When a 23 -year -old Mexican influencer was shot down during live broadcast on Tiktok, rumors began to swirl. Was it a cartel struck? Or another tragic example of violence against women?
Tuesday, Valeria Marquez was killed in Blossom the Beauty Lounge, a beauty salon belonging to the victim of Zapopan, a city of the central-east state of Jalisco.
The state prosecutor’s office said that he was investigating the crime as a femicide, which means that he thinks that crime was motivated by the fact that the victim was a woman.
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said that a survey was underway: “We are working to catch the managers and find out why it happened.”
But the fact that the crime took place in Jalisco, the state where the dreaded cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) emerged, led to speculations by some that the cartel could somehow be involved.
Ms. Marquez was a Mexican model that started to make a name for itself in 2021 after winning the Miss Rostro beauty contest (Miss Face), according to Mexican media.
Shortly after, she started creating content on social networks. She would share makeup advice and personal care routines, would talk about fashion and show her trips.
Photos of her on private jets and yachts can be seen on her Instagram account, which had more than 223,000 subscribers at the time of her death.
Ms. Marquez also had 100,000 other subscribers on Tiktok.
Although it was not clear exactly what happened, during her last livestream, Ms. Marquez said that she was waiting for a letter that she knew how to offer a gift.
She added that she was a little worried because her friend could not see the face of the mail on arrival.
“Why didn’t he just dropped him (the gift)? Would they come and get me (kidnapping) or what?” She wondered aloud for her disciples.
While holding a pink plush animal, Mme Marquez turned the eyes from the camera and immediately grabbed her chest and belly before collapsing on her chair.
Another woman then took the phone and ended the broadcast live.
The police arrived at the scene around 6.30 p.m. local time (12:30 p.m. GMT) and confirmed the death of Ms. Marquez, according to the state prosecutor.
The authorities say that at least two men on a motorcycle arrived at the show and that one of them asked the victim if she was Valeria. When she replied “yes”, he released a pistol and pulled him at least twice before fleeing.
Investigators say they check the video surveillance images and follow Ms. Marquez’s social media accounts for the clues of which could be the attackers.
But the location of the living room in the rich zapopan area in Guadalajara has raised questions about the crime. While the presence of private security and the cleanliness of its streets give the impression that Zapopan is a safe area, in reality, it is one of the most violent municipalities of Jalisco. In fact, shots occur regularly in luxurious shopping centers in the region.
According to the United States Ministry of Justice.
Jalisco ranks sixth among the 32 states of Mexico, including Mexico City, in terms of homicides, with 906 murders recorded since the start of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s mandate in October 2024, according to the Tresearch data consulting firm.
It is also one of the Mexican states most affected by cartels. It was here, 50 kilometers from Zapopan, that a cartel training center was found in March, and it is here that 15,000 people have disappeared since 2018.
The same day that Márquez was killed, a former member of the Congress named Luis Armando Córdoba Díaz was assassinated just two kilometers, according to the newspaper Reforma.
According to Jalisco’s state, up to 90% of crimes is never reported or investigating. The state prosecutor’s office has also long been accused of having links with cartels, which it denies.
The prosecutor’s office said that so far, they had no reason to suspect that the murder of Ms. Marquez had been ordered or carried out by one of the organized criminal groups operating in the region.
Instead, the office suggested that the murderer may have been motivated to kill her because of her sex.
The Mexican media had already published messages in which Ms. Marquez blamed her ex-partner if something happened to her.
The mayor of Zapopan, Juan José Francie, said that his office had no file that Ms. Marquez asked for help from the authorities due to threats against her, adding that “a femicide is the worst thing,” said AFP news agency.
“In response to complaints pointing to the so -called femicide authors in Zapopan, we clarify that there is no direct accusation against an individual in the investigation file,” Jalisco’s prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
“All declarations and clues, including videos and publications on social networks, are being analyzed. The investigation is carried out in the femicide protocol, with a gender perspective, without rejection and in accordance with the principles of legality, impartiality and respect for human rights,” he added.
Sexist violence is a serious problem in Mexico, a country that ranks fourth in Latin America and the Caribbean for femicide rates, behind Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia.
According to the latest data from the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), there were 1.3 deaths per 100,000 women in Mexico in 2023, Reuters reported.
Less than 48 hours before the murder of Ms. Marquez, Yesenia Lara Guérrez, a candidate for the town hall for Morena (the ruling party) of the city of Texiste des, Veracruz, was killed as she participated in a word for a political word. Like the influencer, the murder of the politician was recorded by cameras because the event was live on Facebook.
