DEPARTMENT GUTIERREZ/EPA
The president of Mexico, Cláudia Sheinbaum.
More than 70% of Mexican women over the age of 15 have suffered some type of abuse and almost half of them have been victims of sexual violence. Is the war against drug trafficking in Mexico to be forgotten?
The Mexican President presented a constitutional reform to criminalize sexual harassment, after being attacked this week, while walking in Mexico City, by a man who touched her without her consent.
The incident occurred while Claudia Sheinbaum walked down the street in Mexico City and greeted supporters.
In a video circulating on social media, it is possible to see the man — who has already been arrested — taking advantage of the approach of several Sheinbaum supporters to, behind this, grab her breasts and kiss her neck in front of the security guards, in a moment that made the head of state visibly uncomfortable.
🇲🇽 Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum was sexually assaulted on Tuesday, while interacting with passers-by on the streets of Mexico City.
— FRANCE 24 English (@France24_en)
The objective of the proposal, according to Sheinbaum, is to criminalize sexual harassment throughout the country and bring to light “a systemic problem that affects all Mexican women.”
“I want to create a precedent”, he clarified.
Meanwhile, on social media, many Mexicans complain that the president is trying to divert attention from the murdered at gunpoint of the President of the Chamber Carlos Alberto Manzo Rodrígueznot after day 1, “Dia de Los Muertos”.
The inhabitants of Uruapan have been demanding justice for the tragic death and calling for Sheinbaum to be fired. Manzo was seen as the most active mayor in the fight against organized crime in Mexico.
The murder was condemned by the president, who promised justice. But he also rejected resuming the war on drugs in Mexico, which is angering many angry people.
“Resuming the war against drug trafficking is not an option,” Sheinbaum told journalists on Monday: “Mexico has already done this, and the violence has worsened.”
Scary numbers
Sheinbaum said he realized the gravity of the events later, when he saw videos of his own case.
“I decided to file a complaint because this is something that I experienced as a woman, but it is something that women in our country experience,” she declared during a press conference, adding: “If I don’t file a complaint, what will happen to all Mexican women?”
Currently, the sexual harassment is a crime in Mexico City, but it is not uniformly typified throughout the country.
The government also plans to launch a national campaign to promote respect and the need for a “strong message” that “women’s personal space should not be violated”.
According to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), more than 70% of Mexican women over the age of 15 have suffered some type of abuse and almost half of them have been victims of sexual violencewith Mexico City being the second state with the highest number of cases.
“If they touch the President, they touch all of us”
The mayor of Mexico City, Clara Brugada, meanwhile released a message of support for Sheinbaum: “If they touch the President, they touch all of us”said in a statement, highlighting: “Zero tolerance for violence against women”.
The United Nations has already condemned the harassment suffered by the Mexican President and called for violence against women in the country not to be “normalized or minimized”.
Mexico’s Ministry of Women also condemned the incident and took the opportunity to encourage victims of this and other types of abuse to report it: “Women, teenagers and girls should not be touched!”
