Women and Violence in Mexico

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in Baptist Peacemaker Vol. 40, no.3 September 2020.

In a long and sad night of tears ...
the cross is a fertile womb

“Four scoundrels grab you, crybaby, and take your life. From the northern border to the southern border, there is a trail of bones, which was once you.
Woe to my crybaby !, crybaby, infinite mexiquense, you left for school, weeper, and I found you in the coroner.
They want to kill you at night, crybaby, they want to kill you by day, criminals kill you, crybaby, the police kill you.
Woe to me, crybaby, crybaby, when will you have the news, that in the face of femicides, justice will begin to be applied.
Stop the femicides and begin to apply justice, stop the femicides, crybaby, and begin to apply justice.”[1]

Mexico today is considered in the international image as one of the most violent countries in the world, compared to countries at war like Somalia, Syria or Afghanistan; and more tragic, recently Mexico has been called, " The country of the disappeared".[2] And in this bitter scenario, unfortunately, women occupy a leading role where violence, abuse, impunity and injustice fall .

A “fresh” and fatal fact : The first quarter of 2020, in the midst of a health emergency due to the Covid-19 pandemic, was the most violent for women in Mexico since the start of the statistics by gender, in 2015. From January to March of the current year, 964 women were murdered in the country : 720 of the cases are classified as intentional homicides and 244 as femicide, according to figures from state prosecutors' offices, compiled by the National Public Security System. [3] Frightening; Right ?

But we must go beyond the numbers and the statistics, because for no mother and father, grandparents, siblings ... their disappeared or murdered is "one more number". They have a body and a face, an age and a heart, a smile and dreams . They were the loves and illusions of their families, and so, overnight, there is a deep emptiness before the nonsense of an act as brutal as a coward. And more brutal still, we know that most of the violence against women, adolescents and girls are occur within family circle ... you live with the enemy at home. In Mexico, close to the 60 % of abuses, violations, including killings against women, adolescents and children, are exercised by a close relative, partner, parent, or uncles and cousins.[4]

Mexico is one of the countries in Latin America that has ratified all the protocols of international agreements against violence and has raised it to constitutional status; listing very specific items such as: "for a life free of violence against women, adolescents and children ". However , despite the struggles of groups and feminist organizations, as well as human rights and in defense of children and adolescents, we must recognize that there are still many bureaucratic "obstacles" and in only 1 of 10 cases aggressors receive exemplary punishment.

We have seen how in the last year the violence towards children, sexual assault falling more toward girls, resulting in a femicide have intensified. In Mexico, so far in 2020 at least 20 children have been killed. [5] Thus, thousands of women raised their voices in the march of last March 8: "Woe to me weepy !, crybaby, when I'll get the news, that, before femicide (abuse, rape, beatings ...) justice begins to be applied. A cry that comes from deep pain, from the bowels, a cry that goes for other women, of all ages, to quench the fire of the fires of death.

This cry must be accepted as ours in the Christian churches. Here, there is no room for silence, much less be on the fringes of this unfortunate time in our country ; then, as this Mexican folk song plaintive tells the weeping of women by their daughters and sons, it also becomes the prophetic voice of Rizpah , where her maternal love extends beyond her own children, she has become the mother of others and others (II Samuel 21). Or the voice of God manifested in comfort and companionship for women, and tells them ... do not be afraid nor ashamed, because you are no longer more affronted, this one day, you will have more memory (Isaiah 54: 1 4).

And it is also the cry of the Gospel, which became flesh in love in Jesus, to the extreme. God incarnate, who befriended fellow women, he heard their loneliness, their exclusion. Following this Gospel, we can no longer be spectators, before the sacrifice and violence of women, and children. We cannot pass by and ignore the helpless, wounded on the road, but become neighbor to the other, to the hundreds and thousands of women who are raped every day in the most inhuman ways, of those who “trash ” the bodies as disposable.

