Mexico’s Senate just turned into a wrestling ring on Wednesday as lawmakers traded blows during a session’s closing moments, according to The Daily Caller.
During a heated session’s end, while the national anthem echoed through the chamber, opposition leader Alejandro “Alito” Moreno of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) grabbed Senate President Gerardo Fernandez Noroña, sparking a shoving match that spiraled into chaos.
Other lawmakers joined the fray, and a photographer was knocked over, all leading to talks of an emergency meeting to possibly expel Moreno and others.
This brawl didn’t just come out of nowhere; it followed a tense debate over foreign armed forces operating in Mexico, a topic that clearly struck a nerve.
As the anthem played, Moreno marched up to Fernandez Noroña, grabbed his arm, and demanded, “I’m asking you to let me speak.”
Well, that request didn’t sit well, as Fernandez Noroña shot back with a sharp “Don’t touch me,” setting the stage for a physical clash that’s more suited to a street corner than a legislative chamber.
From there, it was all downhill—Moreno and Fernandez Noroña started pushing each other, turning a solemn moment into a spectacle of petty aggression.
In the midst of the scuffle, Moreno accidentally knocked over a photographer, an unfortunate casualty of this political slugfest.
Things got uglier when another lawmaker jumped in, swinging at Fernandez Noroña as he tried to step back from the chaos.
Now, if that’s not a picture of dysfunction, what is? It’s hard to imagine policy debates advancing when fists are flying instead of ideas.
Fernandez Noroña, visibly rattled, later claimed Moreno struck first, alleging, “Started pulling on me, touching me, pushing.”
He didn’t stop there, adding, “He hit me and said, ‘I’m going to beat the sh*t out of you, I’m going to kill you.’” That’s a chilling escalation, though one wonders if such theatrics are amplified for political points in a chamber already boiling over.
Moreno, for his part, pushed back against this narrative, insisting that Fernandez Noroña threw the first blow, a classic he-said, he-said that livestream footage and social media posts on X have yet to fully clarify.
In response to the melee, Fernandez Noroña announced plans for an emergency session on Friday to propose expelling Moreno and three other PRI lawmakers allegedly involved.
This incident, captured live and debated online through posts on X by figures like Andrea Chávez and Moreno himself, reveals a deeper fracture in Mexico’s political discourse—when words fail, apparently fists take over.
Let’s be honest: while passions run high in politics, resorting to physical altercations undermines any claim to leadership or moral authority. It’s a sad day when elected officials act more like barroom brawlers than stewards of public trust, and it fuels the cynicism many feel about government.
Though both sides deserve a fair hearing, the optics of this clash suggest a desperate need for cooler heads, not tougher punches, especially on issues as serious as foreign military presence.