the femicide of Luz Raquel Padilla, burned alive, again provokes the wrath of women

First modification: 07/22/2022 – 00:59

Her name was Luz Raquel Padilla and she was a member of the group ‘Yo Cuido México’, an association that, according to its description on social networks, “seeks to make care visible as a job and as a right.”

This Thursday, July 21, dozens of Luz Raquel’s colleagues, members of her collective, demonstrated to demand justice after her brutal murder in the state of Jalisco.

“(We are) here asking for justice for Luz, who was and always will be part of the ‘Yo Cuido México’ collective,” one of the protesters told local media.

Luz Raquel, a 35-year-old mother of a minor with autism, was allegedly attacked last Saturday in a park in the municipality of Zapopan, in the metropolitan area of ​​Guadalajara, by a neighbor who, according to the versions, was bothered by noises. What did your son do when he suffered a crisis due to his autism? The subject assaulted her, doused her with alcohol and burned her alive, according to data reported by the authorities and other sources close to the case.

A heinous crime that caused a national commotion due to its cruelty and above all because, for months, the woman had reported to the authorities the threats of her neighbor, Sergio Ismael, who even wrote that he was going to burn her alive within the walls of his House.

Luz Raquel had chosen to make the threats and attacks she received public, to no avail.

“Not even the laws protect us”

Dressed in purple shirts, the protesters read a letter that they delivered to the authorities and in which they demanded that they act with the full weight of the law against the perpetrators.

They also demanded that the officials who ignored Luz Raquel’s complaints be investigated, denouncing that “not even the laws protect us.”

For his part, the state prosecutor of Jalisco, Luis Joaquín Méndez, reported on the official Twitter account of the Prosecutor’s Office that he executed an arrest warrant against Sergio Ismael, but for the crimes of “injuries, threats and crimes against dignity. of people”.

A judge issued preventive detention against the alleged culprit, who is not yet formally charged with a crime of femicide. His next hearing will be held next Tuesday, July 26.

Mexico: violence against women and impunity on the order of the day

Mexico has been experiencing a critical situation for several years in terms of violations of women’s rights. Padilla’s murder reflects the wave of violence in this country, where they kill an average of more than 10 women a day between crimes classified as intentional homicides and femicides, according to official data.

In addition, according to the reports of several independent organizations, experts in this matter, the impunity in the Aztec country in relation to these crimes amounts to more than 97%.

In 2018, for example, the authorities recorded 3,580 femicides. Some estimates put the figure at 8,000 women, including at least 86 minors.

On the other hand, human rights organizations denounce that before the age of 17, 40% of Mexican women will be victims of rape or attempted rape.

This same week, the Nuevo León State Prosecutor’s Office, in the north of the country, shared the conclusions of the third autopsy carried out on the 18-year-old Debanhi Escobar, who disappeared on April 9 after partying with some friends and whose lifeless body was found almost 15 days later in the water tank of a motel, a bloody case that also shook the country.

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In Mexico, an average of 80 rapes are reported to the Police every day, while the emergency numbers receive 300 calls related to violence against women. But in a nation where impunity is one of the main obstacles, only 2% of crimes are prosecuted while 94% of sexual assaults go unreported.

Despite these alarming statistics, since the beginning of his term, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has minimized the scourge of femicides.

In addition, to reduce public spending, Obrador has cut funding for several programs dedicated to combating violence against women and regularly claims that feminist groups are “infiltrated.”

With EFE and local media