On a bright Tuesday morning in Mexico City, President Claudia Sheinbaum set out on what should have been an uneventful five-minute stroll from the National Palace to the Ministry of Public Education. What happened next, however, would ignite a national conversation about women’s safety, the pervasiveness of harassment, and the responsibilities of those in power. Sheinbaum, Mexico’s first female president, was groped by a drunk man in full view of supporters and cameras—a moment that would quickly go viral and reverberate throughout the country.
According to AP News, the incident unfolded as Sheinbaum paused to greet admirers along her route. A visibly intoxicated man approached from behind, slipped his arm around her shoulders, leaned in to kiss her neck, and briefly grabbed her chest before being swiftly removed by her security detail. The president, maintaining composure, gently pushed his hands away and continued with a stiff smile, only later realizing the full extent of the assault after watching the widely circulated video footage.
By Wednesday, November 5, 2025, Sheinbaum had pressed charges against her aggressor, as confirmed during her daily press briefing. "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 declared, as reported by BBC. Sheinbaum’s words captured not just her personal outrage, but the collective frustration of millions of Mexican women who face similar harassment daily. "If this is done to the president, what is going to happen to all of the young women in our country?" she asked pointedly, underscoring the broader implications of her experience.
The man responsible was arrested overnight, Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada announced, and authorities promised to prosecute him to the full extent of the law. Brugada, echoing Sheinbaum’s own campaign language, said, "‘We’ve all arrived’ is not a slogan. It’s a commitment to not look the other way, to not allow misogyny to remain hidden in custom, to not accept one more humiliation, one more abuse, one more femicide." The National Governors Conference also voiced its support, stating, "Every form of violence against a woman is unacceptable and should have no place in a society that aspires to live with respect and equality."
The incident, captured on mobile phones and blasted across social media, became a flashpoint for national outrage. As Los Angeles Times reported, many women saw in Sheinbaum’s experience a reflection of their own. Andrea González Martínez, a 27-year-old bank worker, shared, "It happens regularly, it happens on public transportation. It’s something you experience every day in Mexico." Her coworker, Carmen Maldonado Castillo, added, "It’s not good that men attack us. You can’t walk around free in the street."
Sheinbaum’s decision to press charges was a deliberate one. She explained her motivation during her press conference: "If I don’t file a complaint, besides it being a crime, what becomes of all Mexican women? If this happens to the president, what will happen to all the young women in our country?" She also revealed that she had been harassed as a student, recalling similar experiences at age 12 while commuting to school. "No one should violate our personal space. No man has the right to violate that space," she insisted, according to Remezcla.
The president’s resolve did not end with her own case. She used the moment to call for a review of state laws, noting that while sexual harassment is a crime in Mexico City, it is not classified as such everywhere in the country. Sheinbaum pledged to work toward standardizing legal protections for women and to launch a campaign to combat harassment nationwide. "A line must be drawn," she said, emphasizing the need for systemic change.
The public’s response was swift and impassioned. Feminist social movements, already energized by high rates of violence against women and inspired by the #MeToo movement, seized on the incident as further evidence of the urgent need for reform. Congresswoman Ivonne Ortega wrote on X, "If the most powerful woman in Mexico experienced harassment, what can women who travel on public transportation or walk alone every day expect? This is the reality that millions of women and girls face daily." Writer Brenda Lozano added, "The reasons she was harassed are patriarchy and sexism."
Statistics back up these sentiments. A United Nations report found that nearly half of Mexican women have been subjected to rape, groping, or other forms of sexual violence. In 2014, a Thompson Reuters Foundation survey revealed that 64% of female transit riders in Mexico City reported harassment. The city government has attempted to address the problem with women-only subway cars and even rape whistles, though some feminists argue these measures place the burden on women rather than challenging men to change their behavior.
The incident also reignited debate about presidential security. Like her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Sheinbaum prefers to walk among the people, often without heavy bodyguard presence. Despite calls for increased protection, she remained steadfast: "I have no intention of changing my policy of interacting with supporters," she told reporters, as BBC noted. The timing of the assault was particularly sensitive, coming just days after the murder of Uruapan’s mayor, Carlos Manzo, at a public event—an act that underscored broader concerns about violence against public officials in Mexico. In the lead-up to the 2024 general election, 35 candidates were killed, making it the bloodiest campaign in the country’s modern history.
Yet, as Sheinbaum and her supporters have repeatedly emphasized, the fight is not just about politicians’ safety—it is about the everyday lives of women across Mexico. Sheinbaum’s own words, "I did not arrive alone. We all arrived," have become a rallying cry for those demanding gender parity and a society free from misogyny. Each spring, hundreds of thousands of protesters take to the streets to demand policies that protect women’s lives, and Sheinbaum’s landslide election victory in 2024 was seen as a milestone for women in politics, thanks in part to a 2019 constitutional reform mandating gender parity in elected positions.
Still, violence against women persists. Government figures show that an average of 10 women or girls are killed every day in Mexico. The hashtag #MiPrimerAcoso—“my first harassment”—has trended nationally as women share their stories. Lilian Valvuena, a 31-year-old observer, remarked, "They have to prepare [police]. They don’t know what protocols to follow." Marina Reyna, director of the Guerrero Association against Violence toward Women, added, "You lose confidence in the institutions. The people stop going to report it, because when you report it nothing happens."
Sheinbaum’s experience, then, is not just a personal ordeal—it is a mirror held up to a society grappling with deep-seated gender inequality and violence. Her decision to press charges, her calls for legal reform, and her refusal to retreat behind layers of security are all, in her words, "a commitment to not look the other way, to not allow misogyny to continue to be veiled in habits, to not accept a single additional humiliation, not another abuse, not a single femicide more."
The president’s walk may have been brief, but its impact has already traveled much farther, stirring a nation to reckon with the realities its women face every day—and demanding that the journey toward safety and dignity continue, step by determined step.
