Mexican authorities have arrested a suspect for the murders of four women and one man who were found in an apartment in Mexico City July 31, 2015. Victims were tortured, raped, and beaten and shot in the head. Two other suspects are still at large.
The victims have been identified as social activist Nadia Vera Pérez, student make-up artist Yesenia Quiroz, Colombia hairdresser Mile Virginia Martín, Alejandra Negrete, mother of three, and photojournalist Ruben Espinosa.
Much of the recent spate of coverage of the massacre has focused on the murder of Espinosa and the attacks on journalists in Mexico. Reporters say that the names of the women were withheld citing a federal protocol for femicides or murders targeting women. However, families and supporters of the victims are outraged that the media has reduced these women victims to “unimportant numbers”.
Femicide is a growing concern in Mexico. The National Citizen Femicide Observatory has reported that at least six women are targeted and killed every day in the country. These murders are rarely investigated, and few perpetrators are ever brought to justice.
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Mexico’s epidemic of missing and murdered women, The Globe and Mail, 12 Jul 2015.
Mexico’s Ruben Espinosa case: female victims treated as afterthoughts by press, the Guardian, 12 Aug 2015.