Cnn
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Valeria Marquez addressed her followers of Tiktok in a live flow from her beauty salon in Zapopan, Mexico, when someone arrived at her door to deliver a small package.
“He’s a little piglet!” The 23 -year -old beauty influencer exclaimed by returning to her viewers and unpacking the animal in a plush, smiling while throwing her long blond hair on her shoulder.
A few moments later, she was dead, collapsed on her chair with blood gathering on the desk in front of her, even if the livestream continued. The images only ended when another person won their phone, their face momentarily showing viewers.
According to the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Jalisco, Marquez was killed by a male intruder in his living room in a case where he investigates as an alleged femicide – the murder of a woman or a girl for sexist reasons.
The death of Marquez – A public figure with more than 100,000 Instagram followers – sent shock waves through a country that has long fought with high levels of homicide and violence against women.
A few days earlier, another woman – a candidate for the town hall in the state of Veracruz – was also shot in a live flow, alongside three other people.
Although all homicides involving women are not femicides, many are. In 2020, a quarter of female murders in Mexico were the subject of an investigation as femicide, with cases reported in each of the 32 states of Mexico, according to Amnesty International.
Last year, 847 cases of femicide nationwide – and 162 in the first three months of this year, according to figures from the Mexican government.
Mexico’s response to homicides in general is seriously disputed, according to rights defense groups, which say that too few surveys lead to prosecution.
“In 2022, around 4,000 women were killed in Mexico, which represents 12% of all the homicides that year,” said the director of the Human Rights Americas, Juanita Goebertus in CNN. “And the rate of cases leading to a verdict is around 67%.”
The main challenge, said Goebertus, is the growing capacity of the authorities to investigate and protect witnesses and victims.
CNN contacted the prosecutor’s office for more information.
