Gaza Ceasefire Proposal, Hunter Biden Trial, Mexico Elections

2024-06-03 00:15:06

NPR's Up First is the news you need to start your day. The three biggest stories of the day, with reporting and analysis from NPR News — in 10 minutes. Available weekdays at 6:30 a.m. ET, with hosts Leila Fadel, Steve Inskeep, Michel Martin and A Martinez. Also available on Saturdays at 9 a.m. ET, with Ayesha Rascoe and Scott Simon. On Sundays, hear a longer exploration behind the headlines with Ayesha Rascoe on "The Sunday Story," available by 8 a.m. ET. Subscribe and listen, then support your local NPR station at donate.npr.org.<br><br><em>Support NPR's reporting by subscribing to Up First+ and unlock sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org/upfirst</em>

1Speaker 1
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Is Israel ready to accept a cease-fire initially proposed by Israel?

3Speaker 3
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President Biden is urging the parties to say yes.

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Some of Israel's right-wing government is not willing to go along.

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It's also unclear if Hamas would accept.

1Speaker 1
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I'm Steve Inskeep with A. Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News.

00:23.24 – 00:26.40

Jury selection begins today in a gun case against Hunter Biden.

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Prosecutors say the president's son lied on a background check when he bought a firearm

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in 2018, and they intend to use passages from his memoir as evidence.

3Speaker 3
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And 71 years after Mexico extended voting rights to women, voters there appear to have

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elected their first woman president, Claudia Schoenbaum.

5Speaker 5
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For the first time in 200 years, women have become presidents of the republic.

3Speaker 3
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Stay with us.

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3Speaker 3
02:09.62 – 02:14.86

The U.S. is putting new pressure on Hamas in Israel to permanently end the war in Gaza.

1Speaker 1
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Yeah, President Biden surprised Israeli leaders last Friday when he went public with a ceasefire

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proposal that Israel had offered privately.

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This is truly a decisive moment.

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Israel has made their proposal.

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Hamas says it wants a ceasefire.

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This deal is an opportunity to prove whether they really mean it.

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Biden's speech set off debate inside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet, which

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raises the question as to whether Israel can deliver on its own ceasefire deal.

3Speaker 3
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NPR's Daniel Estrin is in Tel Aviv.

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Daniel, what does the ceasefire proposal say?

4Speaker 4
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Well, it's a proposal for a six-week initial ceasefire, which would include a major hostage-prisoner

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exchange and it would allow Palestinians to return to north Gaza for the first time in

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the war.

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Then it would be followed with a next phase, a final release of hostages, including male

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Israeli soldiers, and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza.

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And it would be a permanent end of hostilities.

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And then there would be a final phase after that, a big reconstruction effort for rebuilding

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Gaza's decimated infrastructure.

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This is a very similar proposal to what has been proposed for many months now, but that

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really never went anywhere.

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And so President Biden is making an effort for a breakthrough here.

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And he said, quote, it's time for this war to end.

3Speaker 3
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OK, now, are Hamas and Israel on board with this framework to end the war?

4Speaker 4
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Hamas says it is.

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It says it's ready to deal with the proposal positively and constructively.

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You know, President Biden is promising Hamas what it essentially has been asking for all

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along, which is a guaranteed and permanent end of the war.

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And our producer in Gaza, Anas Baba, has spoken to residents in Gaza who are eager to see

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President Biden push this deal through.

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The bigger question is if Israel is ready to get on board.

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Biden has packaged this as a ceasefire that Israel is backing, when in reality there is

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major disagreement about this in Israel.

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Public opinion wise, there is a new survey that found 40 percent of Israelis polled do

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support the ceasefire deal.

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If you look at the military, you see that Israel's army is actually focusing new attention

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elsewhere in addition to Gaza.

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It's focusing on the Lebanon border and training troops there because there's been an escalation

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of Hezbollah fire onto Israel.

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The problem here with this deal is political.

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On the one hand, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has endorsed this plan privately.

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That's what an Israeli official tells me.

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But Netanyahu cannot come out and say it outright because the far right flank in his government

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is threatening to resign over this proposal because they say it would keep Hamas intact.

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And if the far right does resign, Netanyahu simply won't have a government anymore and

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that could spell the end of his political career.

3Speaker 3
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So if Netanyahu is in this bind, how is it likely to play out?

4Speaker 4
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Well, Netanyahu, you know, does have an important choice to make.

