translated from Spanish: Protest for sexist violence at Mexico National Palace

Mothers and relatives of victims of femicide protest this Sunday (28.03.2021) against sexist violence at the National Palace of Mexico one day after a forum for gender equality of the United Nations (UN) and the Mexican and French governments.

“The Mexican government has continually failed the women and families of the victims because, of the reported cases, the impunity rate is 97 percent,” the organizers of the protest said in a statement.
During the protest, which will run until the early morning of March 29, the protesters projected on the National Palace the legend “SOS Are Killing Us” and held posters with images of victims of femicide.

Maria Esperanza Luciotto, mother of Karla Pontigo, murdered in 2012, said the event seeks to make visible the serious problem of femicides in the country. “Mr. President (Andrés Manuel López Obrador) needs to know that right now the (femicide) indices continue to rise and continue to rise. So it’s not possible,” the woman told the foreign press during the protest.
“They don’t kill a girl, a girl, or a teenager, they kill an entire family. We have to make this fight, I do it for my daughter Karla and for each and every other woman and mom, so that the same thing that I’m going through isn’t happening,” Luciotto added.

For her part, Irinea Buendía, mother of Mariana Lima, murdered in July 2010, criticized the actions of the authorities. “The problem here is that, unfortunately, even though in many municipalities of the different states there is a gender alert, the authorities do not take into account to attend, to prevent, to sanction and eradicate,” Buendía said.
Mexico is one of the countries most affected by gender-based violence. In 2020 alone, 967 femicides were recorded, slightly lower than 969 in 2019, according to official data. On March 8, thousands of women demonstrated in Mexico City to protest against gender-based violence. A day earlier, several protesters embodied the name of victims of femicide on the metal fences that the government had placed around the Presidential Palace.

Original source in Spanish