Evangelical faith, the spirituality of the Kingdom must transform into love and care to women victims of violence. How? We must open our eyes and hearts to the signs of these times, more to the confessional creeds and in alliances with other goodwill groups. In a firm and determined commitment in favor of the lives of women and against violence.

From my church in Mexico, Shalom, as peacemakers, the mission that we have made ours is that the community be involved in actions of peace and solidarity, in actions of accompaniment in women's shelters and in migrant stations, where in each we meet new people, we listen to their stories, we are moved more to compassion and mercy.

Another space where we have made a presence is in the marches for peace and in the women's marches , where we have joined other churches or women's organizations against feminicides and the disappeared. I am very proud of a good group of my young and adult sisters and brothers who have discovered with this mission, sharing with grace what we have received with grace. We discover ourselves as peacemakers.

Mother’s Day is celebrated in Mexico on May10. In recent years, my daughters Ximena and Beatriz , and I , have accompanied the march of the mothers of the disappeared , which is commemorated that day. I never imagined that one mother's day in my country we would be in such an action. This year it became virtual, due to confinement , and we were there. Nothing beats the pain , impotence, indignation, but also of inspiration, for the hope and struggle of these mothers and families . Accompanying them on this day is the most moving thing that my daughters and I have experienced.

As a pastor I have collaborated on ecumenical and interdisciplinary workshops titled Containment and Spirituality for "Mother searchers". This is a meaning that has been coined, referring to mothers and relatives looking for their sons and daughters, in various regions of the country, now called "National Links"; whose results have been the discovery of clandestine (bone) graves, where there has been identification of some of these remains. And in another field, in relation to the reproductive and sexual rights of women, I participated in an ecumenical team, with guidance of spiritual accompaniment for making decisions about the dilemma of the abortion from a Christian faith perspective and its social and political implications.

This is part of the mission, that gives rise to new ministries , now underway. It is true, we are discovering how to carry out our missionary and pastoral work, and we still have to prepare ourselves, but meanwhile, what I am convinced of, is that we allow ourselves to be moved by the mercy of God and do what we should do from the Gospel. As a church in the name Shalom, we carry the mission in tow, so we are blessed and we are sons and daughters of God, if we make peace. And as inhabitants of this common land, being and doing Kingdom citizenship here and now is not optional.

And in a long and sad night of tears... a prayer, a request, a lament and a praise.

Mother, I is your son, son,
behold your mother!

Conceive and achieve ...
fertile womb.

But over there
forgotten angels
are thrown in the trash,
or hide
in the sewers.

Because to eat
the body is sold,
or the blood,
wave life,
through the corners of the night.

Because there are so many mothers and children
who have no children or mothers!

If this cross started in a cradle,
then there is no loneliness.

On this cross, there will be family.
Forever…
fertile womb.[6]

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[1] Feminist version of the popular Mexican song “La llorona”, sung at the March 8 March CDMX, 2020. https://www.milenio.com/politica/comunidad/cantan-llorona-feminista-marcha-8 -marzo-cdmx

[2] This term has been used in publications in recent years. A recent one: http://www.resumenlatinoamericano.org/2018/02/13/mexico-el-pais-de-los-desaparecidos-informe-de-la-revista-proceso/. According to the latest data, the count from the 1960s until January 2020, 61,637 disappeared persons remain in Mexico. https://www.zonadocs.mx/2020/01/06/61-mil-637-personas-permanecen-desaparecidos-en-mexico/. Exponentially this amount could triple because it is not reported or officially recorded (author's comment)

[3] https://www.jornada.com.mx/ultimas/politica/2020/04/25/primer-trimestre-de-2020-el-mas-violento-contra-las-mujeres-2332.html

[4] https://vanguardia.com.mx/articulo/en-el-hogar-60-de-abuso-sexual-menores-familiares-principales-agresores

[5] https://www.razon.com.mx/mexico/feminicidio-infantil-mexico-realidad/

[6] Pastor Rebeca Montemayor, from the series, " The seven words: the cross and the city ", Shalom Church, Easter 2004, CDMX.