Uproar after Mexico’s president is groped

Incident on a public street draws focus to rampant harassment faced by women.

- KATE LINTHICUM

MEXICAN President Claudia Sheinbaum speaks at a news briefing a day before the Tuesday incident.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum was strolling through her capital city this week, heading from one government office to another, when she stopped to take selfies with a crowd of admirers.

A man approached from behind, slipped his arm around Sheinbaum’s shoulder, leaned in to plant a kiss on her neck and briefly grabbed her chest before an aide pushed him away.

The groping incident, which was captured on video by bystanders Tuesday, sparked outrage nationally and put renewed focus on the rampant sexual harassment faced by women here.

Sheinbaum, who last year was sworn in as Mexico’s first female leader, has seized the chance to raise awareness about the issue.

“If they do this to the president," she asked Wednesday, "what must happen to all the young women in the country?" Speaking at her daily conference, news Sheinbaum said that she had filed a criminal complaint against her aggressor, who authorities reported was drunk at the time of the incident and had been detained.

Sheinbaum said her government will also review state laws to ensure that street harassment is categorized as a crime throughout Mexico and launch a campaign to combat the phenomenon.

"I decided to file a complaint because this is something all women in our country experience," Sheinbaum said. "I experienced it before I was president. It shouldn't happen. No one should violate our personal space. No man has the right to violate that space." Like her populist predeManuel cessor, Andrés López Obrador, Sheinbaum often walks the streets without bodyguards, saying she likes to be close to the people.