Women Demand Action As Femicides Increase In Sonora, Nationwide

Speaker 1: 00:00 The murder rate is rising in Sonora, the Mexican state East of Baja, and with it, the number of women and girls being killed in the state. Now Sonoran women are joining a movement that's spread across Mexico and Latin America. They're demanding justice and action in response to the increased violence and insecurity they face. KJ zzz Kendall blessed reports about femicides in Sonora. Speaker 2: 00:26 Yeah, it has me as gay. A small group of women and girls hold up thin white candles as night falls on a busy and Maricio Plaza. Their faces a glow in the candlelight. They sing a simple Anthem of unity and peace for Mexican girl Andrea Sanchez leads the group feminist girls collective and MLCO its DNA Muertos or day of the dead and they've set up a small altar of crosses, candles and paper flowers to honor it. The thousands of women and girls murdered in 2019 that is your landlord. [inaudible] Sanchez says she wants the world to know that women and girls are being raped, tortured, and killed in Mexico next to the seen girls, she's strung up dozens of sheets of paper each printed with the picture of a smiling child. Some of the more than 3,800 women and girls killed in Mexico last year on one of the wrestling pages is he thin Norman [inaudible] Morocco. The seven year old from San Luis Rio, Colorado was found murdered near her home on May 30th, 2019 now known as black Thursday in Sonora. Three women were murdered that day. Another survived a brutal beating. You say, I want [inaudible] Sanchez says, femicide is becoming an unwanted tradition in Mexico. Last year, 117 women and girls were killed in Sonora. The state designated 41 of those murders as femicide. Speaker 2: 02:14 Femicide is the murder of a girl or woman because of her gender. It's a hate crime. Says Sylvia Nunez, head of the Sonoran arm of the national citizens observatory on femicide. We met in a coffee shop late last year to talk about growing violence against women. Official records show more than 1000 cases of femicide in Mexico in 2019 a 10% jump from the previous year, but many believe the real number is much higher. Nunez says, nearly all murders of women should be considered femicides because of the social context. [inaudible] [inaudible] men kill each other, she says, and men kill women. Until women have the same power, access to weapons and involvement in organized crime as their killers. Gender is a factor, but classifying murders as femicides is just one step. Nunez also wants more attention focused on prevention. State attorney Claudia Indira Contrarez agrees, [inaudible] [inaudible] mass [inaudible] [inaudible] says her office is working with other entities to tackle the root causes of violence against women. And she says they're sending the message that femicides won't be tolerated in Sonora by doggedly investigating, tracking, and prosecuting cases. But [inaudible] I can be CBD satellites, but for many, it's not enough. In November, a crowd of friends, colleagues, and supporters marched through the streets of Elmo, CEO calling for justice after well-known Sonoran scholar and activist [inaudible] was brutally murdered by her partner, is willing [inaudible] activists. [inaudible] says, everyone's in shock by the as death as a reminder that all women are vulnerable to femicide. They're terrified and enraged, but that's only made them more determined to keep fighting for change. Kendall blessed in MOC Speaker 3: 04:37 [inaudible].