Breathe
By Yohali Reséndiz
Dear Senators:
I recognize that after Judge Manuel Alejandro Martinez Vitela's acquittal of a rapist of a 4-year-old girl in the State of Mexico, this may have had an impact on them (we should be thankful that it was because of the social media exposure and that, because of the viral nature, they found out about it).
I am grateful that after their indignation they unanimously endorsed increasing the penalties for sexual offenders of children under 15 years of age and also that they were concerned about the issue of child sexual violence faced by children and teenagers in Mexico, but what they did: it is insufficient.
I respectfully clarify that there is no need for more penalties for those who commit sexual violence. What is required is that all those who dare to sexually violate someone else (no matter how old they are) be in prison.
Or is life imprisonment for pedophiles and/or rapists and/or sexual offenders of any use if they are free?
What good is your legislation in a crime that has a 99% impunity rate?
Why do they insist on not looking at the fact that, although there are cases in the federal jurisdiction, in reality sexual violence against children and teenagers occurs in the home and then in schools?
When are you going to consider legislating to punish the institutional violence that victims and their families face when they report to public prosecutors?
When will it be considered a crime for public servants to force them to face a pilgrimage with no expiration date, to kneel down and claim justice, or is that not revictimization for you?
When are they going to incorporate real sanctions for those who do not listen to the victims in the prosecutors' offices and courts? When are they going to incorporate it in the federal laws and then in the local jurisdiction?
When are negligent, insensitive and corrupt officials really going to be sanctioned?
Do they really believe that an increase in penalties for pedophiles will reduce the figures of sexual violence (so painful and shameful in this country) to children and teenagers?
What good are more years if the perpetrators are not prosecuted and if they are arrested they are later released?
Why more penalties when these institutions of (in) justice are used to support pedophiles?
What good is your legislation if justice is never for the victims? These are questions.
Dear Senators, what is needed are public servants who are sensitive, trained and willing to watch over the rights of children and teenagers.
Administrators of justice must be provided with comprehensive training in gender and children's issues.
What is needed is vigilance and order from the prosecutors' offices of this country with real and authentic investigations respecting at all times the rights of the victims.
What is required is to investigate from the: I BELIEVE YOU.
What is required is that the officials who serve the victims stop being corrupt.
What is required is a justice system that accompanies and understands what is broken within a child facing sexual violence.
Do you want an example? There is the complaint of two girls (then 3 and 5 years old) who denounced their father for sexual violence, the two little girls were assaulted by the former magistrate of the Superior Court of Justice in Mexico City, Manuel Horacio Cavazos López, daughters of Mariel Albarrán. In that complaint of the minors, in their folder there is a recommendation from the Human Rights Commission of Mexico City (10/2022) that demands a public apology to the minors by the public servants for the multiple violations of human rights (of the little girls) during the investigation as well as the lack of guidelines to address child sexual violence because in 2024 there is simply no specialized personnel.
Isn't that worrying?
Derived from the above and from hundreds of cases, it is concluded that in this country we work for the aggressors since the authorities integrate the investigation files with multiple failures that in the end end favor the aggressors and give them their freedom.
In the case of Mariel Albarrán's daughters, they have gone to the extreme by pointing out that the girls have no legitimacy when they are (painfully) direct victims.
Dear Senators: the citizen demand for the dismissal of several local judges for denying children and teenagers access to justice because they are unable to provide accurate data on TIME, MODE AND PLACE is not and has not been gratuitous.
They are children and teenagers! and they will never respond like adults.
Dear senators: your intention is good, but for the state of the country in this crime, your intention is not enough. If you are going to do something, do it from the bottom and do not allow hundreds to RAPE FROM POWER.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
Comments ()