by groups identified with sectors of the political right, opposed to the current government, characterized as left-wing. The march and rally in the central square, or Zócalo, of Mexico City proceeded without major incidents, except for some protesters who were injured as a result of outbreaks of violence, with no serious damage to report. The demonstration was directed against the president, calling for the initiation of a recall procedure, a mechanism already established under Mexican law.

The resignation of the Attorney General, an office endowed with constitutional autonomy, gave rise to a wide range of explanations, most of them aligned with conspiracy theories. The outgoing Attorney General was invited by the president to serve as Mexico’s ambassador to Germany. Attorney Ernestina Godoy, who had served as Legal Counsel to the Presidency, was appointed the new Attorney General of the Republic. She is closely associated with both former President López Obrador and President Claudia Sheinbaum.

Former President López Obrador, who had maintained his distance from political affairs, returned to the public scene following the completion of a book on Mexican history, entitled “Grandeza”, on which he has been working since the end of his public tenure in 2024. While it is presented as a history book, it is likely to generate controversy, as the official description states that it is “an analysis intended to demonstrate that the finest ethical principles and the goodness we possess as a people and as a nation derive from what we inherited from the great civilizations of pre-Hispanic Mexico.”

In his reappearance, the former president stated that he would maintain his political restraint, unless there were violations of national sovereignty, an assault on democracy, or a state coup. As is often the case in politics, events are interpreted through the lens of one’s own interests: for opponents of the government, the current political climate suggests internal confrontation within the movement known as the Fourth Transformation (the “4T”); for supporters, by contrast, the same scenario demonstrates the movement’s unity.

President Sheinbaum is currently the most popular head of government in recent times, not only domestically but also on the international stage, where she has successfully managed the complex Mexico–United States relationship and has avoided significant clashes or major disagreements with the administration of President Donald Trump. To close the year, Forbes magazine has named her the fifth most powerful woman in the world.