The Women March

Yesterday was International Women's Day.  In Mexico City, as in past years, it was observed with a protest march in the heart of the city.  The feminist movement in Mexico is angrier and more militant than in many countries because of the increasingly large number of rapes and femicides.  The perpetrators usually go unpunished.  At last's years march the more radical elements of the movement vandalized buildings and monuments along the parade route.  This year, President López Obrador hastily had barricades built to protect the National Palace and other historic buildings.  Alejandro commented that he wished that the President were as concerned about protecting women as he is about protecting buildings.  The demonstrators used the barricades as a billboard for their protest and painted them with the names of victims of sexual violence.

On the barrier in front of the National Palace, where the President has his offices, were the names of women who were the victims of femicide.  Last year more than 900 women and girls were killed, targeted simply for being women.  The crime has risen by 130% in the last five years.

This man in front of the National Palace holds a sign saying that his wife and daughter were both murdered.

(image taken from the web)

I was able to watch some of the march on the Mexico City webcams.  The protestors came down Juárez Avenue, passed the Palace of Fine Arts, turned left and then right on their way to the city's main plaza.  It was not a solid mass of marchers, but it took several hours for them all to pass by.

They ended at the Zócalo, the central plaza in front of the National Palace.

The feminists have even more reason for anger this year.  "Morena", the ruling party of the President, is running a candidate for the governorship of the state of Guerrero who is under suspicion of multiple cases of sexual violence.  Félix Salgado Macedonio has been accused by five women of rape or harassment.  The political storm has divided "Morena", but the President has stood by his candidate and says that the allegations are nothing more than a plot by conservatives to discredit his party.