“Juana didn't die, her neighbor killed her”: hundreds of women protested in Xalapa over the murder of the young activist

Hundreds of women marched this Sunday in protest against the murder of the 22-year-old young activist Juana Ovando, which took place last Wednesday in the city of Xalapa, capital of Veracruz, amid a wave of nationwide sexist violence.

At the cry of “Juana did not die, her neighbor killed her”, thousands of people demanded justice for the crime of the young woman, a constant participant in feminist marches and a member of youth organizations related to the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

On the main streets of the city, the contingent marched to demand justice for Ovando and also to demand a halt to violence and murders against women in Mexico, where they kill more than 10 women a day, as recognized by the Government itself.

Within hours of the crime of the young woman, convicted by social actors and PRI party leaders, ministerial and security authorities reported the arrest of a man, a neighbor of the victim.

One of the first investigations points to a lawsuit “between neighbors”, which caused the detainee to beat her to death with a knife.

Juana was characterized by her feminist ideology, which prompted her to go out in search of justice by marching in the streets of Mexico City on March 8. “Today, not all our voices are there, because from the grave you can't shout,” said one of the posters she made and spread on social networks.

The activist's lifeless body was found in the bathroom of her house, prostrate on her right side and on top of a blanket, so the possibility that she was assaulted in another part of her home and then placed in the shower is not ruled out. The body showed marks of blows to the head and other parts of his body.

Authorities apprehended the alleged perpetrator of the femicide, identified as Serge. It should be noted that at the time of the arrest, Serge intended to escape from the home where the crime occurred; however, his probable involvement in the events could be corroborated by the surveillance cameras that were installed at the scene.

In front of the emblematic and well-known Monument to La Madre, the women's contingent observed a minute's silence for her and for all the daughters that women have lost to feminicide violence in Veracruz.

The women, dressed in black and wearing a purple scarf, took to the streets again in an entity that ranked second nationally in femicides during the two months January-February of this year

According to information from the Executive Secretariat of the Public Security System, during the first two of the year 155 femicides, gender-based murders, were perpetuated in Mexico.

The states that concentrated this crime were the State of Mexico (22), Veracruz (16), Nuevo León (14), Mexico City (12), Oaxaca (11), as well as Chiapas, Jalisco and Tabasco with seven cases each.

The national average was 0.23 percentage points and Veracruz was above it with 0.34 percentage points.

Femicides were mainly concentrated in women over 18 years of age and another percentage in minors.

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