Over 4,000 corrupt officials sanctioned since Sheinbaum took office: Tuesday’s mañanera recapped

• 🚨 Corruption crackdown continues: Anti-Corruption Minister Raquel Buenrostro said 4,193 public servants were sanctioned between Oct. 1, 2024 and June 30, 2026, mostly for improper payments, data theft and unjustified purchases. Sheinbaum said corruption prevention efforts have saved over 80 billion pesos in government contracts.

• 👶 Newborn deaths in Durango under investigation: Sheinbaum said authorities are investigating the deaths of five newborns last week at an IMSS hospital in Durango city. Parents alleged poor hygiene in the hospital’s neonatal unit.

• 🌀 Hurricane Polo not expected to make landfall in Mexico: Sheinbaum said the Category 5 storm will skirt the Pacific coast near Jalisco, Colima and Michoacán without directly hitting Mexico, though she urged residents to stay alert for updates.

Why today’s mañanera matters

The fight against corruption, the deaths of five babies in a hospital in Durango and the presence of Hurricane Polo off Mexico’s Pacific coast were among the issues discussed at President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Tuesday morning press conference.

The seriousness of each of the issues made today’s mañanera particularly consequential.

While progress in combating corruption can be celebrated by the government — even though there is still plenty of work to be done — the deaths of five newborns in a public hospital raise serious concerns about Mexico’s public health system.

More than 4,000 public servants sanctioned since Sheinbaum took office

Anti-Corruption and Good Governance Minister Raquel Buenrostro told reporters that 4,193 public servants received administrative sanctions between Oct. 1, 2024 — the date Sheinbaum was sworn in as president — and June 30, 2026.

She said that the main reasons why officials were sanctioned were for:

• Making or authorizing “improper payments.”
• Stealing government information, including personal data.
• Approving payments for goods or services that were “never delivered.”
• Approving “unnecessary, unjustified purchases.”
• Forging documents.
• Sexual harassment.

Buenrostro said that 3,528 of the public servants committed “non-serious offenses” and were sanctioned by the ministry she leads. She said that an additional 665 public servants committed “serious offenses” whose cases were referred to the Federal Administrative Justice Tribunal.

Sanctions can include dismissal or suspension from work. Officials accused of committing serious offenses, such as embezzlement and fraud, are investigated by the Federal Attorney General’s Office.

Buenrostro said that 53 officials accused of serious offenses have been ordered to stand trial during the term of the current government.

Sheinbaum: Prevention of corruption in government contracts has generated savings of more than 80 billion pesos 

Sheinbaum said that Buenrostro and the ministry she leads dedicate a lot of their efforts to preventing “bad behavior” and corruption within government departments.

She said that the Ministry of Anti-Corruption and Good Governance “immediately” halts any government bidding process that “has problems” and takes action against any public official possibly involved in “an act of corruption.”

Sheinbaum said that bidding processes that are scrapped due to possible corruption are “repeated.”

“In two years, as Raquel says, it’s close to 83 billion pesos [US $4.8 billion] that we’ve managed to avoid [losing],” she said.

Sheinbaum: Deaths of newborns in IMSS hospital are under investigation  

Sheinbaum said that the deaths of five newborn babies in a Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) hospital in Durango city are under investigation.

She said that the investigation is aimed at determining what caused the deaths of the babies, all of whom died last week in Durango’s IMSS Zone 1 General Hospital.

IMSS said in a statement on Monday that federal health authorities had arrived in Durango and that they, along with IMSS medical and epidemiological teams, were carrying out a “comprehensive review of clinical files, care protocols, epidemiological surveillance and measures for the prevention and control of infections.”

Parents of the deceased babies have denounced a lack of hygiene and other irregularities in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit. IMSS said that antibiotic-sensitive bacteria was detected in the hospital, but asserted that its presence didn’t in itself explain the deaths of the newborns.

Hurricane Polo not expected to make landfall in Mexico 

Sheinbaum said that current information indicates that Hurricane Polo — a Category 5 storm — won’t make landfall in Mexico.

“Until now the information we have is that it won’t directly reach the coast,” she said.

“It’s going to be skirting the Pacific [coast], particularly along the states of Jalisco, Colima and Michoacán,” Sheinbaum said.

She urged residents of Pacific coast states to be “very attentive” to announcements from Civil Protection authorities regarding the hurricane.

“So far there has been intense rain,” Sheinbaum said.

“… It doesn’t appear that [the hurricane] is going to make direct landfall. … If there is other information, it will be immediately announced,” she said.