Relatives of women and girls murdered or missing in Mexico on Sunday marched through the capital carrying more than 100 purple crosses inscribed with the names of victims, demanding justice for their loved ones and improved efforts to investigate their cases.
Bearing T-shirts and signs with photographs of the victims, they walked behind banners and chanted the victims’ names as they headed from the Independence Monument for the sprawling main square, the Zocalo, to set up an offering near a massive altar erected to mark Dia de Muertos, or Day of the Dead.
“Not one more killed!” they cried. “Our daughters, where are they?”
Photo: AFP
Dia de Muertos is observed on Nov. 1 and 2, and the demonstration was billed as a “Dia de Muertas” march, or “Day of the Dead Women,” to call attention to the killings of women and girls — nine per day in the country on average, according to the UN.
It was the second Nov. 3 march by the organization, Voices of Absence, which is out to get the date associated with their cause.
“We march on `Day of the Dead Women’ to take them beyond just the altars,” journalist and advocate Frida Guerrera said. “They did not die of old age or from illness. They were snatched away, they were ripped from their families, and we want them to be seen. May they not remain in the invisibility of Day of the Dead celebrations.”
Norma, a 43-year-old Mexico City resident, came in memory of her daughter Valeria, a 24-year-old engineering student who was murdered in June allegedly by her boyfriend.
Norma, who declined to give her full name because the suspect is a fugitive, described Valeria as hard-working, healthy and beloved by family and friends.
“We want justice,” she said. “Justice for her, justice for all of them, so that all women, all our daughters, we ourselves can walk in the street.”
She was accompanied by about 30 relatives and friends of Valeria, and about 200 other purple-clad demonstrators.
“One feels the solidarity, that sisterhood among us,” Norma said. “We are sisters of the same sorrow.”
Voices of Absence was born out of an online chat and has grown to encompass more than 100 families, said Guerrera, whose organization pushes prosecutors to investigate cases and helps relatives navigate the judicial process.
Guerrera said the demonstrators were demanding a “real interest” on the part of authorities to address gender violence.
She credited Mexico with having in May signed onto the EU and UN-sponsored Spotlight Initiative, which aims to eliminate violence against women and girls, although she argued that progress toward meeting its goals has been slow in the country.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the