Protesters marched also in Nezahualcoyotl’s rough neighborhood, where two women were murdered in the past week. Signs reading “No to Harassment,” and “Mexico Is a Mass Grave” were carried by the majority of protesters, mostly women.
The march in Mexico City was peaceful unlike previous demonstrations for women’s rights. The protestors did not spray paint slogans on the Angel (a monumental, tall stone shaft that commemorates the country’s independence).
Instead they taped small missing posters to it, each one detailing the disappearance of a woman. Debanhi Escobar was featured on many of these posters. Her body was discovered Thursday at a Monterrey motel in a cistern, nearly two weeks after her disappearance.
Marchers shouted “Justice, justice!” They carried banners that read “24,000 are Missing” to remind women of their disappearances. Mexico has more than 100,000 missing persons of all sexes.
Activists claim that police and prosecutors were slow to investigate the cases.
These criticisms were reinforced by the fact that Debanhi Escobar’s father claimed authorities had visited the motel multiple times. Investigators found her body after workers noticed a foul-smelling odor coming out of an underground water tank. The head injury she sustained was apparently not long after her last sighting in April 8.
Mexico was shocked by her case. The young woman was found on the sidelines of the highway at night after a taxi driver attempted to cuddle her.
Because of the haunting photograph taken by the driver who was supposed to take her home that night, the case became a major news story.
The photo was taken by the driver of a taxi app to show that the 18-year old got out of his car on the outskirts Monterrey. A young woman in a skirt and high-top sneakers stood alone on the highway side.
The image spoke of vulnerability and self-assuredness, or desperation, of the young woman.
She was last seen by investigators on Thursday night, but she was not seen again until Thursday.
According to Reuters, Samuel Garcia, Nuevo Leon Governor, stated Tuesday that he would increase resources and funding to combat gender violence.
“We are working very hard on addressing the causes of this issue and I will make it very clear: To the rapists and those who commit female genital murder, and all others who hurt the women in Nuevo Leon know that we will find and punish them to their fullest extent of law,” Garcia stated in a Facebook post.
Critics find it troubling that even though authorities are compelled to act due to public outcry investigations are rarely very efficient or timely.
Investigators claimed that 200 people used search dogs, drones and security camera footage reviews to find Escobar. However, her body was not far from the place she got out of the taxi.
Recent years have seen an increase in the number of murders of Mexican women, from 977 in 2020 up to 1,015 by 2021. These were cases that were classified as “feminicides”, a legal term in Mexico for women who are murdered because of their gender. The overall murder rate of women is much higher.
The number of females missing remains high with around 1,600 reported missing this year. Officials claim that 829 are still missing and 16 have been found dead.