The march against femicides: We don’t want revenge, we want justice!

MORELIA, MICHOACAN — “Libres Morelia” collective called on women to go out to the main avenue Morelia, Michoacán dressed as catrinas or in black, with a candle and a photograph of a femicide victim. This march was to draw attention to femicide, a real problem that the women of Mexico and the world face.

The feminist collective members carried a photo of the victim with her name. For one night these victims stopped being just numbers and took on the body of a sister who placed their images on their chests and shouted: “We don’t want revenge, we want justice!”.

Meanwhile, as the contingent of women marched, four more women were killed elsewhere in Michoacán. To date there have been 11 victims of femicide, of which at least three were found in holdings belonging to the city of Morelia. The city has become known as the capital of hatred and violence; where clearly the construction of public works is more important than womens’ lives.

Femicide is based on patriarchal justice and on state justice based on class, race and sexist privileges.

The truth is that the levels of violence in feminicide have increased in the last year compared to previous years. What is the reason? The lack of justice for the victim and their relatives. In short, impunity.

Morelia, “Cradle of thinkers,” “Cradle of José María Morelos y Pavón,” “Cradle of Independence,” “Cradle of impunity, crime and feminicide.”

The Royal Spanish Academy in its fourth definition of the word “justice” says that it should be done according to right or reason. Right or reason will be defined by the Federal Penalty Code. It stipulates that femicide is when a person takes away the life of a woman for reasons of gender. There’s reason of gender in the following situations:

The woman shows signs of sexual violence of any kind;

The victim has been inflicted with lesions or mutilations that are shameful or degrading before or after taking her life or in an act of necrophilia;

There’s a previous criminal record or information regarding some type of violence at home, at work, or in a school environment of the accused individual against the victim;

Then what is going on in Mexico? Does it have a judicial body that can penalize the maximum expression of gender violence?

The data registered by the Executive Secretary show that 1,199 women died of male violence in the first quarter of 2019. That is to say that, on average, every two and a half hours a woman is killed for being a woman. In the state of Michoacán de Ocampo there is a state of alert for women in 14 of the 113 municipalities, including the capital Morelia. This means that within the 2,634 municipalities of Mexico, Morelia ranks 28th in recorded femicides.

All women, Latin Americans, Mexicans, from Michoacán and Morelia are united in our cry for:

JUSTICE! WE DON’T WANT REVENGE, WE WANT JUSTICE! NOT ONE MORE. NOT ONE MORE, NOT ONE MORE MURDER!

They have taken so much that they took away our fear!