Monday, June 23, 2025

Lawmaker accused of sexual assault seen as flight risk

The National Immigration Institute (INM) has put out a travel alert for Morena party legislator and sexual assault suspect Saúl Huerta. The Mexico City Attorney General’s Office requested the alert, which will record any attempt by the federal deputy to leave the country.

Huerta was arrested on April 21 for the assault of a 15-year-old boy in a Mexico City hotel, but released due to his immunity as a lawmaker. Soon after, another accusation of sexual assault came to light. A 20-year-old man said April 23 that Huerta assaulted him three years ago in the state of Puebla.

The Mexico City Attorney General’s Office said on Friday it had found chemical evidence that the 15-year-old had been drugged and sexually abused.

Attorney General Ernestina Godoy confirmed that there are at least two accusations against Huerta, and one young man and his family are under federal protection.

A lawyer for the parents of the 15-year-old said this week that the boy was undergoing treatment in a psychiatric hospital for anxiety and depression. He also said the victim and his family have received threatening phone calls.

Huerta himself appeared this week for the first time since he was accused. He claimed in an interview that he was the victim of a campaign of defamation on the part of “the mafia of power,” a term that President López Obrador uses to describe those who held power in previous governments.

Meanwhile, Huerta’s colleagues in Congress are expected to discuss the removal of his lawmaker’s immunity this month or next despite an attempt by the Morena party to have it delayed until September.

Source: Animal Político (sp), Milenio (sp)

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
Sheinbaum on Iran

Sheinbaum: ‘Mexico will always be a factor for peace’ after US-Iran escalation

1
President Claudia Sheinbaum on Sunday expressed opposition to war and called on the United Nations to lead a peacebuilding process after the United States military attacked three nuclear facilities in Iran.
An AI robot hand reaches out to touch a human hand

How do we make sure that AI doesn’t make us dumber? A perspective from our CEO

17
AI can make us smarter or it can make us lazier. CEO Travis Bembenek shares how Mexico News Daily is working to offer readers the good kind of AI.
A screwworm fly, possibly

Fight against screwworm ramps up with reopening of sterile fly plant in Chiapas

0
Sterile flies were key to Mexico's past success in exterminating screwworm. Now that the pest is back, the US is offering $21 million to reopen the production facility.