Mexican President Claudia Sybaum says she will press charges against a man who groped her in a public appearance.
Mobile phone footage of Tuesday’s incident showed Sheinbaum speaking to a group of supporters on a street at the National Palace in Mexico City.
In the video, a man approaches her from behind and tries to kiss her neck and put his hands on her body.
Sheinbaum quickly moved and a member of his team walked away, but he was easily shaken. The offender was arrested.
“My view is, 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 the women in our country?” Sheinbaum said at a news conference Wednesday.
“I decided to pursue the charges because this is something that I have experienced as a woman, but that we are experiencing as women in our country,” she said. “I said this before, when I wasn’t president, when I was a student.”
He added that he decided to continue to bring charges against the suspect as he allegedly harassed other women in general.
“A line has to be drawn,” he said.
Women’s rights groups and Feminist commentators say the incident shows the extent of Socistic Machismo in Mexican Society, where a man believes he has a woman if he is a woman.
Femonide is also a huge problem in Mexico, with a staggering 98% of gender-based murders estimated to go unpunished.
Sheinbaum promised to address the issue as a candidate, but so far in his administration there has been no improvement in that area of violent crime.
The incident also comes amid discussions about the president’s security and the increased power of politicians.
Like the President, Syebaum has followed the approach of his predecessor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has close and regular contact with his supporters on the streets or at campaign events.
On occasion, that presented security concerns for his team. However, he confirmed at his recent conference that he has no intention of changing his policy of talking to his supporters.
The incident also occurred in the days following the assassination of Carlos Manzo, Mayor of Uruapan in the violent state of Michoacan, during the local Day of the Dead celebration.
Manzo called on Sirbaum for more federal support in Uruapan in the fight against drug cartels. As many as 35 candidates were killed in the lead up to last year’s general election in what is considered the bloodiest campaign in modern Mexico.
Since taking office, Sheinbaum has made in-roads in improving the country’s dire security situation, particularly clamping down on fentanyl-trafficking – a key issue for her US counterpart, President Trump.