Overview

• At a July 10 press conference, Governor Alejandro Armenta cracked the fingers of newly appointed Tourism Secretary Carla López-Malo to demand faster tourism promotion of Puebla.
• Later that day, Armenta issued a statement on X offering an apology and explaining that he used the gesture out of lessons from his upbringing.
• López-Malo publicly accepted the apology on X, commending Armenta’s leadership and the values shared with his team.
• The gesture provoked widespread online backlash and criticism from opposition figures who labeled it disrespectful and misogynistic.
• Civil society organizations such as Artículo 19 and Red de Periodistas Puebla have intensified challenges to the administration’s recently enacted cybersecurity law over concerns it threatens press freedom.