“How long am I going to have to live in fear?”
That is what Luz Raquel Padilla Gutiérrez asked herself on May 17, when she published on Twitter the photographs of the threatening graffiti that was left on the stairs of her apartment in Zapopan, in the state of Jalisco, in Mexico.
“I’m going to burn you alive”, “You’re going to die, machorra”, said the graffiti.
A little more than two months later, Padilla died this Tuesday from burns received last Saturday, July 16, when a group of people doused her with alcohol and set her on fire in a park near her home in the Arcos de Zapopan neighborhood.
The Jalisco State Prosecutor’s Office is already investigating the case under the femicide protocol. At the moment there is no detainee.
Padilla, 35, had filed a prior complaint with the police station against one of his neighbors for problems of coexistence and an investigation folder had been started.
The same day that she published the photographs of the threats, she also claimed to have been attacked by her assailant with industrial chlorine.
Padilla was the mother and caregiver of an 11-year-old son diagnosed with autism. According to the organization Yo Cuido México, to which the deceased belonged, “the constant death threats” were due to “intolerance for the noises that her son made in times of crisis.”
The minor is currently in the care of his grandmother and aunt.
The brutality of the case, the previous threats and the unsuccessful requests for protection by Padilla before the authorities are shocking and causing outrage in a country plagued by an endemic crisis of femicides.
The possible attackers
After the attack, police and municipal medical services went to the scene, where they found the victim with burns that were later estimated at the hospital to cover more than 80% of the body.
Several Mexican media report that, according to witnesses, the aggressor group was made up of five people: four men and one woman.
Since then, the Jalisco Prosecutor’s Office claims to be carrying out “various actions both in the field and in the cabinet in order to obtain information on the identity of the aggressors.”
The neighbor denounced by Padilla, one of those investigated as a suspect, voluntarily appeared to testify this Wednesday, according to Jalisco prosecutor Luis Joaquín Méndez Ruiz.
According to the first data obtained by the Prosecutor’s Office, “there is no information that places that person in the place where the events occurred.”
Méndez Ruiz confirmed that the subject, identified as “Sergio N.”, had a restraining order imposed since the complaint by which he could not approach the victim.
The Prosecutor’s Office is working on “ruling out or strengthening” some of the lines of investigation and promised to inform society as more data is obtained.
Coexistence problems
Padilla was having a hard time with several of his neighbors and frequently posted about it on Twitter.
In addition to denouncing the threatening graffiti and the chlorine attack, the victim also complained about the noise from her neighbors, blocking access to the roof, holding parties or keeping a dog in the common areas.
In his posts he used to mention authorities such as the Zapopan police.
On July 15, the day before she was fatally attacked, the victim showed her frustration after one of her neighbors sent a patrol after one of her son’s crises.
“How is it possible that my neighbor sends a patrol to a minor with autism and epilepsy for having one or more crises and hitting walls,” he complained on Twitter.
Indignation at the work of the authorities
The case has aroused shock and outrage in Mexico.
As in so many other femicides in the country, many demand more responsibility from the authorities for what they consider insufficient work to protect women.
In the case of Padilla, Yo Cuido México says that the victim did not receive “due attention or follow-up” after filing a complaint with the Zapopan police station.
This group also denounces that Padilla was denied her request to join the Pulse of Life program “considering that the threats she received from ‘third parties’ were not sufficient cause to be a beneficiary.”
Luz Raquel survived an attack with industrial-use chlorine in the chest area, our colleague filed a complaint with the Zapopan police station without receiving proper attention or follow-up on her complaint. She requested to be integrated into the “Pulse of Life” program with the aim
— #YoCuidoMéxico (@yocuidomexico) July 20, 2022
Pulse of Life is an instrument with a location system and a panic button that sends a signal for help so that, in an emergency, the closest patrol to the person requesting assistance can go.
The State Human Rights Commission in Jalisco announced the initiation of an ex officio complaint for the “alleged lack of enhanced due diligence in the attention and follow-up against the State Prosecutor’s Office and the Police Station in Zapopan.”
For his part, Enrique Alfaro, governor of Jalisco, assures that Luz had protection measures in force and a judicialized folder in coordination with the Zapopan police.
“There were surveillance patrols and personal attention was given, but nothing was enough in the face of such an atrocity,” Alfaro said.
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BBC-NEWS-SRC: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-62251043, IMPORTING DATE: 2022-07-21 11:50:05
#murder #woman #set #fire #denouncing #threats