Women march against femicide in Mexico’s Chiapas state
Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico, Nov 11 (EFE).- About a hundred people, including relatives, friends and activists, marched on Friday in the city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the capital of Mexico’s Chiapas state, to demand justice for the killing of a young woman whose body was found abandoned on the side of a highway in the region earlier this month.
Estefanía Martínez disappeared on Oct. 30 and her body was found seven days later on the side of the Tuxtla Gutiérrez-Emiliano Zapata highway.
Given the lack of progress in the investigation and total impunity for femicides in the country, the demonstrators decided to march from the north of the city to the State Attorney General’s Office.
During the march, women wearing scarves of green – a symbol of the abortion rights movement -, and purple, a color associated with the fight against violence, drew graffiti on road signs and public buildings.
The protesters left the iconic La Diana Cazadora monument in the north of the city shouting slogans such as “We are missing one!” And “Justice for Estefania!” and walked two kilometers (1.2 miles) to the Attorney General’s Office, where they held a rally and made graffiti.
They also carried banners that read “Your voice is in each of our cries of protest!”, “Until you get justice!” and “For Estefanía, for those who are no longer there, for those who suffer daily!”
Estefanía’s family members met the authorities before the march but made no statements to the media after the meeting.
“They have not told us what caused her death, we will wait for the authorities’ report,” Felipe Hernández, Estefanía’s uncle, told EFE.
Estefanía Martínez Matías, 22, originally from Nueva Palestina in Chiapas’ Ángel Albino Corzo municipality, was a nurse graduate from Maya University.
She was reported missing on Oct. 30 and found dead on Nov. 5.
According to figures from the Feminist Observatory against Violence against Women of Chiapas, 152 violent deaths of women have been recorded between January and October, of which 53 are femicides.
October also saw an increase in the disappearance of girls and women.
At least 40 women were reported missing during the month, of which 15 have not yet been found. EFE
mmf/pd
