Frida Santamaria Garcia was 24 years old and had her life ahead of her when Juan Paulo N., her boyfriend and murderer, brutally confiscated her using a gun.
It was June 18, 2022, in Sahuayo, in the state of Michoacan, on the Pacific coast, in central-western Mexico.
That evening, Frida is left for dead after being robbed of her cell phone.
If he denied so far his involvement in the death of his ex-girlfriend, Juan Paulo N. returned to his statements on December 15, and admitted to having shot her, specifying that it was not intentional.
Confessions which, against all odds, allowed him, on January 1, to see the facts requalified by the regional prosecutor's office of Jiquilpan in involuntary homicide.
This would give him the right to an abbreviated procedure and a possible release on bail after a three-year prison sentence.
Greater leniency, therefore, than if he appeared for "feminicide".
In this country of nearly 127 million inhabitants where, according to the authorities, more than ten women are killed every day, the case of Frida Santamaria Garcia is yet another illustration of the difficulties for the families of victims to obtain justice.
"The most terrible moment of my life"
"She was a very humble person with a big heart. She cared about the welfare of her family and friends. She was unconditional, loyal. She was unique."
It is 8:35 p.m. on June 18, 2022, when Patricia Garcia receives a call informing her that her injured daughter Frida is in hospital.
The young woman had spent the day working in a reception hall for the baptism of a child of family friends, to which she was also invited.
"I called her cousin, who worked with her, to ask if he knew anything. He called my daughter's phone but her boyfriend, Juan Paulo N., answered," says Patricia Garcia.
Arriving at the Santa Maria de Sahuayo hospital, Patricia realizes that Frida has been shot.
His lungs and liver are punctured.
"It was the most terrible moment of my life," she continues.
"A few minutes later, the doctor told me that my daughter was dead."
The relationship between Frida and Juan Paulo was recent, testifies Samantha Morrett Garcia, a cousin of the young woman.
About three or four months.
"But I found out about their relationship a week before he shot her."
On the evening of the tragedy, while the Santamaria Garcia family mourns the sudden loss of Frida, the alleged murderer has already left the city and fled to Guadalajara, the capital of the neighboring state of Jalisco.
Thus begins, for the victims, a veritable obstacle course of a legal order.
The statement made in the days that followed at the office of the Attorney General in Jiquilpan does not in any way allow the case to move forward.
"He did not even inform me that I was entitled to a counselor for the victims", testifies Patricia Garcia.
The services of a private lawyer will not be requested until five weeks later, finally allowing the investigation to move forward.
“We realized that the investigation was not carried out correctly, neither in substance nor in form”.
The relatives of the victim, advised by various organizations, including the feminist collective Mapas, then organized meetings with the media and demonstrations to demand that the authorities take charge of the case.
They denounce the lack of reports and testimonies, while the prosecutor's office persists in wanting to treat the case as a possible suicide.
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Political links and corruption
In the Frida Santamaria Garcia case, there is a fact that cannot be ignored: the murderer, Juan Paulo N. is none other than the son of the former mayor of the city of Sahuayo, Alejandro Amezcua Chavez, who is him -even the brother-in-law of Alfredo Inaya, former secretary for economic development in the cabinet of Alfredo Ramirez Bedolla, governor of the state of Michoacan.
Committed to Frida's family, the feminist collective Mapas immediately denounced the "cynicism" with which the judicial authority is handling this case.
"Until January 1, the Santamaria Garcia family and we believed that the state attorney's office was working to bring justice to Frida," said Sofia Blanco, spokesperson for the collective.
"We now know that since December 20, he had been working to reclassify the crime of femicide as 'manslaughter', without informing the family or his lawyer, so as not to give them the time necessary to challenge the decision before the hearing which was scheduled for January 4.
"We thought the prosecutor's office was doing its job, which is to defend and ensure access to justice for Frida, but it was wrong: they are working for the killer."
- Sofia Blanco, spokesperson for the feminist collective MAPAS.
The feminist collective denounces the silence surrounding the case.
"Neither the Attorney General nor the Governor of the State of Michoacan spoke out on the judgment in favor of feminicide", recalls Sofia Blanco, who also regrets that the Supreme Court of Justice of the State of Michoacan "does not does not guarantee due process to the victim, and does not impede the prosecution in its reclassification of the crime".
"Currently, in Mexico, the person who is guilty of feminicide can receive a sentence of up to 50 years in prison; for an involuntary homicide, this one risks a sentence of three years with the possibility of release under bail", writes the Santamaria Garcia family in a document intended for the media, retracing the entire legal process since the start of the case.
"We thus understand why Juan Paulo's father and brother-in-law acted, with complete impunity, hand in hand with corruption, in order to obtain the reclassification of the crime."
