‘Cut off hands’: Mexican presidential candidate’s plan to deter thieves

MEXICO CITY: Thieves should have their hands chopped off, a Mexican presidential candidate said in a televised debate on Sunday, provoking disbelief from a moderator and setting off a storm of comments and jokes on Twitter.

Jaime Rodriguez, an independent known as “El Bronco,” who is trailing in opinion polls, made the proposal during a discussion about corruption in the first televised debate among the five presidential candidates ahead of the July 1 election.

“We have to cut off the hands of those who rob. It´s that simple,” said the 59-year-old, adding that he would ask Congress to pass a law backing his idea. Taken aback, the moderator Denise Maerker twice asked him if he was speaking literally, before checking again that he really meant what he had said.

“That´s right.That´s right,” he replied.Memes based on Rodriguez´s comments rapidly spread through Twitter, among them an image of his face superimposed on a picture of what appeared to be an Islamist militant chopping off a man´s hand.