This is the moment a Mexican politician was filmed hitting an endangered spider monkey pet that she took with her to a public event in a video that triggered a criminal complaint and forced her resignation.
The incident took place at the Casa de la Cultura in Ocotlán, a town in Jalisco state, western Mexico, on 9 February.
Footage shared widely on social media shows Silvia Iliana Villarruel Gutiérrez, then a councillor in Ocotlán, holding the young spider monkey dressed in a pink sweater and secured with a harness and leash as she sits before attendees and then stands after being introduced.
At the start as the primate appears agitated and begins crying, she is seen seemingly striking it with her hand in an apparent attempt to control it, a moment that quickly drew condemnation online.
Mexico’s Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) subsequently filed a criminal complaint with the Federal Attorney General’s Office against whoever is responsible for the illegal possession of the animal.
The agency said the action is based on Article 420, section IV of the Federal Penal Code, which penalises the illegal capture, possession, transport or trade of endangered species or those protected under international agreements such as CITES.
The spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) is classified as endangered under the official Mexican standard NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010. Under the General Wildlife Law, primates cannot be legally captured or kept for extractive use, whether for subsistence or commercial purposes.
Environmental inspectors visited Ocotlán’s municipal offices on 10 February to gather information about the animal’s origin and legal status. Profepa said the person seen in the video stated that the monkey was not her property, that she had borrowed it and that she did not know the identity of its owner.
Amid mounting public criticism, Villarruel announced she was stepping down from her post with immediate effect.
In a statement published on social media, she said: “What happened should not have occurred. From the first moment I assumed my responsibility for having interacted with a wild animal that is not my property. It was a mistake. I do not minimise it and I do not justify it.”
She added that she had already given a statement to federal authorities and was fully cooperating with the investigation, while Profepa said it would continue inquiries to clarify responsibility and guarantee the protection of the primate.
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