Mexico’s President Sheinbaum takes legal action after groping incident

By Alessandra Freitas, Uriel Blanco, CNN

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum is pressing charges against a man who she said was “drunk” and harassed her on Tuesday, calling the incident “an assault on all women.”

The man was arrested overnight, according to Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada, and is in custody at the Sex Crimes Investigation Unit.

The incident took place on Tuesday when a man broke through a crowd of people greeting Sheinbaum in Mexico City and appeared to grope her, according to viral footage of the incident.

The video showed a man approach Sheinbaum. He appeared to touch her breast, and attempt to kiss her while bystanders in the central neighborhood of Zócalo watched. The incident ended when one of her top aides, Juan José Ramírez Mendoza, intervened.

The episode has sparked outrage online and renewed a debate over harassment and the safety of women in public life.

Mexico City police said preliminary findings link the individual to the alleged harassment of two other women that same day. CNN is attempting to determine if the man has legal representation to receive comment.

Sheinbaum, who is Mexico’s first female president, announced Wednesday that she was motivated to take legal action against the man, who she described as “completely drunk.”

“I decided to press charges because this is something I experienced as a woman — something all women in our country experience,” she said. “No man has the right to violate that space,” she said.

She added that this was not the first time she had experienced harassment. Throughout her career, Sheinbaum has been candid about the harassment she experienced in the past. In 2021, as Mexico City mayor, she shared a video for International Women’s Day in which she recalls being harassed on public transportation at the age of 12 and being harassed by a professor when she was a student.

Security concerns

Tuesday’s incident has raised questions about Sheinbaum’s security. It comes just days after the brutal assassination of Uruapan Mayor Carlos Manzo during a public event for the Day of the Dead, raising questions about the level of security scrutiny needed for public officials.

Sheinbaum, like her predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has chosen not to maintain a Presidential Guard, which was dissolved in 2018.

Security analyst Raúl Benítez-Manaut told CNN en Español that the decision left a gap in high-level protection: “After the dissolution of the Presidential Guard, no specialized protection system was rebuilt. Sheinbaum relies on a small team of aides, not a professional perimeter security unit.”

Sheinbaum defended her approach on Wednesday. “We can’t stay far from the people — that would deny who we are. Our aides will continue to accompany us, but we must remain close to citizens,” she said.

The Secretariat for Women, part of Sheinbaum’s administration, condemned the incident on Tuesday, saying proximity to the public “cannot be used as an excuse to invade someone’s personal space or make physical contact without consent.”

“Unfortunately, no woman is exempt from sexual harassment in our country,” the ministry said. “It’s crucial for men to understand that these acts are not only violent but criminal.”

The office urged victims to report incidents rather than dismiss them. “These forms of violence must not be trivialized; denouncing them is fundamental to justice and cultural change,” it wrote.

‘A call to confront misogyny head-on’

The incident involving Mexico’s head of state underscores a wider problem for women in public life. The National Electoral Institute (INE) has recorded 516 recorded cases of violence against women in political positions from September 2020 to July 2025.

Mexico City’s mayor echoed Sheinbaum’s own campaign message about women’s representation, saying the event shows why “being the first woman president is not just symbolic — it’s a call to confront misogyny head-on.”

The occurrence on Tuesday points to a deep-rooted national problem. According to Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography’s (INEGI) 2021 national survey, 70.1% of Mexican women aged 15 and older have experienced at least one form of violence, with 49.1% of those women reporting sexual violence.

Sheinbaum said Wednesday she will work with the Secretariat for Women to review whether harassment is criminalized in all Mexican states and launch a national campaign against harassment.

“There must be respect for women in every sense,” she said. “Harassment is a crime — and it’s time everyone in this country understands that.”

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CNN’s Sol Amaya and Verónica Calderón contributed to this report.