Civil organizations have documented 47 more cases than those officially recognized
PUEBLA, MEXICO. Of 126 investigation folders for the crime of femicide opened between 2019 and 2021 in the state of Puebla, 81 percent of the cases have not yet been clarified or sanctioned, indicates the Observatory of Social and Gender Violence (OVSG), dependent on the Institute of Human Rights Ignacio Ellacuría (IDHIE).
The organization adds that not all violent deaths of women are investigated as femicides.
The Observatory highlights that, taking into account the data shared by the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE), only 19 percent of the cases have resulted in convictions.
For years the families of the victims, groups, and civil organizations have demanded that the investigation protocols be applied efficiently and rigorously to prevent more cases from going unpunished.
The Human Rights Commission of the State of Puebla (CDHP) highlighted that the lack of collaboration of the Puebla Prosecutor’s Office violates the right of access to justice and the truth to the detriment of direct and indirect victims.
This, “by not allowing an accurate diagnosis that in the case of femicides in the state is particularly serious and worrying, in addition to not having been investigated with a gender perspective and in accordance with the Femicide Protocol,” reads recommendation 2032 / 2021 issued on November 25 to the Attorney General of the State of Puebla, Gilberto Higuera Bernal.
Impunity for these crimes could be higher if it is considered that the official number of femicides in the entity is lower than the cases documented by the OVSG, which registered 173 probable femicides in the same period (2019 to 2021). This means that 47 cases were not considered or registered by the authorities as femicides.
Femicide is a crime that grows every year in Puebla. Official figures indicate that 12 were committed during 2016. A year later the figure rose to 27 cases and in 2018 it reached 32.
During 2019, 58 femicides were recorded in the entity, being the worst year of violence against women.
At the end of 2020, another 52 cases of femicides and 185 homicides of women were reported: 104 were classified as culpable and 81 as intentional.
Source: OEM
