Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday she has filed a criminal complaint against a man who was filmed groping and trying to kiss her.
The incident occurred on Tuesday as Sheinbaum, Mexico’s first female president, was walking to the Education Ministry near the presidential palace in Mexico City, stopping to shake hands and take photos.
According to the video available on social media, the man approached her from behind before placing his hand on her shoulder. He then touched her chest and hip with his other hand while trying to kiss her.
Sheinbaum’s security team then intervened and removed the man who appeared to be intoxicated.
“This man came to me completely intoxicated, I don’t know if he had taken drugs or not,” the president said Wednesday morning. “I didn’t realize what really happened until I saw the video.”
Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada said the man had been arrested.
What else did Sheinbaum say about the groping incident?
During a press conference on Wednesday, Sheinbaum said she had decided to press charges against the man after learning that he had continued to harass other women even after he had molested them.
“No person has the right to violate that space,” he said.
“My thought is, if I don’t file a complaint, what will happen to other Mexican women? If they do this to the president, what will happen to all the women in our country?” Sheinbaum said.
“I decided to press charges because it’s something that I’ve experienced as a woman, but that we as women experience in our country,” she said. “I’ve experienced this before, when I wasn’t president, when I was a student.”
Sheinbaum also called for making sexual harassment and stalking “criminal offenses in all states.”
Mexico is composed of 31 federal states, plus the Mexico City District. Each has its own criminal code, and sexual harassment is not punished in all of them. But such behavior is a criminal offense in Mexico City.
What has been the reaction to the incident?
After the incident, Sheinbaum’s security arrangements are being criticized.
Like her predecessor and political mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, she prefers to travel with minimal security. She makes herself available to the public and often greets people in the crowd.
During his press conference, Sheinbaum said he had no intention of changing that approach. “We have to stay close to the people,” he said.
The incident has also highlighted “masculine” attitudes in Mexico, where UN Women estimates that 70% of women aged 15 and older have been sexually assaulted at least once.
Mayor Brugada cited Sheinbaum’s own words upon being elected, when she said that her election victory meant that “all women” were coming to power.
Brugada said it was “not a slogan,” but rather “a commitment not to look the other way, not to let misogyny remain hidden in habits, not to accept one more insult, not to commit one more misdemeanor, not to commit one more femicide.”
Every day in Mexico, approximately 10 women and girls are murdered by their partners or relatives. The United Nations says Citing government figures.
Edited by: Zack Crellin