Protests in Mexico Over Gruesome Femicide

This past Valentine's Day saw women in Mexico protesting the killing, skinning and dismembering of 25 year-old Ingrid Escamilla by her husband. 

Women protested the latest femicide by splashing red paint on the Presidential palace as they feel Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador isn’t doing enough to address femicides in the country, which increased by 10% in 2019. At a news conference, he claimed he isn’t ignoring the issue of femicide and that the government works to ensure the safety of women. 

There was also massive outrage at the newspaper La Prensa for publishing graphic photos of Escamilla’s dismembered body on their front page, and an outcry over the newspaper Pasala for publishing the body on its tabloid cover with the headline, “It was cupid’s fault.”

Women in Mexico are not buying the President’s statements on this case and I don’t blame them. In his first year in office, femicides have increased with 10 women being killed daily in the country. 

And the media has been incredibly insensitive to this victim with its publishing of her mutilated body, for shock value in my opinion, and mocking this case with that devastating headline.

With that said, some good may come of this. First of all, the victim’s husband has been arrested and prosecutors are pushing for a harsh sentence. 

Secondly, even though I disagree with the publishing of these photos, the shock may be what the public and the government needs to take femicides seriously. If this femicide case like this one doesn’t knock the wind out of you with the sheer details, nothing will.

Find out more on this story at Aljazeera.com and go to The Sun for graphic but honest details of this case. They're facts are not easy to read, but this is the reality of femicides.