Naomi Carmona
Morelia, Michoacán.- With 27 votes in general, the Local Congress passed the Olympic Law in Michoacán so that people who commit the crime of digital sexual violence, can be punished with up to 8 years in prison.
The opinion prepared by the Committees on Justice, and Substantive and Gender Equality, encompassed three initiatives: by Ms Oscar Escobar Ledesma and Sandra Luz Valencia, and the Olympic Law promoted by the Executive Branch, thus adding a third paragraph to the Article 194, article 195a is reformed and article 189 of the Penal Code is repealed, and various provisions of the Law for a Life Free of Violence in the State are reformed.
Thus, those who take intimate content or disseminate real or apocryphal sexual images, videos or audiowithout consent, must pay a sentence of between 4 and 8 years in prison, as well as the payment of a fine of 300 UMAS (unit of measurement and update).
Prominence and feminist response
The approval process in the plenary session of the Michoacan Congress was interrupted by the attempted prominence of two legislators; by the PT, Brenda Fraga Gutierrez who reserved Article 194 to suggest increasing the economic fine to 500 Units of Measure, however, the article in question was not part of the opinion, as only one paragraph is added to it.
“It is not a matter of congruence, it is an issue in which 194 is not part of the opinion. I suggest that the Member submit the reform to the article in addition to this opinion,” said the Chairperson’s Committee on Substantive Equality, Lucila Martínez Manríquez, in reasoning for her vote against it.
On the other hand, Sandra Luz Valencia, went up to the rostrum to remember the presentation of two initiatives around the subject, without acknowledging the struggle of Olimpia Coral Melo and feminist groups, who have fought for the recognition of digital sexual violence as a crime at the country level.
“It’s everyone’s proposal, don’t hang up the medal,” it was heard from the grandstand where the feminists were.
Alejandra Anguiano González, Member of the National Front of Sororidad in Michoacán, criticized the Deputy of Morena by ignoring the collectives who make the fight of Olimpia Coral, who for three years have fought in the entity against exploitation remembering that digitally the cheapest “pack” hovers around 100 pesos and the most expensive that exploits the image of 8-year-old girls, is estimated at 585 pesos.
“We weren’t interested in what she decreed was going to come out, but that she recognized the women’s struggle of the National Sorority Front (…) Our initiative is not the absolute truth, all we wanted was for women to be recognized. It wasn’t Sandra Luz’s law, if they don’t even want the Olympia Nupian Law, it was the law of The Michoacan women. She’s a very soundproof woman.”
Thus, Michoacán becomes the 18th state to recognize digital sexual violence as a crime.
