Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum cast doubt Tuesday on her attendance at the Fan Fest organized in the Zocalo for the World Cup, pending developments in the demonstrations by teachers and other groups protesting in the city center. Photo by Sashenka Gutierrez/EPA
June 10 (UPI) — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum cast doubt whether she will attend the 2026 World Cup Fan Fest on Thursday because of demonstrations by teachers from the National Coordinator of Education Workers.
During her press conference Tuesday, the president said her being there would depend on “how what is happening with the teachers and some other groups develops, because I obviously have to pay attention to that.”
The highly anticipated World Cup opening ceremony in Mexico City and the game between Mexico and South Africa, are scheduled at 1:30 p.n. local time at Banorte Stadium, renamed from Azteca Stadium for the tournament.
The event will be held as social protests seek to capitalize on the tournament’s international attention to publicize demands related to human rights, pensions, public services and labor conditions.
Among the most visible movements those formed by teachers from the National Coordinator of Education Workers, who have maintained a protest camp for weeks in Mexico City’s Zócalo. They have erected blockades at different locations to demand repeal of reforms to the pension system for state employees and salary increases.
The demonstrations have impacted streets, public buildings and areas linked to the operation of the World Cup.
Mexico City’s Secretariat of Citizen Security reported about 6,000 teachers are participating in demonstrations in areas near the stadium. Although the federal government maintains that fully reversing the reform would carry a high fiscal cost, union leaders have warned they will continue protesting until they receive a favorable response.
Political analysts agree that the 2026 FIFA World Cup has become the main battleground for the public narrative in Mexico — a phenomenon in which social tensions are colliding directly with government efforts to project stability abroad.
One example will be the mobilization of groups representing relatives of missing persons, known as “searching mothers.” Thousands of women plan to march on the same day as the opening ceremony under the slogan, “Do not play with our pain,” to denounce a crisis involving more than 134,000 people who are missing or whose whereabouts remain unknown in the country.
The organizations have begun to post photographs and missing-person notices around the stadium and have announced activities aimed at drawing attention to the issue before the millions of viewers who will follow the tournament around the world.
Amnesty International said it will act as an observer of the protest.
“As tens of millions of people around the world prepare to tune in to what FIFA describes as ‘the biggest opening ceremony on the planet,’ in Mexico thousands of brave women will seize the opportunity to take to the streets and remind the world that their loved ones remain missing,” said Edith Olivares Ferreto, executive director of Amnesty International Mexico.
“The Interior Ministry works permanently on the issue of missing persons, is permanently engaged in search efforts in a way that has never been done before and also with prevention at the moment a person finds themselves in this situation,” Sheinbaum said Tuesday.
“Therefore, the issues are being addressed. If they want to demonstrate, then they should do so peacefully.”
Neighborhood organizations have also joined the protests.
With slogans that oppose gentrification and evictions and protest water shortages, anti-World Cup groups contend that projects associated with the tournament have deepened structural problems in different neighborhoods of the capital.
They have been joined by farmers’ organizations, transport workers and retired members of the judiciary, who have called for demonstrations on strategic routes leading to the stadium.
The protests also coincide with questions about infrastructure that must deal with the tournament.
In recent days, users reported water leaks at recently renovated stations on Metro Line 2, one of the main transportation routes for fans attending the opening match. Rainfall also caused delays on the rail network because of speed restrictions implemented for safety reasons.
Against this backdrop, federal and local authorities announced a security operation that involves more than 10,000 personnel to safeguard the opening ceremony, guarantee the movement of teams and fans, and prevent incidents around the stadium and the FIFA Fan Festival in the Zócalo.