Deaths of Young Females in Mexico City Spark Protests Against Femicide

On Saturday, the body of a Mexican 7-year-old girl was found wrapped in a plastic bag. She had been missing for a couple of days, and even though her family had told police about the missing child named Fatima, authorities moved in on the situation too late. Now her family is blaming the police and wondering if Mexico’s president is going to do anything to bring justice to the death of their daughter. 

#JusticiaParaFatima La niña localizada asesinada hoy en Tláhuac es Fatima pic.twitter.com/CPHyevxkx5

— María Salguero (@msalguerb) February 17, 2020

The death of young Fatima comes just days after another young woman was killed. On Friday, just a day before Fatima’s body was discovered on the outskirts of Mexico City, people protested the killing of 25-year-old Ingrid Escamilla. She, too, was killed in Mexico City. Her death reportedly happened the second week of February, and on Valentine’s Day, protesters demanded justice for Ingrid. 

“It’s not just Ingrid. There are thousands of femicides,” Lilia Florencio Guerrero, whose daughter was violently killed in 2017, said in an interview with Al Jazeera. “It fills us with anger and rage.”

In the case of 7-year-old Fatima, the young girl went to school but soon after was lured away by a woman. Her family contacted the police as soon as they realized she was missing, but they are saying authorities did not respond quickly enough. Her body was discovered about five days after she was reported missing. 

Colima encabeza el Mapa Nacional de Feminicidios: María Salguero @msalguerb https://t.co/ONNLje7idC vía @wradiomexico

— Luis Salgado (@lsalgador) February 17, 2020

“Fatima is not with us because the protocols were not followed, because the institutions did not give the attention they should have,” Sonia Lopez, the girl’s aunt, said, according to the New York Times. “We will not forget her.”

Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that justice in the death of the girl would be served. Still, some are saying his words are meaningless because not enough action is being done to prevent the deaths of women in Mexico. 

In response to Lopez Obrador, Guillermo Anton Godinez, Fatima’s grandfather, said, “Now he is in charge, he is president… He should show us he is different.”

This is a time when all men, including the President of Mexico, would do well to remain silent, listen, and act in support of all women.

We men are the perpetrators of this violence, we need to understand we enact it in ways we are yet to understand. https://t.co/TZ4OultQLw

— Sergio Beltrán-García 🇵🇸 (@ssbeltran) February 14, 2020

Authorities have issued a $100,000 reward for information regarding the death of Fatima. 

CNN is reporting that femicides in Mexico have only increased. They report that in 2019, 1,006 women were killed and 912 were killed the year before. Mexico’s Attorney General Alejandro Gertz said that femicides had increased 137% in the last five years. Overall, 35,000 homicides were reported last year in Mexico.