(1)9 Lives

“More sardines, please”

Cats staking out a garden in Mexico’s Palacio Nacional

Mexico’s president - Andrés Manuel López Obrador - will be leaving office this October. In Mexico, a president’s time in office is limited to a single 6-year term. Due to the popularity of the Morena party - which is López Obrador’s party - and the fact that the leading candidate for succeeding López Obrador is his hand-picked ally Claudia Sheinbaum - many believe that Mexico’s next administration will foster a continuation of the current administration’s policies and agendas. But this is politics, and anything can happen. So to ensure that at least some policies will outlive whatever administration change occurs this year, López Obrador’s administration took the unprecedented step of ensuring continuity in one critically important element of the government’s responsibilities: the care and feeding of 19 feral cats.

Weird Scenes Inside the National Palace

The Palacio Nacional (National Palace) sits in the Plaza de la Constitución (El Zócalo, or Main Square) in Mexico City. Since the 16th century, the Palacio Nacional has been the on-again-off-again residence of Mexico’s leaders, from viceroys to emperors to presidents. In 1934, however, the sprawling Los Pinos estate in Mexico City’s largest park - the Bosque de Chapultepec - became the official residence of Mexico’s presidents, and the Palacio Nacional was relegated to government office and museum space. But when López Obrador took office in 2018, he moved the presidential residence back to the Palacio Nacional. It is unclear whether Mr. López Obrador was aware at that time that beginning in the 1970s, feral cats had started taking up residence in the Palacio Nacional as well.

No matter, it soon became obvious. The feral cats of the Palacio Nacional basically have the run of the place: they wander around the palace with impunity, having access to virtually every square inch of the facility. They often wander into important meetings and interviews, and zig and zag around López Obrador’s legs during official ceremonies. They greet dignitaries, guests, and visitors. Last July, one cat - whom staff had named Zeus - made a rather public showing of himself when he interrupted one of López Obrador’s press briefings, standing in front of television cameras and wandering among the gathered reporters. Staff eventually shooed him away.

As of now, there are 19 feral cats who have taken up full time residence in the palace, along with a host of others who come and go. Palace staff put out food for the cats, and they have ensured that all of the permanent residents get spayed or neutered, vaccinated, and microchipped by veterinarians from Mexico City’s Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (National Autonomous University of Mexico).

Appreciating Assets

Earlier this month, president López Obrador declared the cats of the Palacio Nacional “living fixed assets” of Mexico. The term “fixed asset” is usually applied to buildings and furniture with some historical or cultural significance. This is the first time the term “living” has been used in conjunction with “fixed asset”, and the first time the “fixed asset” designation has been applied to living creatures. By bestowing this status on the cats, López Obrador has obligated Mexico’s Treasury to provide for the cats’ care and feeding in perpetuity, regardless of administration or who (or what) inhabits the Palacio Nacional.

I guess I don’t mind paying that VAT so much knowing that part of it will go toward cat food.

A lucky cat at the Palacio Nacional getting some complimentary ice cream licks

Postscript

Jonesing for some feral cat time? The Palacio Nacional (well, parts of it anyway) is open to the public from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. Tuesdays through Sundays. In addition to 19 cats, the Palacio Nacional is home to Diego Rivera’s magnificent mural depicting the history of Mexico.