"Not one more!" " This is the cry of hundreds of Mexican women who marched across the country on Saturday, February 15, in response to the barbaric murder of 25-year-old Ingrid Escamilla, killed and butchered a week earlier in the capital. By their mobilization, they also denounce the carelessness of the authorities in a country where almost three women are murdered every day.
To the sound of drums, the demonstrators marched with their faces often masked by black hoods or green scarves. "We hide our identity for fear of reprisals", confides one of the members of the feminist collective No las olvidamos ("we don't forget them"). This 36-year-old cultural producer calls herself "Still reeling from Ingrid's savage murder".
The young woman's body was discovered on February 9 in an apartment in the north of the capital. The victim was stabbed and then disemboweled by his companion, an engineer twenty-one years older. The latter then ripped her organs out, before throwing some of them down the toilet. "No woman is safe! " sighs Bereniza Gonzalez, 20, who brandishes the portrait of her cousin Brenda. "She was killed by her fiancé, Wednesday, February 12, in Ecatepec in the suburbs of Mexico", she says tight throat. It is one of the last feminicides on an extended morbid list: 1,006 women were killed in 2019, a figure up 145% since 2015, according to authorities. Most were murdered by a loved one. "We sleep with the enemy", sighs Bereniza Gonzalez.
"Apology for macho violence"
Next door, Veronica, a 24-year-old student, wears makeup that covers her face and arms with fake bruises. " Ingrid’s case is emblematic of the crisis we are all experiencing, said the young woman, who had come to place a bouquet of flowers at the foot of the altar erected in honor of the victim in front of the crime scene. His body was not only mutilated by his executioner, but the details of this barbarism were made public the next day by newspapers. It’s an apology for sexist violence. " The photos of Ingrid Escamilla's body, probably taken by police or forensic scientists, were published in "one" of several tabloids. The video of the confessions of his assassin, his chest stained with blood, has been widely circulated on social networks.
If the demonstrators paid tribute to the young woman in peace on Saturday in Mexico City and in seven other states, they had expressed their anger the day before in front of the headquarters of La Prensa, in the center of the capital. Three vehicles belonging to the sensational daily were ransacked and then burned when the director of the newspaper refused to make a public apology. " The victim’s integrity was violated, condemns Siomara, 23, an insurance broker. Male chauvinist violence cannot be a consumer product. What do some broken windows represent in the face of wounds caused by gender-based violence committed with impunity? "
Six in ten Mexican women over the age of 15 have experienced physical or sexual assault, according to the National Statistics Institute (Inegi). But 88% of them say they did not report them to the authorities. " It's no use ", Judge Siomara readjusting his green band, the color of the fight for the right to abortion, legal only in Mexico City and in the state of Oaxaca (southwest). The young woman, who also wears the purple scarf, emblem of feminists, has paid the price for the loopholes in justice: "Last year, I narrowly escaped an abduction attempt outside a metro station. When I complained, the police blamed me for not being accompanied and for wearing defiant attire. " His complaint went unheeded.
"My friends protect me, not the police"
Demonstrators also gathered outside the Presidential Palace on Friday to demand that President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador act against the scourge of feminicide. "AMLO" did not receive them, but assured that it was not "Not the policy of the ostrich". As for the Minister of the Interior, Olga Sanchez Cordero, she confirmed on her Twitter account that " Agenda (demands) was a government priority ". She also promised "Sanctions against those responsible for broadcasting" pictures of Ingrid Escamilla’s crime, and an investigation has been launched. In Mexico City, the authorities tabled a bill at the local congress providing for sentences of eight to sixteen years in prison for the disclosure of scenes of feminicide.
Siomara remains skeptical. "It is scandalous to see how our dead are put in the background for the government", she says. Criticism of the leftist president is mounting, with warnings of gender-based violence issued in 18 of the 32 Mexican states failing to reverse the massacre. In Mexico City, the mobilization declared in November 2019 by the town hall provides for the creation of a public prosecutor's office dedicated to feminicides. Since then, no budget or manager has yet been designated.
"My friends protect me, not the police!" " chanted the demonstrators on Saturday. A slogan revealing the failings of the authorities, macho ultraviolence and media excesses. These are the ingredients of a deadly cocktail that places Mexico at the top of the continent’s deadliest countries for women.
