Lucrezia Ciotti In Mexico, harassment sexual assaults continue to be an alarming problem, as dramatically demonstrated by a recent episode involving President Claudia Sheinbaum. During a public event, the attack against her was filmed in live, sparking national and international outrage. The video, which went viral, rekindled the debate about women's safety and the need to strengthen laws against sexual assault across the country.
Live TV harassment of President Sheinbaum rocks Mexico
On November 4th in Mexico City, President Claudia Sheinbaum was the victim of an assault sexual intercourse during a public event. A man, while the president was greeting supporters as she left the presidential palace, he hugged her from behind, kissing her on the neck and groping her, before being removed by the escort.
The episode, which was broadcast live on television and quickly went viral, caused a wave of indignation in the country and on social media. Sheinbaum reacted immediately, making it clear: "If I don't report it, what condition will I leave other Mexican women in? No one can violate our body and our personal space".
With these words, the president transformed the attack into a message of awareness and solidarity, calling on all women to report any form of abuse. Veronica Cruz, representative of the feminist collective Las Libres, described the attack on the president as: “a dramatic symbol of the reality that millions of women face this every day".
🚨 ATTENTION: The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, was the victim of a sexual attack in full light today as she collected and took photos with apoiadores. The criminal was denounced by the authorities. pic.twitter.com/eN7FoHgGfk
— Café News (@cafenews_) November 5, 2025
Mexico: President Sheinbaum accused of harassment on live TV: "I filed a complaint."
In response to what happened, the Mexican government has announced a national plan to strengthen the protection of women and make penalties for sexual abuse more effective. One of the main goals is to standardize legislation across the 32 states of the federation: currently, 19 states have aggravating criteria for punishing sexual abuse, nine others have insufficient legislation, and in four it is unclear what constitutes a crime of this type.
The Federal Penal Code provides sentences of six to ten years of imprisonment and a fine of up to 200 days' salary, but their implementation remains uneven. Sheinbaum emphasized the need for cooperation among all states:
"All states must unite beyond politics to defend the integrity of Mexican women.“Among the measures envisaged by the plan are: awareness campaigns aimed at women and men, the training of public prosecutors, judges and prosecutors from a gender perspective, and tools to make faster filing of complaints.
The attacker was stopped, but the incident had international resonance: Iratxe Garcia Perez, president of the EU Socialist group, stated on X that the episode “It's not an isolated case: it's the reality that millions of women live through.".