Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum filed criminal charges after a man, seen in widely shared footage, leaned in and touched her near the National Palace; Mexico City’s mayor said the man was arrested. Sheinbaum called the act "an assault on all women," noting she had faced similar harassment previously and arguing that reporting such crimes matters for all Mexican women. Officials and the National Governors Conference publicly condemned the incident and expressed solidarity while the arrest and investigation proceed. Sheinbaum said she will not change her public routines because of the incident.
Mexico’s President Files Charges After Man Appears to Grope Her Near National Palace
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum filed criminal charges after a man, seen in widely shared footage, leaned in and touched her near the National Palace; Mexico City’s mayor said the man was arrested. Sheinbaum called the act "an assault on all women," noting she had faced similar harassment previously and arguing that reporting such crimes matters for all Mexican women. Officials and the National Governors Conference publicly condemned the incident and expressed solidarity while the arrest and investigation proceed. Sheinbaum said she will not change her public routines because of the incident.
01:44, 06.11.2025Politics
President Sheinbaum files criminal complaint after alleged public groping
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced Wednesday that she has filed criminal charges after a man — who appeared intoxicated in footage shared on social media — leaned in and touched her in public near Mexico's seat of government.
Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada confirmed overnight that the man was arrested. A widely circulated video shows the man moving toward the president as if to kiss her and placing his hands on her body. Sheinbaum lightly pushed his hands away, kept a measured expression and can be heard saying, in part, "Don't worry."
Sheinbaum stressed the incident was not an isolated personal affront but part of a broader pattern of harassment that many women in Mexico face. In a government-shared video announcing the charges, she said:
"No man has the right to violate that space. I decided to press charges because this is something that I experienced as a woman, but that we as women experience in our country."
Sheinbaum added that she had encountered similar harassment earlier in life when she was a student and reflected, "If I do not report the crime, what condition does that leave Mexican women in?"
The episode also raised questions about presidential security arrangements. Sheinbaum explained that she and her team chose to walk from the National Palace to the Education Ministry to save time — a five-minute walk versus a roughly 20-minute car ride — and said the incident would not change how she acts publicly.
Political and institutional reactions
Mayor Brugada voiced solidarity, echoing Sheinbaum’s framing of the moment as representing all women: "If they touch the president, they touch all of us," she said in a written statement. Brugada described the president’s message about women’s collective "arrival" into power as a commitment to confront misogyny and refuse further humiliations and abuses.
Mexico’s National Governors Conference (CONAGO) also condemned the aggression and expressed support for Sheinbaum, saying on social media that "every form of violence against a woman is unacceptable and should have no place in a society that aspires to live with respect and equality."
The president’s decision to press charges has prompted public debate about street harassment, security protocols for public officials and the broader efforts needed to protect women from violence. Authorities say the arrest has been made and investigations are underway.