Santa Cruz, Bolivia mayor Percy Fernández is under hot water after assaulting a reporter during an interview. Just when Mercedes Guzmán sat down to talk to the politician, he quickly placed his hand on her lap as she uncomfortably tried to remove it. After a little struggle because he wouldn’t let go, the mayor replied: “Let me grab it, you cheap!” Guzmán tried her hardest to continue the interview in a professional manner, but Fernández’s show didn’t end there.
The reporter asked, “What is your biggest work for this year?” To which the politician replied “This one!” pointing to his crotch. Apparently, this behavior is common for Fernández, 71, who is popularly called “Crazy Percy.” He’s usually very eccentric, he insults other politicians and reporters, he tends to be very sexist in his comments, and he’s known for his scandals. Apparently, this hasn’t been the first time when the mayor has inappropriately touched a woman in public.
During a political event, he grabbed a fellow politician’s butt when she was right in the middle of a speech, and in other occasions he has grabbed women and kissed them without their consent. This time around, however, both Guzmán and her husband complained on social media, and Fernández was forced to issue a public apology aired on all local channels. “Dear Mrs. Mercedes Guzmán: I would like to publically manifest you the anguish that this misunderstanding has caused me. It was never my intention to offend you, nor have I ever done that,” he said.
Meanwhile, Guzmán posted on her Facebook that interviewing the mayor was “an exhausting experience” and thanked all the people who’ve shown their support, one of them being opposition representative Marcela Revollo, who filed a complaint on Monday for “dishonest abuse, sexual violence and discrimination” against Percy Fernández, crimes with sentences of one to four years in prison.
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