An act that goes beyond paper
From Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Claudia Sheinbaum not only presented a document. She led the signing of an agreement to disseminate the Women’s Rights Booklet translated into 69 linguistic variants. This is not bureaucracy. It is political theater with real consequences.
The goal is clear: that this booklet reaches all towns and communities through community radio stations. But Sheinbaum went further. He proposed also translating textbooks and children’s books into the native languages.
“Today we recognize in translation… 67 languages with 69 varieties. It was complex to look for all the women who speak each one… but also translating is not just letter by letter, it translates a concept,” explained the president.
The core of his speech was a powerful demand. He pointed out that those who transmit and preserve the language are, historically, women.
“It is called ‘mother tongue’, because those who translate it, those who say it, those who preserve it, we are women,” she stated forcefully.
Politics as historical reparation
Sheinbaum connected this act to a broader narrative: reparation after the neoliberal period where, according to her, indigenous languages were minimized. Today, she said, indigenous women are vindicated as great translators and protectors.
“Today we vindicate indigenous languages, we vindicate indigenous women, with this we vindicate all the women of Mexico,” she added.
As a symbolic example, she presented the case of Malintzin, historically considered a traitor and now claimed as the first translator. He announced that each year of his government will be dedicated to recognizing the role of women in history.
The Secretary of Women, Citlalli Hernández Mora, explained that the agreement with the INPI will allow massive dissemination on community radio stations. Meanwhile, Yolanda Odilia Aquino Osorio, Ikoots translator, celebrated that this enforces constitutional reforms for indigenous peoples.
Governor Salomón Jara Cruz highlighted the importance for Oaxaca, an entity with 15 native languages and 176 variants. This is not just a protocol act in the south. It is a carefully written political script where every word—and its translation—counts.
