Most people know Tulum, Quintana Roo as a popular tourist spot thanks to its beaches, archeological sites, and proximity to the city of Cancun. However, on March 27 a video of police kneeling on the neck of Victoria Esperanza Salazar began circulating, shining light on the problem of police brutality in the country.
Victoria Salazar, who was killed in the encounter, was a 36 year old mother of two and refugee from El Salvador living in Mexico under a Humanitarian Visa. Her death was comparable to the murder of George Floyd in May of 2020, and drew demands from Mexicans to address police brutality within the country and recognize that it is not an issue limited to the United States. Indeed, a 2016 survey by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI) found that “nearly two thirds had been beaten or hit during arrest, more than a third were choked or waterboarded, and a fifth were given electric shocks” (Human Rights Watch 2020).
The governor of Quintana Roo, Carlos Joaquín González, announced that the officers involved were arrested, suspended from their positions, and are being investigated. Other political institutions have also responded to the event, for example with the Attorney General of Quintana Roo declaring legal action against those responsible, and President López Obrador acknowledging that Victoria “was brutally treated and murdered,” and promising “there will be no impunity.” Further, prosecutors in Quintana Roo opened a formal investigation, and the Comisión de Derechos Humanos (Commission of Human Rights) initiated a complaint against law enforcement forces in Tulum.
Despite all this, many Mexicans are not hopeful that appropriate justice will be served, considering the history of corruption and impunity in the country’s legal systems. Thus, across the nation people have taken to the streets to demand justice, as well as using digital means for this purpose with the hashtag #JusticiaParaVictoria.
It is vital to understanding Victoria Salazar’s case not just in the context of police brutality, but also in that of violence against women. Thus, the United Nations condemned the actions that led to Salazar’s death and called for the case to be investigated with a gender perspective. Similarly, Fabiola Alanís, head of the National Commission to Prevent and Eradicate Violence against Women (Conavim), declared that the murder was a femicide. The fact that she was not only a woman, but also a migrant and refugee, made Salazar particularly vulnerable to police brutality, which has led feminist collectives across Mexico to call for an intersectional perspective to be applied to the legal case.
Sources:
https://www.milenio.com/estados/que-sabemos-de-la-muerte-de-una-mujer-sometida-por-policias-de-tulum
Comments