The still unsolved death of the teenager Debanhi Escobar exposed the drama of the thousands of disappeared and the risks faced by women in Mexico, but also a questionable judicial and media handling of the case.
Three weeks after the discovery of the body on the outskirts of Monterrey (north), all hypotheses remain openfrom a femicide to an accident, while accusations of disability rain down against the authorities.
Between investigative failures and an apparent lack of progress, the body of another young woman who disappeared on March 31 was found on Sunday on the outskirts of Monterrey: Yolanda Martínez, 26 years old.
The Nuevo León State Prosecutor’s Office suspects that Martínez, who according to his family had left to look for work, committed suicide.
As for Debanhi, 18, it has only confirmed that she died of a blow to the head and was found in the underground water tank of a motel12 days after his disappearance after attending a party.
Investigators had inspected the site four times before the find. Two officials from the Public Prosecutor’s Office were dismissed for "mistakes" Y "omissions".
"We have a lot of evidence that Debanhi was killed and planted (put in the well)"maintains his father, Mario Escobar, who hired a private autopsy and denounces threats against him.
"The indolence and little capacity to investigate, the criminalization of the victims and the risk of impunity are repeated"says Valeria Moscoso, specialist in psychosocial work.
social identity
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, in Nuevo León 56 women have been murdered this year, 42 in femicides. In addition, the disappearance of some 300 has been reported, of which 90% were located.
The problem extends throughout Mexico, where in 2021 there were 3,751 murders of women (1,004 classified as femicides), most of them unpunished.
The country also registers a chilling figure: almost 100,000 disappearedmost of it since the fight against drugs was militarized in 2006.
In the midst of this maelstrom of violence, Debanhi’s death sparked unusual interest in Mexico, where the femicide crisis dates back to the 1990s and especially hits poor women, many victims of their partners. It also garnered international attention.
Although a femicide is not confirmed, the case of the law student "brings the experience closer to more favored social sectors, therefore with more media and political influence, who are considered less likely to suffer this violence"explains the sociologist Christian Ascencio.
Also "connects with a randomness that makes many women think that it could happen to them" the same because, like Debanhi, they go out with friends or use taxis for safety, adds the professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
After an altercation with the driver, Debanhi got out of the taxi at the "death road"so called because of the presence of organized crime and because in recent years some 77 disappearances were reported there.
The driver, who took the photo of the lonely young woman who made the case viral, denies being behind her death.
Banalization
In the absence of certainties, theories about the tragedy proliferate on social networks and some media, encouraged by videos broadcast or leaked from the Prosecutor’s Office.
These video surveillance recordings show Debanhi’s journey after leaving the party, in the middle of an argument with a man, until walking alone to the motel.
A brief appearance through a restaurant window is his last image alive, while his identification was found last week in a condominium 20 km from the motel.
The videos are endlessly repeated on news and variety showsin one of which a psychic claimed to have contact with the young woman.
"It is becoming a media spectacle that frivolizes the news"warns Ascencio, who acknowledges, however, that media pressure helps keep the case alive.
The reiteration of images, such as one of Debanhi apparently buying liquor, the "revictimizes" and it is a "ethical reduction" of the press, observes Andrés Vidal, professor of political science at UNAM.
"Many adjectives have been given to my daughter (…). I hear things like ‘she was the one doing drugs, she bought the vodka’. Unfortunately, he is not here to defend himself."lamented Dolores Bazaldúa, mother of the student.
Leaks, meanwhile, could "affect the weight of evidence"maintains Ascensio, pointing out that social pressure, combined with investigative weaknesses, can lead to "make some culprit".
Congress is studying a law that would impose 10 years in prison on those who spread leaked information about a victim.
Despite this, the governor of Nuevo León, Samuel García, summoned the Prosecutor’s Office to reveal the file on Yolanda Martínez, accusing the agency of "hide evidence".
But the state prosecutor, Gustavo Guerrero, pointed it out "use mediatically" victims and called on him to protect women.
Although the process has not been disclosed, photographs of Martínez’s belongings have been circulating since Wednesday, including a plastic cup with an alleged farewell note.
