Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum presses charges after groping incident
Mexico’s first woman President, Claudia Sheinbaum, pressed charges against a man for groping her in public, calling the incident a symbol of the daily harassment women face.
by: FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ and FERNANDA FIGUEROA, Associated Press
What should have been a brief, five-minute walk from Mexico’s National Palace to the Education Ministry for President Claudia Sheinbaum turned into a powerful symbol of the daily challenges Mexican women face, after a video showed a man groping the country’s first woman president while apparently intoxicated.
On Wednesday, Sheinbaum addressed the incident during her daily press briefing, confirming that she had pressed charges against the man. She also called on state governments to review their laws and procedures to make it easier for women to report assaults. “Loud and clear: women’s personal space must not be violated,” she said.
Sheinbaum emphasized her responsibility to act not just for herself, but for all Mexican women. “If this is done to the president, what is going to happen to the young women in our country?” she asked.
A Widespread Problem
The incident underscores the persistent issue of harassment in Mexico. If even the president is not exempt from street harassment, ordinary women navigating public transportation or long commutes face similar, often more frequent risks.
Andrea González Martínez, 27, who works at Mexican lender Nacional Monte de Piedad, said she has experienced harassment herself, including being followed home by a man. “It happens regularly, it happens on public transportation. It’s something you experience every day in Mexico,” she said.
Her coworker Carmen Maldonado Castillo, 43, echoed this sentiment. “You can’t walk around free in the street,” she said.
Sheinbaum revealed that she experienced harassment herself at age 12 while using public transportation to go to school. “I decided to press charges because this is something that I experienced as a woman, but that we as women experience in our country,” she said.
Government Response
The assault immediately raised questions about presidential security, but Sheinbaum dismissed suggestions that she would increase her personal security or alter her routine. She explained that she and her team chose to walk to avoid a 20-minute car ride in heavy city traffic.
Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada announced that the man had been arrested and used the incident to highlight the broader issue of misogyny. Referring to Sheinbaum’s election as Mexico’s first woman president, Brugada said, “Harassment of any woman—especially Mexico’s most powerful—is an assault on all women.” She added, “Not a single additional humiliation, abuse, or femicide can be accepted.”
Hopes for Change
For many women, seeing the president personally confront harassment brought the issue into sharper focus. Lilian Valvuena, 31, said she hoped the incident would spur better police training and clear protocols for responding to violence against women.
Marina Reyna, executive director of the Guerrero Association Against Violence Toward Women, initially worried that the president’s calm response might downplay the assault. She now hopes Sheinbaum’s openness will help improve how such cases are handled. “You lose confidence in institutions. People stop reporting because nothing happens,” Reyna said.
The scale of the problem is significant. A World Health Organization report released this year found that one in three women in the Americas has experienced physical or sexual violence from a partner or third party.
In Mexico, early 2025 figures suggest a nearly 40% drop in femicide cases compared with the same period in 2024, while intentional injuries against women decreased by 11%, according to the Federal Security Secretariat. However, Reyna noted that impunity remains above 70%, discouraging women from reporting crimes.
A 2019–2024 report by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) found that only 20–30% of women experiencing violence in Mexico and other Latin American countries sought help from state services specifically designed for them.
Political scientist Manuel Pérez Aguirre, of the Seminar on Violence and Peace at the College of Mexico, stressed the importance of making an example of the case. “There must be a truly exemplary punishment that sends a clear message to sexual aggressors in Mexico,” he said.
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