Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has filed a formal complaint against a man who groped and attempted to kiss her during a public walk in Mexico City, an incident that has reignited national debate over gender-based violence and women’s safety in the country.
The attack, which occurred Tuesday near the capital’s historic center, was caught on video and went viral before many social media platforms removed it. The footage shows a man grabbing Sheinbaum as she greeted the public between meetings, touching her chest and attempting to kiss her before a staff member intervened.
Speaking on Wednesday, Sheinbaum condemned the assault and filed a criminal complaint against the suspect, identified by local media as Uriel Rivera, who was later arrested Tuesday night.
“If this happens to the president, where does that leave all the young women in our country?” she said. “No man has the right to abuse women’s personal space.”
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Sheinbaum, Mexico’s first female president, said she would not alter her habit of engaging directly with citizens despite security concerns. Like her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, she travels with minimal protection and often walks among crowds.
“We have to be close to the people,” she said, reaffirming her commitment to maintaining open contact with citizens.
The president also criticized national newspaper Reforma for publishing images of the assault, calling it an act of “re-victimization.”
“The use of the image is also a crime,” Sheinbaum said, referencing Mexico’s legislation against digital violence. “I am waiting for an apology from the newspaper.”
Mexico’s Women’s Ministry, created under Sheinbaum’s administration, urged media outlets not to reproduce violent content that could violate women’s integrity and encouraged victims of harassment to report such incidents.
The groping incident has drawn renewed attention to Mexico’s long-standing issue of gender violence, with feminist groups and rights advocates emphasizing that even the country’s most powerful woman is not immune.
Ana Yeli Pérez, head of the National Citizen Observatory on Femicide, said the assault underscores a larger national crisis. “It’s reprehensible, it must be denounced and named,” Pérez said. “This is symbolic of what women experience every day.”
Sheinbaum pledged to push for stronger protections, saying sexual harassment should be treated as a criminal offense nationwide. She asked the Women’s Ministry to review state-level legal codes, as harassment remains a crime in only about half of Mexico’s 32 states.
