Eva Liliana, 35, was murdered in May by an unfamiliar man who followed her into a store bathroom in Durango, Mexico. Ania Margot, 43, a Colombian actress living in Mexico, was found dead ten months after her disappearance; in June 2023 her assailants intercepted her and forcibly put her in a vehicle.
For Dulce Cristina, 25, the aggression came from her spouse in March, a few days after she had marched for women’s rights in San Luis de Potosi, north of the capital. Data from the Mexico Peace Index revealed that 70.1% of women have experienced some type of violence in their lives, mostly committed in the private sphere, in other words 39.9% of the violence comes from a partner. Posters at the protest, the last in which she participated, highlighted the names of murdered women, many of the cases still unpunished. Dulce Cristina’s has been added to the list for the March 8, 2025 protest.
In April, María José, a 17-year-old student, was attacked by a neighbor in her home in Mexico City. Her mother was stabbed when she tried to defend her and alerted neighbors who intercepted the assailant. The police found human traces of the arrested man in the residence, which is the reason why it is presumed that he is a serial killer of women involved in other unsolved cases so far, a number that could exceed twenty.
“How long was this man walking the streets, carrying out these crimes with complete impunity?” asked the feminist collective Las Brujas del Mar on X (Twitter). “The worst thing is that we have heard this story before and as in past cases… the violence does not end.”
Femicides in Mexico have thousands of faces, but the perpetrators are not always identified. Feminist and human rights groups lend their voice to denounce the thousands of murders committed. In Mexico, some of the largest protests in the world denouncing misogynist violence take place every year, which has achieved some changes in awareness. However, women and girls still face great risks.
A serious problem in Latin America
One of the most widespread human rights violations in the world is violence against women. In Latin America, the murder of women motivated by misogyny and sexism is recurrent, with an increase in the numbers in recent years according to a 2023 report by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean and the Gender Equality Observatory.
Honduras, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador top the list of countries with the highest rates of femicide per 100,000 inhabitants; however, others such as Mexico maintain high figures despite the fact that Mexican legislation recognizes femicide as a specific crime.
Mexico, laws and femicide figures
Of the 4,050 femicides reported in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2022, 960 occurred in Mexico; although this is a figure that may fall short. According to the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System, of 3,439 murdered women in 2023, 2,591 were considered homicides and 848 victims of femicide. Feminist organizations in the country consider that the number could be much higher due to the lack of investigations to clarify the facts, even though a significant number of cases have the characteristics of femicide.
The alarming figures give an average of between 9 and 10 women murdered per day in Mexico, according to UN Women. The normalization of the culture of violence in many cases does not allow people to recognize the warning signs, this coupled with problems implementing public policies hiding many of the crimes. Thus, femicides are not necessarily decreasing, accounting for only 30% of cases.
The increase in the rates of gender-related violent deaths of women has generated a growing social concern about the issue, which has contributed to the reform of laws. The Mexican government has typified femicide in Article 325 of the Federal Criminal Code, which establishes the violent death of women for gender reasons, femicide, as the most extreme form of violence against women.
There are currently more than 20 law projects in Mexico to eradicate child femicide, sexual violence, and the disappearance of women and girls, among others. In addition, 30 laws were reformed to expand and strengthen the capacities of the State in the eradication and prevention of different types of violence, including femicide. However, the laws continue to be ineffective in drastically reducing the figures.
Always on alert
Professor Andrea Samaniego tells Laicie Heeley of the podcast Things That Go Boom that women in Mexico do not live in fear, but on constant alert. She recounts that women can be targeted just walking down the street, for example, a dress can draw the attention of a killer, so every time a woman goes out in public, she must think carefully about her outfit, as well as having a group to notify when she gets home safely. Similarly, they comment on how police can dismiss a girl’s disappearance for a long time with a phrase like, “she probably just ran away with her boyfriend, don’t worry,” a type of response that delays the rescue action needed by so many women victims of attempted femicides.
Images: Luis Alvaz and Juan Carlos Fonseca Mata
