Brawl breaks out in Mexican Senate after debate on drug cartels

Mexico’s Senate erupted into a brawl on Wednesday with senators throwing punches, pushing and shouting following a heated debate over alleged calls for the United States military to intervene against drug cartels.

Alejandro “Alito” Moreno, head of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), confronted Senate president Gerardo Fernandez Noroña of the ruling Morena party, as lawmakers were singing the national anthem to mark the end of the day’s hearing.

The tussle broke out after a debate about the presence of armed forces from other countries in Mexico, Fernandez Noroña said in a press conference after the fight.

In a livestreamed video, Moreno could be seen approaching Fernandez Noroña, reportedly saying, “I’m asking you to let me speak,” and grabbing Fernandez Noroña by the arm.

“Don’t touch me,” Fernandez Noroña reportedly responded.

That’s when the two began pushing each other, with Moreno knocking over a photographer during the fight.

Another lawmaker entered the scuffle, swinging at Fernandez Noroña as he tried to step away.

“(Moreno) started pulling on me, touching me, pushing. He hit me and said, ‘I’m going to beat the s— out of you, I’m going to kill you,'” Fernandez Noroña alleged.

But Moreno claims that Fernandez Noroña had swung at him first.

In a statement posted on X, Moreno said that “everyone saw what happened” in the Senate chamber and “it’s important to explain it clearly.”

“Let it be clear: the first physical aggression came from Noroña. He threw the first shove, and he did it out of cowardice,” he wrote.

Fernandez Noroña said he would call an emergency session for Friday and will propose expelling Moreno and three other lawmakers for the incident. He also said he planned to file a complaint against Moreno for bodily harm.

“The debate could be very harsh, very bitter, very strong … today when (opposition legislators) are exposed for their treason, they lose their minds because they were exposed,” he added.

On Thursday, Moreno used the footage as part of a campaign video on X.

“Thanks to the great CEN family for their support! With their strength and with their voice, PRIism will continue standing in the fight. In every street, in every municipality, and in every corner of Mexico, we are going to face this narcodictatorship that wants to subdue the people,” he wrote.

“Mexico deserves freedom, justice, and a government that serves, not one that destroys. And have no doubt: We are going to achieve it,” Moreno added.

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Earlier this month, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that members of the U.S. military would not be entering Mexican territory after a news report that Washington may take such action to combat drug cartels.

The New York Times reported that Trump had signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against certain Latin American cartels.

Sheinbaum said her government had been informed of a coming order but that it had nothing to do with U.S. military operating on Mexican soil.

In February, Sheinbaum said that Mexico will not tolerate an “invasion” of its national sovereignty after the Trump administration moved to formally designate eight Latin American crime organizations as “foreign terrorist organizations.”

“This cannot be an opportunity for the U.S. to invade our sovereignty,” Sheinbaum said during her daily press briefing. “With Mexico, it is collaboration and coordination, never subordination or interventionism, and even less invasion.”

“We want to be clear, given this designation, that we don’t negotiate our sovereignty,” Sheinbaum added. “There can be no interference or subordination. Both countries want to reduce the consumption of drugs and the trafficking of illegal drugs.”

Sheinbaum said her government was not consulted by the United States in its decision to include Mexican cartels on a list of global terrorist organizations, including the Sinaloa cartel, United cartel, the Michoacana family and the Jalisco New Generation cartel.

Canada has also listed seven transnational criminal organizations — including multiple drug cartels — as terrorist entities under the Criminal Code.

— With files from Reuters