Femicide in Mexico: "97% of these crimes are never cleared up"

Women demonstrate against feminicides in front of the Palácio Nacional in Mexico City, May 18, 2022. © EDGARD GARRIDO/REUTERS

Text by: Christophe Paget Follow

5 mins

In Mexico, eleven women are killed every day and the state does nothing to combat the situation, denounce the NGOs.

Amnesty International thus speaks of authorities who “

 ”.

Investigations which, for the overwhelming majority, do not result in any conviction.

Soledad Jarquín, a Mexican journalist whose daughter was killed four years ago, is trying to get justice.

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Soledad Jarquín

Basically, it's for gender reasons, women are less considered, badly considered because of this exacerbated machismo, this attitude of superiority of men.

This can also be seen in the way they are treated after being killed, many bodies are left on rubbish heaps, or in the street, in plain sight, it says a lot about the message sent.

More than 40% of murdered women are killed in their homes, by their spouse, or ex-spouse or their boyfriend, about as many are killed in the street, with weapons and by people linked to organized crime.

You're saying there's a problem with the justice system regarding these crimes

Yes, 97% of these crimes are never cleared up because in the institutions what happens in daily life is reproduced.

We have excellent laws, our officials are supposed to be trained in these situations, but the reality is quite different, not only do they not take into account the gender of the victims when they investigate, but very often they do not investigate .

Suddenly, the murderers never face justice, and when that happens, the judges, the magistrates and even the minister protect them.

In Oaxaca, I know two women who have been waiting for 9 and 10 years for justice for their daughters.

And those who denounce this situation, these murders, are threatened...

It's very common.

In my case, I received death threats, I don't know from whom.

Threats can even come from the police themselves, because they have been bought off by the killers.

It is reality.

Sometimes it's the prosecutor himself, as happened to me, he was so furious that he ended up threatening me, harassing me, putting me in physical danger more than once.

►Also read: The death of Debahni Escobar shakes Mexico

To fight against this, you have created a citizen's tribunal for women victims of feminicide...

Faced with the inaction, the lack of response from the authorities, several organizations have decided to imitate the functioning of a court.

Five renowned experts took part, we did it in the street, people came to listen, so much so that two additional women came to present their cases before this citizens' tribunal, because that's all we have left.

We've only done it once, but maybe we'll do it again because some people are asking.

From this operation came a resolution of twenty pages where the judges said for each case which right had been violated and who should be punished.

We sent it the same evening to the prosecutor, if he had taken it into account, at least five of the six cases would be solved today, but he did nothing.

We want to have an answer on these cases before continuing with others.

But if nothing succeeds, having shown the deficiencies of the State, of people who have not done their homework, that will have been enough.

Are these feminicides something that

Every time a woman is murdered, people say “

”, so each time one more woman continues to be murdered.

People take it in, like something natural, normal, but it's also a responsibility of the institutions, they have to make sure that citizens understand that not a single crime should be tolerated, and they don't .

They do not prevent and do not punish, so the population does not realize the situation when so many women are killed every day.

In Mexico, the institutions for the defense of women's rights were created in 2000 with President [Vicente] Fox.

And since then, in 22 years, there has not been a single prevention campaign against violence.

Are young people today committed to these issues?

Yes, twenty years ago, feminists complained that there were no more young people in the movement.

But suddenly, feminicides and the theme of abortion with

[la vague verte, en français, ndlr], brought them to the streets again.

And today, they are in the front row of the demonstrations, and they face the police who put them in jail, who beat them, but they say: “

 ”.

This march of March 8, 2019 was emblematic, they caused a huge controversy, all the newspapers made their front page, and since then, every time

, it's on the front page.

And the young men?

I'm not sure they join the movement, but a lot changes.

It's a slow process.

These young men change because violence kills them too, even if it's not for the same reasons.

They realize that if they choose violence, it kills them.

►Also read: In Mexico, a television series glorifying a killer of women causes a scandal

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