How the death of Debanhi Escobar illustrates the femicide and disappearance crisis in Mexico

The wave of disappearances and femicides in the northern Mexican state of New Lionwhich adds up to more than 20 disappeared women in the year and cases such as that of Debanhi Escobaryoung woman found dead in a motel, shock Mexicowhere they kill more than 10 women a day and trafficking networks prevail.

The outrage reignited after the alleged femicide of Debanhi18-year-old law student, disappeared on April 9. Her body was located Thursday in a motel cistern near the place where a taxi driver left her. and took a picture of him that went viral.

LOOK: A “deep skull contusion”: Prosecutor’s Office confirms the death of Debanhi Escobar

Amid protests in the streets, the attorney general of New LionGustavo Adolfo Guerrero, reported on Friday that the cause of the young woman’s death was “deep skull contusion.”

Although he promised that the investigation will go “to its final consequences” and those responsible will be punished, the young woman’s father, mario escobarquestioned at the funeral the version of the Prosecutor’s Office, which first handled the case as an accident.

LOOK: Debanhi Escobar did suffer sexual abuse and has more blows, reveals the Human Rights Commission.

“The Prosecutor’s Office wants to lie in a statement saying that he died of a bruise, a blow to the head, and it’s a lie, it’s a total lie”said this Saturday Escobar, who has accused the taxi driver of “touching the breasts” of his daughter and being the main suspect.

Debanhi Escobar disappeared on April 9 and was found dead two weeks later in a motel cistern in Nuevo León, Mexico. (Instagram of Debanhi Escobar).

CRITICISM AND FATIGUE

The actions of said Prosecutor’s Office and the wave of crimes against women have raised questions in a country where the Government recognizes the murder of more than 10 women a day and more than 99,000 disappeared persons.

Another recent case of femicide in Montereythe second most populous city in the country and the largest in northern Mexico, was Maria Fernanda Contreras27, disappeared on April 3 after a party.

LOOK: They bury the young Mexican Debanhi Escobar amid demands for justice

Before disappearing, he told his family that he was going to the municipality of Apodaca, a suburb of Monterrey. The next morning, his father filed a complaint and handed over to the authorities the place where his mobile phone was last located.

Three days later, the police located his body at that address, for which the family questioned the delay of the authorities in coming. On April 13, the alleged murderer, a co-worker, was captured in the neighboring state of Coahuila.

The recent femicides have unleashed a wave of protests by feminists and families of disappeared persons.

On April 10, hundreds of women marched through the avenues of downtown Monterrey until they reached the central Macroplaza, where some tried to burn down the Government Palace.

Several women march during a protest on April 22, 2022, in Monterrey, Mexico, with the photo of the young Debanhi Escobar. (EFE / Miguel Sierra).

The protests continued the day the death of Debanhi. Feminists and groups blocked avenues to demand justice and request the location of 22 women who have been missing since the beginning of 2022.

About 5,000 people gathered in front of the Justice Prosecutor’s Office with banners and photographs of victims.

The protesters launched slogans against the governor of Nuevo León, Samuel García, and his wife, the influencer and public official Mariana Rodríguez, whom they accuse of governing frivolously and neglecting violence.

Women will protest this Sunday in Mexico City at the Monument to the Revolution and before the Attorney General’s Office (FGR).

TRAFFICKING NETWORKS

The cases also raise concerns about the Mexican trafficking mafias that traffic an estimated 10,000 women from southern states to the north each year for sexual exploitation.

This is how Arum Kumar, author of an investigation financed by the National Council for Science and Technology (Conacyt) on the sexual exploitation and trafficking of women in northern Mexico, explains it to Efe.

“We have found that every year 10,000 women are trafficked for the sex trade, and every month about 300 women and girls are sent to the Monterrey metropolitan area to be commercialized or sexually exploited,” exposes.

The Conacyt investigation showed that trafficking in Monterrey is slightly less than that of Cancun, the largest tourist destination in the Caribbean that receives up to 500 women and girls a month.

The academic details that in the metropolitan area of Monterey most of the victims are brought from the center and south of Mexico with employment scams.

“The recruiters take photographs to their towns where they show them that Monterrey is a first world city, they show them images of the metropolitan municipality of San Pedro Garza (the richest in the country) and they tell them that they are going to work there with a salary of between 50 and 100 dollars a day”, Kumar deepens.

Upon arrival, the women discover that they were tricked into working in brothels and brothels, so most prefer to return, but are threatened to stay.

Traffickers have discovered that Monterrey is a favorable destination for sex tourism due to its proximity to the United States.

Most of these women come from states such as Veracruz, Puebla, Guerrero, Chiapas, San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas. Although there are also northern Coahuila, Tamaulipas and Sonora.

According to Kumar, research reveals that nearly 5,000 women are trafficked each year by mafias to take them to the United States and Canada.

“Mexico is the main destination for sex tourism in all of Latin America and it is already known as the Bangkok of Latin America”, warns the researcher from the Autonomous University of Nuevo León.

Source: Elcomercio