Man arrested after groping Mexico President Sheinbaum
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said the harassment she received from a drunk man on the street near the Mexican government building was an attack on all women and that’s why she decided to file criminal charges against him.
Mexico City mayor Clara Brugada announced the man’s arrest overnight.
In the video, which was widely circulated on social platforms, the man approached the president from the side, put his arm around him and tried to kiss him.
She then appears to try to grab her breasts from behind before being pushed by an officer.
She slowly pushed his hands away, maintaining a harsh smile as she turned to face him.
“Don’t worry,” he was heard saying in part.
On Wednesday, Sheinbaum emphasized that this was not the first time she had been subjected to such harassment and that the problem went far beyond the president.
“No one has the right to violate this area,” he said.
“I decided to file a criminal complaint because this is something that I experienced as a woman but that we women also experience in our country,” she said.
“I’ve experienced this before, when I was a student, when I wasn’t president.”
The incident raised questions about security, as the man appeared to approach the president with ease.
Like his predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Sheinbaum does not use the military unit normally tasked with protecting the president.
Sheinbaum explained that he and his team decided to walk from the National Palace to the Ministry of Education to save time.
He said they could walk in five minutes instead of a 20-minute car ride.
He said he wouldn’t change the way he behaved.
“If they touch the president, they touch all of us,” Mayor Brugada wrote on social media platform X.
“Today, when the president is harassed just because he is a woman, we are all harassed.”
Sheinbaum, 63, is Mexico’s first female president.
According to a study by a statistical institute, almost half of women in Mexico have been subjected to sexual violence at least once.
Strengthening women’s rights is a central priority for politicians.
with AP
