Watch: Mexican Senators Brawl After Heated Debate Over US Intervention Vs Cartels

With cameras rolling, tension over potential US military intervention against Mexico’s drug cartels erupted into a shoving-and-slapping bout between legislators at the podium of the Senate chambers on Wednesday. 

Senator Alejandro “Alito” Moreno, who leads the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), was apparently incensed over the refusal of his demands to participate in the floor debate, which featured accusations that PRI and the National Action Party (PAN) had called for the US military to strike the cartels inside Mexico — which both parties deny.

Sen. Alito Moreno (left) slaps Mexican Senate President Gerardo Norona after a heated session in which Moreno’s party was accused of backing US military intervention against drug cartels (AFP / Getty Images via CBS News)  

Earlier this month, President Trump reportedly issued a new directive authorizing the Pentagon to conduct direct military operations against select Latin American drug cartels designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). Last week, PAN member Lilly Tellez told Fox News, that “help from the United States to fight the cartels is absolutely welcome, and that is how the majority of Mexicans feel. The only ones who don’t like that President Trump is sending help…are the narco-politicians, and that includes President [Claudia] Scheinbaum.”  

Tellez compounded the tension in Wednesday’s debate, saying she had “a clean record,” unlike what she labelled “the Morena mafia.” She condemned members of the ruling Morena party as “narcopoliticians” and “narco-Satanics,” and credited her faith in God and Mexicans for giving her the resolve to “make the Morenarcos tremble.” Her barbs prompted shouts of “sellout” and “traitor.” 

As the session was ending, the 50-year-old Moreno strode to the podium and accosted 65-year-old Senate President Gerardo Fernandez Norona, of the Morena party. Along with the rest of the Senate, Norona was singing the national anthem, in accordance with the custom for closing out sessions, but Moreno continued shouting at him. After the anthem ended, Norona turned to talk to Moreno, and the ensuing shouting match grew violent after Moreno grabbed Noreno’s arm. 

#BREAKING #MEXICO
🤔
🔴 MEXICO :📹 THE PERMANENT COMMISSION SESSION IN MEXICO ENDED WITH PUNCHES

Senate President Gerardo Fernández Noroña and PRI national leader Alejandro Moreno had fight at the Senate chamber. #Ultimahora pic.twitter.com/PNXHJKzhjC

— LW World News 🌍 (@LW_WorldNews) August 27, 2025

As the two engaged in a shoving match, a cameraman stepped in front of Moreno, and was greeted with a firm, two-armed shove that sent him to the floor. Another man proceeded to pummel the cameraman on the ground, and Moreno’s fellow PRI member, Carlos Gutiérrez Mancilla, pursued the Senate president out of the hall, grabbing him by the suit-jacket and punching him. El Pais reports that the cameraman was injured, with medics putting him in a neck brace. 

“What confrontation? He hit me and said, ‘I’m going to kill you’,” Norona told reporters later. Chumming the waters, Norona added, “Today, when (opposition legislators) are exposed for their treason, they lose their minds because they were exposed.” Norona said he would pursue an emergency Friday session to expel Moreno and three other PRI legislators. He also said he will file a complaint against Moreno for attacking him and the cameraman, and ask authorities to revoke Moreno’s legislative immunity.

Mexico’s senate erupted into violence as fight breaks out between opposition party leader and the senate’s president over a dispute as the senate session ends.

Follow Press TV on Telegram: https://t.co/h0eMpigtxM pic.twitter.com/BtYe0dtE0T

— PressTV Extra (@PresstvExtra) August 28, 2025

Meanwhile, Moreno took to X to blame Norona: “He was the one who started the attack; he did it because he couldn’t silence us with arguments. The first physical aggression came from Norona. He threw the first shove, and he did it out of cowardice.”

Both senators are involved in separate controversies. Moreno faces possible impeachment proceedings for alleged corruption during his tenure as governor of Campeche state from 2015 to 2019. Norona has been criticized over reports that he owns an expensive house at a time when Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has urged public officials to live modestly. — CBS News

Scheinbaum has firmly and repeatedly rejected any U.S. military presence on Mexican soil. “The United States is not going to come to Mexico with the military. We cooperate, we collaborate, but there is not going to be an invasion. That is ruled out, absolutely ruled out,” she told the New York Times. “It is not part of any agreement, far from it. When it has been brought up, we have always said no.”

Meanwhile, one can’t help but wonder how strong Sen. Tellez’s security is, as she repeatedly rails against the cartels and accuses members of the Mexican government of working directly with them…

🚨🚨In this Video Mexican Senator Lily Tellez Exposes the Narco Government of Mexico by showing us Cartel Leaders sitting with Members of the Mexican Senate during a Session🚨🚨 pic.twitter.com/SGtLUIhXkz

— 🇺🇸 𝓐𝓟𝓡𝓘𝓛 𝓢𝓟𝓐𝓡𝓚𝓢 🇺🇸 (@AprilSpark1890) August 26, 2025

💥 Mexican Senator Lilly Téllez is blowing the lid off cartel corruption at the top.

📅 June 29, 2025 — She stood in the Senate and accused AMLO’s former chief of staff Alfonso Romo of laundering Sinaloa Cartel money through his firm Vector Casa de Bolsa.

⚠️ Just 4 days earlier… pic.twitter.com/Mb3Bqx2RlB

— Jake (@JakeCan72) August 29, 2025