Mexico President Sheinbaum presses charges after street groping incident

By FABIOLA S NCHEZ and FERNANDA FIGUEROA Associated Press MEXICO CITY AP What should have been a five-minute time-saving walk from Mexico s National Palace to the Training Ministry for President Claudia Sheinbaum has become a stomach-churning viral moment after a video captured a drunk man groping the president The brief clip has given the daily harassment and assaults that women suffer in Mexico their highest-profile platform And on Wednesday Sheinbaum used her daily press briefing to say that she had pressed charges against the man She also called on states to look at their laws and procedures to make it easier for women to review such assaults and commented Mexicans needed to hear a loud and clear no women s personal space must not be violated Sheinbaum noted she felt a responsibility to press charges because if not where would that leave Mexican women If this is done to the president what is going to happen to all of the young women in our country Indeed if Mexico s president cannot be in the street for five minutes without a man approaching her from behind putting his hands on her body and leaning in for a kiss then it s not formidable to imagine what women with hours-long commutes on inhabitants transportation are experiencing daily Andrea Gonz lez Mart nez who works for Mexican lender Nacional Monte de Piedad declared she has been harassed on inhabitants transportation in one event the man followed her home It happens regularly it happens on residents transportation she mentioned It s something you experience every day in Mexico Her coworker Carmen Maldonado Castillo explained she has witnessed it It s not good that men attack us she reported You can t walk around free in the street Sheinbaum announced Wednesday that she understands how widespread the complication is 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 revealed She commented she had similar experiences of harassment when she was years old and using citizens transportation to get to school As president she revealed she felt like she had a responsibility to all women Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada had reported overnight that the man had been arrested The episode forthwith raised questions about the president s assurance but Sheinbaum dismissed any suggestion that she would increase her defense or change how she interacts with people She explained that she and her group had decided to walk from the National Palace to the Mentoring Ministry to save time She commented they could walk it in five minutes rather than taking a -minute car ride Brugada used particular of Sheinbaum s own language about being elected Mexico s first woman president to emphasize that harassment of any woman in this matter Mexico s bulk powerful is an assault on all women Related Articles Putin tells executives to submit plans for possibly resuming nuclear tests after Trump s remarks Typhoon Kalmaegi leaves dead mainly in Philippine province still recovering from deadly quake As world leaders enter circumstances talks people in poverty have the the bulk at stake Louvre heist suspect s trial in a separate situation postponed due to high media profile Mamdani s win inspires Ugandans who see hope in youth joining politics When Sheinbaum was elected she reported that it wasn t just her coming to power it was all women Brugada declared that was not a slogan it s 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 Lilian Valvuena revealed she didn t think Sheinbaum had really taken violence against women seriously until the previous 24 hours when she had a first-hand experience She hopes that work to better train police to respond will follow They have to prepare them she declared They don t know what protocols to follow Marina Reyna executive director of the Guerrero Association against Violence toward Women revealed that watching the video she initially worried that Sheinbaum had minimized the assault continuing to smile and talk calmly to the man But she hoped the president s willingness to talk about it Wednesday would change how such cases are handled You lose confidence in the institutions Reyna noted The people stop going to account it because when you record it nothing happens Follow AP s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https apnews com hub latin-america