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Ending the war could cost him his own political survival.

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At the moment, Israel's government politicians are holding consultations.

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They're making their own calculations about whether to embrace this deal.

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And Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken with Netanyahu's two other war cabinet

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members to try to push it through.

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Biden is making the case here that accepting the deal will bring a reward for Israel, which

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is diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia, something Israel has long sought.

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And Biden is saying that that can help Israel become less isolated globally over its actions in Gaza.

3Speaker 3
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All right. That's NPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv.

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Daniel, thanks. You're welcome.

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Today in federal court in Delaware, jury selection begins in the Hunter Biden trial on gun

1Speaker 1
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charges. This case against the president's son was brought by Justice Department Special

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Counsel David Weiss.

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Just last week, former President Trump was in the spotlight denouncing the jury verdict

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against him in a Democratic state.

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Now, trial begins for a Biden as part of an investigation that dates back to President

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Trump's administration.

3Speaker 3
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NPR Justice correspondent Ryan Lucas is joining us now.

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Ryan, a gun case against Hunter Biden here.

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But what are the charges he's facing?

2Speaker 2
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So there are three charges against Hunter here that all relate to a Colt Cobra revolver

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that he bought in October of 2018.

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He faces two counts of making false statements when purchasing the weapon.

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Prosecutors say that Hunter lied on a federal background check form he had to fill out when

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buying the gun. That form has a boilerplate question that asks whether you use illegal

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drugs or are addicted to drugs.

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Prosecutors say that Hunter lied on that form by checking the no box.

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In other words, saying that he wasn't using illegal drugs when prosecutors say he was.

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And then there's, of course, also the third count, and that is for the unlawful possession of a

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firearm by a drug user or addict.

3Speaker 3
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OK, how do prosecutors intend to prove their case?

2Speaker 2
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Well, they've said in filings in an open court that they expect to call around a dozen

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witnesses. That includes Hunter's ex-wife, Kathleen Buell, as well as the widow of his

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brother, Beau Haley Biden.

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Hunter had a romantic relationship with her after Beau died.

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Prosecutors say that Haley Biden will testify that Hunter had the gun in question, that

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she threw it into a dumpster outside a market in Wilmington less than two weeks after he

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bought it. That gun was later found by a man collecting recyclables.

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He's the one who turned it over to law enforcement.

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Prosecutors also intend to use parts of Hunter's own memoir as evidence, as well as

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Hunter's own text messages related to his drug use.

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But to be clear, Hunter has been very open, including in his memoir, about his addiction

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to crack cocaine, to alcohol.

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But this trial looks like it's going to put that struggle and the toll that it took on the

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Biden family very much in the national spotlight.

3Speaker 3
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All right. Now, how will Hunter Biden's attorneys plan to counter the government's case?

2Speaker 2
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Well, they think they can challenge some of the evidence.

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There has been, though, it has to be said, a lot of legal wrangling in the lead up to this

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trial. Hunter's attorneys have tried to get this case dismissed on a bunch of different

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grounds. The judge has denied those.

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But this time last year, it looked like Hunter was going to be able to avoid trial

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entirely. He had a tentative deal to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax charges and to avoid

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prosecution entirely on the gun charges.

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But that deal fell apart dramatically in court.

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Weeks later, Weiss was appointed special counsel.

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He then indicted Hunter on these gun charges.

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A few months after that, Weiss separately brought tax charges against Hunter in

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California. That case is scheduled to go to trial in September.

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Now, Hunter's attorney, Abby Lowell, has argued that these gun offenses are usually not

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charged. And he's argued that the special counsel has folded essentially to Republican

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pressure on the Hill and that this whole prosecution is politically motivated.

3Speaker 3
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There is quite the political backdrop for this trial.

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A son of a president going on trial as his father runs for reelection.

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I mean, could this possibly hurt President Biden?

2Speaker 2
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Well, look, it comes at a tricky time for the president politically, of course.

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We're just, what, five months out from the election.

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Republicans have certainly in the past tried to play up Hunter's legal troubles, his

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international business dealings in an effort to muddy his father.

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And there's every reason to believe that they're going to try to do that with this trial

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again. But Hunter, of course, is the one on trial, not President Biden.

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Hunter is not running for president.

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And of course, the man who is running against Biden for the presidency, former President

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Trump, was just found guilty by a jury in New York of falsifying business records to

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cover up hush money payments to an adult film star.

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But Trump is still leading Biden in many polls.

