Yesterday, Jose and I had the honour of visiting the site of the assassination of Marisela Escobedo. If you don’t know about this murder in Chihuahua City, you can read about it here. This case is one that I spent a lot of time writing about and even more time thinking about at the end of 2010.
Marisela was looking for justice after her daughter Rubi had been murdered and her murderer set free even after admitting to the crime. She chose to stay outside the Governor’s Palace in Chihuahua City until justice was served. The park across the street from the palace is one where the Women’s Human Rights Centre, a PWRDF partner, has erected a monument to slain women- victims of feminicide.
The Centre has continued to push for justice for Rubi and now for Marisela as well since her murder on the sidewalk outside the Palace.
Jose and I took flowers to the site yesterday, and it was a powerful experience.
Not only was I able to pay my respects to this brave woman, I was also able to see the monument first hand. This monument is one I have been hearing about since I started working at PWRDF, and I’ve seen many pictures of it from PWRDF’s delegation to Mexico in 2007.
Pictures don’t do it justice.
For starters, it’s huge. It’s easily 10 feet tall. The nails on it- which represented, at the time, all of the victims of feminicide in Chihuahua- are actually railroad spikes. The art pieces built into it are grotesque and haunting in a way that sticks with you. They’re designed to make you uncomfortable, and they work!
Next to the monument are three more crosses. One that represents 13 people massacred in Creel, one for a lawyer who was killed for working on human rights, and a third cross that I didn’t hear the story of.
I think, for me, the most powerful part of this monument was watching a mother explain it to her daughter as they walked past. They stopped, and the mother pointed out several aspects of the monument to her daughter before they walked on. A few minutes later, I saw the little girl back with a friend, pointing out what struck her about it.
Clearly, the monument is having an effect and raising awareness in Chihuahua City.
The other great part of the visit was that as we were standing with a banner decrying the length of time that Rubi and Marisela have waited for justice (1228 days for Rubi and 407 for Marisela yesterday), a TV crew and other journalists came out of the governor’s palace. They saw our group and interviewed Jose. I didn’t get a chance to watch the local news last night, but there’s a good chance Jose was on it, talking about our solidarity with the victims of murder and violence in Mexico.
I dedicate this blog entry to the memory of Marisela Escobedo Ortiz, and pray that her sacrifice will not be in vain, and that those fighting for human rights in Mexico will be victorious, so that all who live here can do so in peace, with respect and dignity.