ABOUT THE PLATAFORM

Six years after the femicides of Mile Martín, Alejandra Negrete, Yesenia Quiroz, and Nadia Vera, and the murder of Rubén Espinosa, our society still ignores what happened on July 31, 2015, in Mexico City’s Narvarte neighborhood. The lines of investigation have not been exhausted and the motive for the crime remains unknown.

This platform includes two reports on the case, a graphic novel in memory of the victims and a series of four podcasts. These contents provide information on the victims, how their families have been affected and how they have been treated by the State and the media.

Throughout these years, we observed a system that stigmatizes, revictimizes and promotes silence and impunity, instead of guaranteeing truth and justice.

ARTICLE 19 is grateful for the invaluable support and contribution of the victims’ families. We dedicate this work to their struggle and join them in demanding truth and justice.

Mile Virginia Martín, Yesenia Quiroz Alfaro, Nadia Vera Pérez, Alejandra Negrete Avilés and Rubén Espinosa Becerril were murdered. These violent events occured after Rubén and Nadia had already suffered political persecution, forcing them to move from Veracruz to Mexico City.

The victims’ families have faced many obstacles in the fight for justice to clarify the facts and punish those responsible. In 2017, the Human Rights Commission of the Federal District (CDHDF, in its Spanish acronym), issued the 04/2017 Recommendation, pointing out the violations to human rights and the responsibility of Mexico City’s authorities to carry out a comprehensive reparation of the damage. Such recommendation was accepted by the authorities, however, the resolution points have not been materialized yet.

In September 2019, Mexico City Attorney General’s Office (FGJCDMX), formerly Mexico City Prosecutor General’s Office (PGJCDMX), began to work based on the investigation plan designed and proposed by the victims’ families and their representatives in follow-up to one of the recommendation points. However, the ministerial proceedings have not been sufficient to obtain real progress in the investigation.

One of these recommendations refers to an “investigation plan” elaborated by the Mexico City Attorney General’s Office (PGR,  in its Spanish acronym ) to conduct the investigations on this case, which currently remains open in the Homicide Prosecutor’s Office. Despite having held several work meetings, there is no such instrument to this date. There is no consistent theory of the case that would contribute to the victims’ access to justice.

There has not been any formal proposal from the capital authorities to make the public apology mandated by the Human Rights Commission of the Federal District’s Recommendation, nor to advance in the implementation of guarantees of non-repetition (for example measures to avoid leaks to the media, and the subsequent construction of parallel truths based on gender stereotypes).

No authority has been sanctioned for the human rights violations that were committed and continue to be committed in this case. People who were directly linked to the investigation in its initial stage were “promoted” to other positions of greater responsibility, leaving their acts unpunished.

To this day, the case remains unpunished and the five people’s deaths continue to be a source of constant struggle before the authorities and the demand for justice is still present.

Every day that goes by is another day without knowing the truth and without justice for the victims. It is also unknown what the state will do to ensure that the victims no longer have to suffer negligence and mistreatment by the authorities and that these events never happen again.

AND WHAT DO WE NEED TO KNOW?

The then Federal District Attorney General’s Office initially claimed that the case was motivated by the contexts of robbery, sex work and drug dealing. Also, criminalization of the victims was encouraged due to the leaking of personal information of the victims by the personnel of the same Attorney General’s Office.

As a containment measure, the Attorney General’s Office arrested three people allegedly involved in the events. However, their statements did not support a version that is limited to other elements of the investigations.

The facts remain unclarified, starting with the motives that led to the murders. To this date, neither Rubén’s journalistic work nor Nadia’s defense of human rights have been considered as the main line of investigation. The macro-criminal context of Veracruz, as well as the threats and persecutions suffered by the photojournalist for his journalistic work have not been taken into account. The relationship between the perpetrators and some key actors in Veracruz has not been unraveled either, making it impossible for us to know what happened  in this apartment on July 31st, 2015.

Every day that goes by is another day without knowing the truth and without justice for the victims. It is also another day without knowing what the state will do to ensure that the victims no longer have to suffer the negligence and mistreatment of the authorities and that these events never happen again.