Murder of Mexican lesbian couple sparks protests
Women’s rights and LGBTQ activists took to the streets in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico in the wake of the murder of a Mexican lesbian couple.
State police are investigating the deaths of Nohemi Medina and Tania Julissa Martinez, both 28 years old, who were killed violently before they were dismembered.
The couple were reportedly tortured before they were murdered, their body parts placed in rubbish bags and scattered along the Juárez-Povernir Highway.
Protestors demand justice for Mexican lesbian couple
Forty people gathered at outside the office on Eje Vial Juan Gabriel to protest the murders, some with pink face masks and purple handkerchiefs of the feminist movement in Mexico.
Participants raised rainbow flags, as well as a purple banner stating: “We want to be alive, free and without fear.”
Demonstrators also bore signs that said “Sorry for the inconvenience, but we’re being killed” and “I don’t want to feel brave going out, I want to feel safe.”
Activists related that the couple had gotten married last year and were raising Medina’s three children. They lived in El Paso, Texas but were visiting family in Ciudad Juárez.
One protestor, Miguel Angel Jacome, said, “The authorities are blind towards what is happening. In addition to the widespread violence from drug trafficking, there’s also violence against LGBT people for being LGBT.”
Eliana Treviño, a women’s rights advocate, said: “There’s obviously a situation of hate towards women and that is something that for all the women here in Juárez worries us.”
Police arrest two suspects involved in the murders
In the wake of the protests, Chihuahua Attorney General’s office reported that two suspects, a man and woman, on the suspicion of murdering the couple.
The two– identified as Jaqueline Isela C.R, 25 and David R, 25– were charged with aggravated femicide. The lesbian couple were the 11th and 12th women murdered in the region for this month alone.
The suspects had reportedly contacted the women a day before their bodies were discovered. However, El Paso Times reported that a motive has not been disclosed.
Chihuahua Attorney General Roberto Fierro said the couple weren’t killed because they were lesbians: “We’re following various leads, but a hate crime this is not.”
In a statement to Border Report, the AG Office said “the lines of investigation are linked to the economic activity that both victims were engaged in, and the persons with which they interacted in that environment.”
Authorities said drug cartels would leave body parts along the Juárez-Porvenir and other roads in the area of Juarez Valley to scare rivals.
A dangerous place for women and LGBTQ people
According to the Mexican police, more than 500 women have been murdered in Juárez in the past three years. Last year, 172 were killed. The state police said most of the homicides were drug-related.
In all of Mexico’s 32 states, there were 3,723 women killed last year. This was more than double the murder recorded a decade ago.
The year before, Mexico saw 117 LGBTQ people dead, the deadliest year yet recorded, according to the LGBTQ advocacy group, Letra S.
The activists at the march said too many women are being killed in Juárez during sex assaults and as a result of domestic violence.
Maritza, a spokesperson for the groups that organized the protest, said: “So far this year, one woman has been murdered here every 45 hours.”