Authorities later reported that the man had been arrested.
“My view is, if I don’t file a complaint, what will happen to other Mexican women? If they do this to the president, what will happen to all women in our country?” Sheinbaum said at her morning press conference.
The Government will review whether this behaviour “is a criminal offence in all states, because it should be a criminal offence and we are going to launch a campaign”, she added, acknowledging that she suffered similar harassment in her youth.
The 32 federal districts that make up the country each has its own criminal code, and not all of them include criminal penalties for such behaviour.
Despite the incident, Sheinbaum treated the man politely, agreeing to take a picture with him, then patting him on the back.
“This person approached me completely drunk, I don’t know if he was on drugs,” she said. “It wasn’t until I saw the videos that I realised what had really happened.”
The complaint against the man was filed with the prosecutor’s office in Mexico City, where sexual harassment is punishable by law.
The incident also sparked criticism of the President’s security detail and denunciations of so-called macho attitudes that normalise unwelcome intrusions on women’s personal space and bodies.
Some 70% of Mexican women aged 15 and over experience at least one incident of sexual harassment in their lives, according to data from UN Women.
-Agence France-Presse
