A violent brawl broke up at the Mexican Senate on Wednesday between Senator Alejandro Moreno Cárdenas, head of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and Senate President Gerardo Fernández Noroña of the ruling National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) party following a heated debate over alleged “treasonous” calls from the opposition for the United States to take military action against drug cartels in the country.
The Mexican newspaper El Universal reported that the incident occurred right as the national anthem finished playing, which signals the end of that day’s session. Wednesday’s reportedly heated debate was centered on the subject of the recent “treason” accusations espoused by the ruling leftist MORENA party against Senator Lilly Tellez of the conservative National Action Party (PAN) after Tellez spoke to Fox News and called for the United States’ help in fighting Mexican drug cartels.
In the interview, Tellez said that the cartels have “infested” Mexico and levied accusations against far-left President Claudia Sheinbaum and other alleged “narco-politicians.” Tellez asserted that prospective U.S. help to combat the cartels “is absolutely welcome” and that this “is the feeling of the majority of Mexicans.”
Senator Moreno Cárdenas, reportedly annoyed at not being able to participate in Wednesday’s debate, went up to confront Fernández Noroña over his alleged exclusion from the list of speakers, leading to a struggle between the two senators that rapidly escalated with punches, pushing, insults, and shouting.
During the fight, Senator Moreno Cárdenas pushed a Senate staffer identified by Jornada as Emiliano González, photographer of the Senate’s board of directors and head of Fernández Noroña’s social media. According to Jornada, Moreno Cárdenas kicked the photographer “while he was on the ground, causing him several injuries and threatening to kill him.”
In a Wednesday night social media post, Fernández Noroña announced that he was about to file a criminal complaint against Senator Moreno Cárdenas and other PRI members “who cowardly assaulted us.” In a separate post, the MORENA senator asserted that it is “very serious that the media is talking about a confrontation, when all the videos show a cowardly attack on me and Emiliano González González being beaten on the ground, leaving him with serious injuries and broken equipment.”
Senator Moreno Cárdenas published a video on social media deeming the “regrettable” incident as not an “accident” or a “scuffle,” but “a clear and direct provocation” and holding Fernández Noroña responsible for the event.
“Let him not be a coward. Let him not lie. He was the one who came at me. He was the one who pushed me, and he was the one who initiated the aggression,” Fernández Noroña said. “He did it because he couldn’t silence us with arguments, because when he felt cornered by the truth, he reacted like cowards, bullies, and thugs like him do: with violence.”
The PRI Senator claimed that Fernández Noroña disrespected and offended Senator Tellez and other legislators. According to Moreno Cárdenas, Fernández Noroña “literally threatened to shoot all the opponents who, according to him, are traitors to the country. This is how those who do not know how to live in a democracy act.”
“I did not provoke anyone. I claimed my right to speak, to express myself, to say what I think on behalf of the people and the popular representation we have, because it was on the agenda, because that was what had been agreed. One last contribution from each parliamentary group,” the senator said in the video.
“But MORENA and that coward Fernández Noroña, as always, changed the agenda to silence us. And when we demanded what was rightfully ours, they sent their thugs to disrupt the session. Let me make this clear, and I say this to him and to those in Morena. Not with me,” he continued.
Prior to Wednesday’s physical altercation, both Senator Moreno Cárdenas and Fernández Noroña had a fierce verbal exchange after Fernández Noroña reportedly “congratulated” Moreno Cárdenas’ over his “demolition” of the PRI party following the departure of a senator from the organization. Moreno Cárdenas responded to his remarks by demanding he clarify his alleged “links” with Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro, who is actively wanted by the United States on multiple narco-terrorism charges.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here
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