On Friday, the body of 18-year-old Debanhi Escobar was found in a water tank at a nearby motel. The killing has created a protest storm in Mexico where an average of ten women are killed every day.
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The discovery of the woman killed on Friday led to large demonstrations against the authorities’ handling of disappearances and violence against women. In a short time, several young women have been found killed in the state of Nuevo León. So far this year, more than 50 women have been reported missing.
The search for the 18-year-old law student Debanhi Escobar has received international attention. Her parents have accused local authorities and police of inadequate investigation and of withholding information about the daughter’s disappearance.
Shortly before she disappeared, Debanhi Escobar had become involved the powerful protests against violence against women and the many unsolved disappearances in Mexico. It happened on International Women’s Day on March 8. Her father Mario Escobar told Reuters after the daughter disappeared.
– We hope we are now facing a crossroads, and that no more girls and women disappear.
The father said this when he spoke to the media about his daughter’s disappearance earlier this week. Hundreds of volunteers, family members and friends searched for Debanhi in the area where she was last seen.
The photo below should be the last taken by Debanhi Escobar alive. It must have been taken by the driver who was to pick up the 18-year-old outside Monterrey on the night of 9 April. The photo was posted on Escobar’s Instagram profile and is used by family and friends and family to call for her.
On April 8, 18-year-old Debanhi Escobar had been to a party in the Nueva Castilla district on the outskirts of Monterrey. Her friends went home earlier in the evening. They are said to have called a known driver, who was affiliated with an independent taxi service, to pick up Debanhi.
But late at night, the driver is said to have left the 18-year-old on the road, after a disagreement. The driver is said to have taken a picture of Escobar and sent it to friends. They must have sent the picture on to the parents.
The city is called the Highway of Death
The picture shows a young woman with defiant, crossed arms standing alone by the highway in the dark. This is the exit road north of Monterrey, towards the border town of Tamaulipas and the USA. The city has been named The highway of death. Last year, more than 100 people disappeared on the stretch, which is to be partially controlled by drug cartels and criminals.
In recent years, Nuevo León in northwestern Mexico has become a very dangerous place for young women. In 50 years, 1,793 women are wanted in the state. 90 percent of them disappeared after 2010.
So far this year, 55 have been reported missing writing Spanish The country.
– We are facing a humanitarian tragedy, says Angélica Orozco in the human rights organization United Forces for Our Disappeared in Nuevo León (FUNDENL).
On Friday, the father claimed that he had seen video footage with the prosecution that showed that the driver was trying to touch the daughter. He thought this could be the reason why Debanhi had gotten out of the car – and that she was killed shortly afterwards.
– They lied to me and my wife. My daughter has died due to incompetent authorities and due to sexual harassment, Escobar told local media. He demanded more information about the investigation.
After the disappearance, the driver was arrested and questioned by the police. Since then, he has been released. The prosecuting authority in Nuevo Leon states that he has cooperated, that the car has been examined, and that there is nothing to link the driver to the murder.
–On top of the wave of violence
“Femicide” or “feminicido” in Spanish is defined as the murder of women because they are women, committed by men. Female homicides and disappearances have increased. At the same time, Mexico is hit by a wave of violence, with around 30,000 murders annually.
The country has around 100,000 missing persons cases every year. Mass graves and unidentifiable murder victims are regularly discovered. In March, there were 52,000 unidentified bodies at the country’s various morgues and burial groves.
The violence is linked to criminal settlements and the authorities’ war on drug cartels. The number of disappearances increased at rocket speed from 2006. At that time, the government declared war on the drug cartels.
An Amnesty report on the homicide of women in the state of Mexico from 2021 sharply criticized the authorities, police and prosecutors for not taking disappearances and killings seriously. Slow and very inadequate investigation, miserable securing of evidence and little awareness of the gender perspective behind the atrocities, means that the families themselves must call for, look for and investigate the disappearances, Amnesty states.
Only in 2018 was a national commission established in the area.
In 2019, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador proclaimed increased efforts to find the missing. The National Missions Commission was to have 352 employees. But in March, only 89 had been brought in. The reason for this tells a lot about the challenges of corruption in Mexico. The problem is that one struggles to find applicants who pass background checks.
–Found nearby
On Friday, the message came the parents feared: A female body had been found in a water cistern in a motel not far from where Debanhi was last seen alive. Hotel employees who noticed a strong smell from the water tank, alerted the police.
Immediately, around 200 people, who had been looking for the 18-year-olds in the area, gathered around the motel. Also the parents, Mario Escobar and Dolores Bazaldua, came to the place. They were able to confirm that a crucifix and the clothes found by the body belonged to the daughter.
The prosecution stated that the cause of death was probably a severe blow to the head. The father later stated that the daughter had been abused and strangled.
Many unanswered questions
Prosecutors say they are investigating broadly.
Many residents of Monterrey and the rest of Mexico, on the other hand, wonder why the state police did not find Debanhi earlier. The remains were found near where she was last seen and photographed. The police are also said to have searched the hotel four times without result.
– In this case, it was not even the police who found her, it was hotel employees who contributed to her being found. Everything is wrong. The prosecution and the police prove to be completely useless, says Leticia Hidalgo in the organization FUNDENL to BBC Mundo.
He adds that this is happening despite the fact that the media has followed me in everything they have done.
State Governor Samuel García has posted one video where he demands that the prosecuting authority comply with the family’s request for access to all information in the case. He will also have a full review of the investigation.
– We’re terrified. There is too much uncertainty and doubt about the unfortunate Debanhi case, he says.
Thousands of angry women are demanding his resignation anyway. It happened even before she was found dead.
On Saturday, Debanhi Escobar was buried in the cemetery in the village of Galeana, his mother’s home. About a hundred family members, friends and neighbors attended the funeral. They accompanied the coffin with hymns, carrying white balloons and handwritten posters demanding justice for Debanhi.
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