Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she is pressing criminal charges against a man who publicly groped and tried to kiss her, using the assault as a flashpoint to demand that sexual harassment be made a criminal offense across the entire nation.

In a jarring moment captured on camera, the incident took place on Tuesday while the first female president of the country walked towards an event near the presidential palace, greeting and shaking hands with people.

The Incident And Security Questions

The video shows a seemingly intoxicated man approach Sheinbaum from behind, putting his arm around her shoulder and touching her hip and chest with the other hand as he tries to kiss her neck.

Security Intervention: A member of the presidential security detail ultimately pulled the man away, though critics on social media immediately raised questions about the slow reaction time of the security team, given the potential risk to the head of state.

Composed as always, Sheinbaum didn’t let the assault get the best of her, seemed to push the man’s hands away gently, and briefly posed for a photo with him until it was over. Afterwards, she mentioned that she had no idea of the full severity of the incident until she saw videos of it.

The man was later arrested. The complaint against him was filed with the prosecutor’s office in Mexico City, where sexual harassment is already punishable by law.

Call For Justice For All Women:

President Sheinbaum, who has kept a popular, low-security style of public interaction similar to her predecessor, said she decided to file a police complaint when she found out the man continued to harass other women nearby.

She emphasised that the incident reflects the everyday reality for millions of Mexican women. According to her:

“My view 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 women in our country?”

She also reported having suffered similar harassment herself when she was a teenager.

Campaign To Federalise Harassment Laws 

The incident underlined one of the starkest legal discrepancies in Mexico: the country’s 32 federal districts have their own criminal codes, and not all of them currently contain criminal sanctions for sexual harassment. 

Sheinbaum promised immediate action: “The government will review whether this behaviour is a criminal offence in all states, because it should be a criminal offence, and we are going to launch a campaign.” 

The assault has renewed a national conversation on deeply entrenched “macho attitudes” that permit the violation of women’s personal space. 

According to UN Women data, about 70% of Mexican women aged 15 and over experience at least one incident of sexual harassment in their lives.