'Drunk' man gropes & tries to kiss Mexican president during public appearance, gets arrested

Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum has filed a police report against a drunk man who groped and attempted to kiss her in public during a walkabout.

The man has since been arrested, BBC reported, and Sheinbaum is looking to press charges.

Incident

The incident happened on Nov. 4 in Mexico City, as Sheinbaum was making the short walk from Mexico's National Palace to the Ministry of Education.

According to videos of the incident that have since gone viral online, she was greeting members of the public on the street when a man in a grey shirt approached.

After handing his phone to a member of Sheinbaum's security, supposedly to help him take a picture with the president, the man then approached Sheinbaum from behind and draped his arm around her shoulders.

He also attempted to kiss her and placed his hands on her chest before Sheinbaum moved them away, noticeably uncomfortable.

Security personnel then proceeded to push the man away.

Charges

Sheinbaum denounced the incident as a "crime" during a news conference on Nov. 5, saying that she did not immediately realise what had happened as she was talking to supporters.

She also explained that she had filed a complaint because she experienced the harassment "as a woman" rather than as president, and it is "something women in [her] country go through".

"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?"

Sheinbaum added that the man was "very drunk" and had allegedly harassed other women in the crowd.

"A line must be drawn," she said, deciding to press charges.

She also chastised Mexican newspaper Reforma for using images of the man intimately groping her, saying it crossed a line.

Light security and gender violence

The incident raised questions about the prevalence of gender violence against women in Mexico, an issue that Sheinbaum herself had promised to tackle when she ran for election in 2024.

Since taking office, she has been criticised for her alleged lack of action on the issue, according to Reuters.

Questions about her light security were also raised following the incident, as the nearest security personnel was noted to not be next to her when she was attacked.

Like her predecessors, Sheinbaum is known to stand firm on her belief that having close and regular contact with supporters on the streets is important.

Top images via f11e19r/TikTok