Merchants accuse police of intimidation before alleged assault on Mexico City official

The PRODIANA Popular Merchants Association has accused elements of the Secretariat of Citizen Security, assigned to the Cuauhtémoc mayor's office, of intimidating street vendors. These alleged intimidations occurred prior to an incident in which the mayor, Alessandra Rojo de la Vega, was reportedly assaulted in the Zona Rosa area.

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The response of the mayor was not the promised regularization. It was aggression. Security elements at the service of the demarcation and the mayor's private escort appeared on Génova Street with an intimidating attitude, exercising physical and verbal violence against merchants, many of them women and older adults, who were simply exercising their right to work.

PRODIANA stated that police officers and the mayor's "private escort" approached vendors on Génova Street with an intimidating demeanor. They claim these individuals used physical and verbal violence against merchants, many of whom are elderly women, who were simply exercising their right to work.

Following these events, the association asserted that the mayor's response was characterized by violence. They argue that her "discourse of order and authority has translated into operations that do not distinguish between crime and honest work; into dialogue tables that are mere simulations; and into the use of public force against those with the least."

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The mayor governs for media spectacle; every operation she has carried out, including the one in Zona Rosa, is not an act of government: it is an image boost for her political ambitions in 2027 and 2030.

PRODIANA further alleged that the mayor "governs for media spectacle." They contend that her operations, including the one in Zona Rosa, are not acts of governance but rather "image boosts for her political ambitions in 2027 and 2030." The association described the events on Génova Street as part of a pattern where the mayor convenes dialogue sessions for photo opportunities, demands documents to simulate legality, and then proceeds with evictions regardless.

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Violence is not negotiated, it is not justified, it is not applauded.

This account contrasts with Rojo de la Vega's statement that "violence is not negotiated, it is not justified, it is not applauded." The PAN CDMX party has also expressed support for Rojo de la Vega, stating that "aggressions should not be normalized in Cuauhtémoc."

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Aggressions should not be normalized in Cuauhtémoc.