A week after the announcement of the requalification of Frida's murder as "manslaughter", the girl's mother tells us that she has appealed this decision, despite the threats that the family and several witnesses have repeatedly made. object, and despite torpedo attempts from the entourage of the alleged murderer.
In terms of feminicides, the situation remains very alarming in Mexico.
In 2021, according to official figures, some 3,751 women were murdered and nearly 100,000 disappeared in Mexico.
Among the murders recorded, only 1,004 were investigated as "feminicides" in the 32 federated entities of the country.
A passivity of the authorities denounced by the NGOs which, like Amnesty International, believe that they "violate the rights of women with insufficient investigations".
According to experts, about 90% of cases brought to justice end in a dismissal.
A figure even estimated at 94% by Conavim, a national commission intended to prevent and eradicate violence against women.
"Investigations are not carried out according to the gender of the victim, they are not followed up, and corruption prevents the murderers from being found", explains Sofia Blanco, who recalls that "about 12 women die every day from feminicide in Mexico".
On January 4, protesters gathered outside the Morelia courthouse, declaring that every murder of a woman that goes unpunished is another example that Mexico is "a femicide state."
They are asking for the maximum sentence for the alleged murderer of Frida, and for all the other victims.
"The Jiquilpan public prosecutor's office and the public prosecutor preferred to protect the integrity of Juan Paulo", denounced Frida's mother during a press conference given the same day.
"And now he could be released on bail. This is a complete injustice after the expert evidence that has been presented."
A federally recognized crime
Despite the shortcomings of the public prosecutor or the judges, convictions for femicide exist.
"But when it comes to feminicides committed by people whose families have a certain political power, everything becomes complex", she continues, referring to the case Jessica Gonzalez Villaseñor, killed in 2020 and whose alleged murderer, Diego Urik , also comes from a wealthy family close to political circles.
The young man, 18 years old at the time of the events, lived in the district of Altozano where the rich residences of the city of Morelia, capital of the State of Michoacan, are located).
The Mexican online media SinEmbargo, which specializes in investigating the links between power and organized crime, describes him as a "Mirrey", a colloquial term used in Mexico to refer to a young man from a wealthy family, who leads a life of luxury, parties and excess.
Jessica Gonzalez Villasenor, a teacher, came from a working-class family.
On January 11, Diego Urik said he was "innocent" and pleaded not guilty.
The verdict is expected on January 27.
If found guilty, he could face a sentence of up to 50 years in prison.
Otherwise, he will be released immediately.
"He's already taken everything from us, and no sanction can give us back my sister," Cristo Villasenor, Jessica's brother, told El Heraldo de Mexico.
However, if the maximum sentence is reached, it will set a precedent, he hopes.
"It must be an example for society, and especially for those misogynistic men who believe they can take the lives of women without paying the consequences".
According to most specialists, corruption and impunity are enough to explain that feminicides and disappearances of women continue in Mexico.
In 2009, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued a landmark sentence condemning the country's negligence in investigating the deaths of eight young girls who were tortured, raped, murdered and found in a vacant lot in Ciudad Juarez, a city of northern Mexico often considered the world capital of feminicides.
If this lawsuit had made it possible to strongly sanction the Mexican government by obliging it to assume its responsibility, that several commissions to eradicate violence against women were created and that a special prosecutor was appointed, no official guilty of omissions or negligence was sanctioned.
Nevertheless, as explained in Fernanda Nuñez's article entitled "Can a law put an end to feminicides in Mexico?"
(No. 43 of the journal Work, gender and societies), this affair, known as that of the "Cotton field", revealed the extent of gender violence throughout Mexico.
>> To read - Femicide in Mexico: President Lopez Obrador on the grill
A protester holds up a sign on which is written "Mexico is not a country, it is a mass grave with a national anthem", during a demonstration against violence against women, March 8, 2021 in Mexico City.
© Rebecca Blackwell, AP
According to the United Nations, Mexico is the most dangerous country in Latin America for women and holds the sad record for the number of feminicides in the region.
In 2007, then a pioneer, Mexico had nevertheless included femicide in its Penal Code, which provides that: "The crime of femicide is committed by anyone who deprives a woman of her life for reasons related to gender".
The Latin American Model Protocol for Investigating Violent Deaths of Women for Gender-Related Reasons thus recommends that all violent deaths of women allegedly caused by criminal motives, suicides and accidents be analyzed from a perspective to determine whether or not there were gender-related reasons in the cause of death.
After the death of Frida Santamaria Garcia in Sahuayo, the parents and friends of Juan Paulo N. notably asked that this notion of gender perspective not be applied in the investigations.
"But what the hell is this 'genderless' justice? Justice for everyone but women?"
gets carried away Sofia Blanco of the Mapas collective, with the local media Contramuro.
And the young woman to recall: "We represent half of the population!".
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