A mayoral candidate in Michoacán has raised eyebrows and possibly some temperatures after he reportedly hired a group of male strippers to “lavish attention on” the attendees of a women-only campaign event.
Alberto Orobio Arriaga, a candidate with the National Action Party (PAN) and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), reportedly hired the male strippers for an event held at an aquatic center in Ziracuaretiro, located about 100 kilometers southwest of Morelia.
Orobio arranged the event for a PAN candidate for the federal Senate, Alberto Lucatero. Lucatero was supposed to meet with female attendees at the Michoacán campaign event, but Orobio announced on social media that Lucatero was unable to go and that he was sending “a surprise” in the Senate candidate’s stead.
Video footage shows that at least two strippers entertained dozens of women, a few of whom got up close and personal with the semi-naked young men.
One attendee, identified only as Soraya, told local media that some women stayed outside in the garden and pool area of the aquatic center while the striptease was taking place but that others went inside to check out the performance because “curiosity got the better of us.”
“… All of us screamed, laughed, clapped and had a lot of fun,” she said.
The news website SDP Noticias reported that the women at the campaign event were treated to a “taco de ojo” – literally an “eye taco,” but also a term that can be translated into English as “eye candy.”
Radio Fórmula reported that Orobio has faced criticism for possibly using public money to hire the strippers for the event, as political parties in Mexico receive public funding for campaigns.
Other social media users opined that it was a good strategy to get people’s attention.
It is not the first time that the PAN-PRI candidate has sparked controversy on the campaign trail: he also attracted attention after saying that he identified as a woman when registering his candidacy with the National Electoral Institute.
He reportedly did so to avoid falling foul of gender quota rules.
With reports from El Universal, Vanguardia, Radio Fórmula and SDP Noticias
