At least 30 women members of feminist collectives and human rights activists blocked the main avenues of the city’s main square on Thursday, protesting the murder of a 10-year-old girl on Wednesday, in addition to other femicides that have occurred in recent months.
The rally took place on the esplanade of Cancún’s municipal palace, where they also demanded a change of leadership with a “true” gender perspective for the Special Group for Attention to Domestic and Gender Violence (GEAVIG), after its head, Mónica San Juan, resigned this Thursday.
The protesters mostly wore black clothes with purple ribbons; Chanting “Not one more, not one more, not one more murdered woman,” “Sir, madam, don’t be indifferent, women are being killed in front of people,” the protesters marched along Tulum Avenue, blocking the same street for a time at its intersection with Cobá, causing traffic chaos that later spread to the entire downtown area, as it coincided with workers leaving the hotel zone.
The protesters also demanded the return of the missing women alive.
They lamented the institutional indifference toward the victims, as they should have the full support and strength of the state to find them, as well as the backing of their families, but instead, they are institutionally abandoned.
Therefore, they demanded that the new head of the Geavig be a woman with training, sensitivity, and commitment to supporting victims of violence. “This isn’t about filling the position with someone who has just stepped in; it’s about whoever takes over understanding that they’re there to save lives, not to manage paperwork,” they complained.
At least two femicides have been reported in recent days. The first was a woman who died early Monday morning after being attacked by her husband, while the second was a girl who was stabbed by her stepfather, who was high on drugs and had allegedly previously sexually abused her.
Source: jornada