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So it's hard to say what the political impact, if any, Hunter's legal troubles will have

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on his father's political fortunes.

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We're going to have to wait and see.

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Hunter's trial, though, opens today with jury selection, and this trial could last up to

3Speaker 3
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two weeks. NPR Justice Correspondent Ryan Lucas.

2Speaker 2
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Ryan, thanks. Thank you.

3Speaker 3
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OK, here's the sound of history being made in Mexico City.

1Speaker 1
09:56.70 – 10:01.74

Presidential candidate Claudia Shainbaum says women have reached the presidency of the

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Mexican Republic for the first time in 200 years.

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She said las mujeres got there, women, plural.

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Now that election results show that Shainbaum herself is heading for a landslide victory.

3Speaker 3
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NPR's Eder Peralta joins us now from Mexico City.

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Eder, Shainbaum has been the favorite for months, so the results aren't necessarily a

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surprise. But tell us what it was like.

5Speaker 5
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Describe that moment. Well, look, the Electoral Commission took unusually long to announce

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its results. But just before midnight, the commissioners came on TV and said that

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according to preliminary results, Claudia Shainbaum had achieved an irreversible lead.

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I was at the Zócalo, which is Mexico City's main square, where many of her supporters

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had gathered. And it was an emotional moment.

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There were little girls with their moms, older women with their adult daughters.

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And it's hard to overstate what this moment meant for them.

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It has been just over 70 years since women were allowed to vote here.

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And now they were welcoming a woman president elect.

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Let me play you a little bit of what it sounded like.

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And here at the Zócalo, it is being celebrated as a woman breaking

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the highest of class ceilings.

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And all of this is happening in a country that is notoriously machista.

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And now Claudia Shainbaum Bardo, a 61-year-old environmental

1Speaker 1
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engineer, the former mayor of Mexico City, she will become the first woman to hold

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the most powerful office in this country.

3Speaker 3
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Sounds like a party, Adar. So what about the women at the square?

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What do they tell you?

5Speaker 5
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You know, I saw women cry.

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I saw women dancing.

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I saw women hugging the Mexican flag and holding little dolls of Claudia Shainbaum.

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I found 69-year-old Rosa Maria Garcia just staring at the presidential palace in front

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of her. And she told me that she has always felt that like this was a dream because she

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felt the power structures in Mexico had been in place too long.

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And she thought that maybe Mexicans could never break free of them.

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But today, she says, they did.

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I'm emotional, she says.

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I feel complete seeing that a fellow woman will be in charge of the Mexican people.

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And, you know, before today, I had heard skepticism.

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Many women had told me that having a woman in the presidency didn't necessarily mean that

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she would be a feminist or that their lives would improve.

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And today I heard none of that.

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I heard women who were proud of their country and who were simply enjoying the moment.

3Speaker 3
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All right. So the inauguration would be in October.

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Tell us about Mexico's president-elect and her policies.

5Speaker 5
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Claudia Shainbaum is a protege of the current president of Mexico, so she has hewed very

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closely to his policies.

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And so she's very likely to retain or even expand the welfare state that has made President

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Andrés Manuel López Obrador very popular.

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But also, early results seem to show that Shainbaum's party might have achieved a super

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majority in Congress.

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And Shainbaum and her party say that they want to amend the Constitution to reform the

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judiciary, the electoral commission and to put at least some police forces under military

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control. If this super majority holds, we can safely say that President Shainbaum will

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usher in huge changes to Mexico.

3Speaker 3
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That's NPR's Eder Peralta in Mexico City.

5Speaker 5
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Thanks a lot. Thank you, E.

3Speaker 3
13:34.06 – 13:36.52

And that's up first for Monday, June 3rd.

13:36.52 – 13:38.30

I'm E. Martinez. And I'm Steve Inskeep.

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13:38.30 – 13:44.14

Your next listen can be Consider This from NPR News as they consider the artifacts in

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some museums.

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A Nashville museum is acknowledging its past and returning pieces of history to their home.

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Listen to Consider This.

3Speaker 3
13:53.20 – 13:58.00

Today's episode of Up First was edited by Hannah Block, Krishnadev Kalamor, Tara Neal,

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Alex Schweitzer, and Alice Wolfley.

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It was produced by Ziad Butch, Ben Abrams, and Lindsey Toddy.

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We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent and our technical director, Isaac Coleman.

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Join us again tomorrow.

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