Femicides in Mexico: Little Progress on Longstanding Issue

AP News, Dec. 27, 2022.

ECATEPEC, Mexico (AP) — On a November afternoon, Mónica Citlalli Díaz left home in a sprawling suburb of Mexico’s capital and headed to the school where she’d been teaching English for years. It seemed an ordinary day, but on this one, she never arrived at work. Her absence was an immediate red flag for family and colleagues. Díaz loved her work and was diligent about showing up. Friends and relatives, aware of the alarming frequency with which women disappear here, papered their city of Ecatepec with flyers featuring her photo.

After four days without any sign of Díaz, 30, they blocked the busy street in front of her school for three hours to demand action from authorities. Two days after the protest, her body was found in the brush alongside a highway. Women in Mexico state, which wraps around Mexico City on three sides, were already dying at a frightening pace. From January to November, there were 131 femicides — cases of women killed because of their gender. Díaz was the ninth apparent femicide during an 11-day spate of killings in and around Mexico City from late October to early November.

The country saw more than 1,000 femicides last year -- second only to Brazil in Latin America — and on average, 10 women or girls are killed daily in Mexico. Mexican officials have recognized the femicide rate and violence against women in general as a major problem for decades, yet little progress is evident in national data.

Experts and advocates say the rampant killings and history of femicide in Mexico can be attributed to deep-rooted cultural machismo, systemic gender inequality and latent domestic violence, as well as a justice system riddled with problems — police officers who won’t take reports about missing women, clumsy or nonexistent investigations, prosecutors and judges who revictimize women...https://apnews.com/article/mexico-caribbean-gender-6594c9b2c9ea39a52dc3204e16be704c