The feminicide crisis in Mexico

We’ve broken our silence. And we’re no longer going to allow you to make a spectacle out of our pain” -Yesenia Zamundio

UN Women reported that in 2019, the average number of women murdered daily in Mexico was 10. Recently, the murders of 25-year-old Ingrid Escamilla and 7-year-old Fátima Cecilia Aldrighett Antón have sparked protests across the country as women protest this atrocity against young women. A Mexican 2012 law states that investigations of females’ violent deaths must include “gender perspective” to rule whether they are femicides. However, many cases are not ruled as this special class of homicide with tougher penalties.

“The Mexican justice system isn’t looking for real alternatives that would allow them to face this problem rapidly, where the response matches the number of femicides we’re seeing and the number of complaints when it comes to gender violence in Mexico… The truth is that the judicial system in Mexico hasn’t been trained, isn’t prepared and isn’t currently being trained to face femicides. It’s despicable, I think that all the women’s demonstrations, all the women’s collectives, civil society and many people within the institutions, people working in and outside them are outraged, we’re very frustrated and angry because we’re not getting a real response from the authorities to face this very serious problem we have in Mexico,” Amy Lira, head of victim accompaniment in Casa Mandarina told Brut.

Maria's Maps

While Mexico may not recognize a majority of femicides as such, Maria Salguero has created a map of Mexican femicides reported by the press. Her map shows 3,825 killings in 2019. The official number of femicides reported by the government is almost four times less than that reported number. While less than five percent of these murders are ever solved, Salguero hopes that by keeping the government honest with the number and confronting them through protest that eventually, the silent number one killer of women will be recognized and prevented in the future.

Brut.