Tenoch Huerta has been accused of sexual assault. In a series of tweets posted this past weekend, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, musician and activist María Elena Ríos described the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever star as a “sexual predator.”
Ríos made the allegations after Poder Prieto, an activist organization based in Mexico that fights against racism and classism, shared a year-old episode of the podcast El Feisbuk de la Malinche that featured her. Huerta is a spokesperson for Poder Prieto and Ríos is a former member.
Rios was upset that Poder Prieto shared the content after she told them not to publish anything about her. She added that Poder Prieto was protecting Huerta and made the “sexual predator” allegation.
When asked by a Twitter user if Huerta had sexually assaulted her, Ríos seemingly confirmed so and said there were others as well.
Later, Ríos explained why she didn’t bring up these allegations sooner. She said in a sexist country like Mexico, “justice is unattainable” and stepping forward with these types of accusations could cost a woman her life. She also mentioned that it was a difficult step to take due to the Huerta being “loved worldwide.”
Ríos reiterated her fear about coming forward as a reason she didn’t do so earlier and included screenshots of examples of the hateful messages she started receiving online once she made the accusations against Huerta. Some of these messages threatened her by saying, “You want more acid, right?”
In September 2019, Ríos’ ex-boyfriend hired men to attack her with acid, which disfigured her face and body. “The attack changed my whole life and made me live with fear and guilt,” Ríos said. But it also set her on a new path towards activism “denouncing violence against women in Mexico and the government’s complicity in such violence.”
Tenoch Huerta has not yet responded to the accusations against him.