Claudia Sheinbaum will make history today by becoming the first woman to lead Mexico’s traditional Independence Day “Grito de Dolores” from the presidential balcony — a ritual monopolized by men for more than a century.
Sheinbaum, who won a landslide victory in 2024 to become Mexico’s first female president, will ring the historic bell and wave the national flag in Mexico City’s Zócalo, reenacting the 1810 call to rebellion made by Father Miguel Hidalgo.
“For the first time a woman will deliver the Grito. It’s quite novel,” Sheinbaum said last week when asked about the moment’s significance. Since taking office on October 1, 2024, she has embraced the title “presidenta” and refers to herself as “comandanta” of the armed forces, often appearing in garments with colorful Indigenous embroidery — a choice mirrored by military leaders who address her the same way.
Historians say Sheinbaum’s role is both historic and symbolic. “It opens a space that was tacitly closed to women,” noted Mexican historian Lorenzo Meyer, who added that it reflects a broader acceptance that “gender doesn’t matter” in the country’s highest offices.
Despite her insistence that the event will be simple, Sheinbaum — whose approval ratings exceed 70% — has rehearsed steps for the ceremony, which she describes as “emotional and fundamental.” She will receive the flag from a military escort before calling out traditional patriotic cheers to a crowd that usually braves the capital’s September rain to respond with a thundering “¡Viva México!”
The president will also preside over Tuesday’s Independence Day military parade in Mexico City’s historic center.
The Grito tradition commemorates the dawn of Mexico’s independence struggle. According to accounts from 1810, Father Hidalgo rallied the townspeople of Dolores, Guanajuato, by ringing a church bell and shouting, “Long live the Virgin of Guadalupe! Long live Ferdinand VII, and death to bad government!” His call sparked the war that ultimately secured independence in 1821.
Though this version of events is widely accepted, historians note that the ritual’s origins are partly symbolic. Meyer points out that Emperor Maximilian of Habsburg, who ruled Mexico from 1864 to 1867, may have been the one to promote the celebration, which was later institutionalized by President Porfirio Díaz in 1896 — on the night of his own birthday. Díaz had Hidalgo’s bell brought to the capital, where it has been rung by presidents ever since.
