Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed on Wednesday that she has filed a criminal complaint against the man who harassed and attempted to kiss her on Tuesday while she was walking through the streets of the historic center of Mexico City.
"This is an issue of defending Mexican women, and especially young women," she emphasized. The president also remarked that, despite what happened on Tuesday, she will not change the way she behaves in public or reinforce her personal security.
"This person had been harassing other women on the same street and is now in custody," she confirmed and added: "If this is done to the president, what is going to happen to all the young women in our country? This is something that should not happen, and I say it not as president, but as a woman." "If this is done to the president, what is going to happen to all the young women in our country? Nobody can violate our personal space."
In light of this, she announced that she has asked the Secretary of Women, Citlalli Hernández, to carry out a study to identify those states where harassment is not a crime in order to advance judicially and begin working on a national campaign against street harassment.
"This is an issue of women's dignity and rights. We cannot let it pass as if it were nothing," stated the head of state, who emphasized that what happened "is an issue of women's dignity and rights."
On Wednesday, the head of state recounted that her staff recommended that she walk to the headquarters of the Secretariat of Education for time reasons, as attending by car would have delayed the event.
"I was talking about other people, I didn't realize it immediately," she commented and assured that she became aware of what happened from the videos that circulated on social networks.
"I decided to file a complaint because this is something I experienced as a woman and that all women in our country experience," she declared and recalled similar episodes she experienced "when I was not president."
"We cannot be far from the people, that would be to deny where we come from and who we are," she stressed and detailed that, so far, her cabinet has not detected "any risk" to her person or her office.
On this path, she recounted that she approached "this person, who was completely intoxicated," who was the protagonist of the harassment incident against her.
