The constant femicides happening around in Mexico are nothing new to their people, this is something that has been increasing at an alarming rate. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, from 2017 to 2020, the
number of daily femicides in Mexico has increased from 7 to 10.5 and that number has been increasing with the pandemic. Sadly the government doesn’t take too much importance on it, the president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, dismissed it by mentioning to a journalist, “Ninety percent of those calls that serve as your base are false, it's proven”. Because of this many mothers have taken matters into their own hands to find justice for their daughters.
MOTHERS WORKING FOR JUSTICE.
Miriam Rodriguez and Marisela Escobedo, are two of the many women across the country who decided to take matters into their own hands and seek justice for the murders of their daughters.
Rubi Marisol Frayre (16) was murdered in August 2008 in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. The murderer was her own boyfriend, Sergio Rafael Barraza who after murdering her, dumped her in a ditch and fled the state of Chihuahua. Rubi’s body was found months after her murder but authorities didn’t take any legal action. This is when Marisela Escobedo decided to hunt Barraza down and bring justice to her daughter. Escobedo finds Barraza in the state of Zacatecas and gets him to court where he declares himself guilty but is later released for “lack of evidence”.
Escobedo led many protests where she demanded the government arrest of Barraza, in occasions, she protested with the picture of her daughter’s murderer glued to her body.
On December 16, 2010, one of her last resources was to protest outside Chihuhua’s National Palace. While setting up pictures, a man approached Escobedo, shot her in the head, and fled the scene. Marisela never got to see justice for her daughter.
Miriam Rodriguez took a step further on bringing justice for her daughter, Karen Rodriguez (16). By completely changing her appearance, buying herself a gun, pretending to be a health worker, and even a poll worker just to get information from friends and family of those involved in the kidnapping and murder of her daughter. Rodriguez hunted and killed 10 out of 11 people involved in the kidnapping and murder of Karen before getting shot 13 times outside of her home on Mother’s Day.
Thousands of women across Mexico march across the country on International Women’s Day, where they fight for justice for those who never made it home back safe. “We fight today so we don’t die tomorrow” and “Not one more, not one more, not one murdered woman more” were some of the slogans chanted during the women’s march.
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