SOS // STRATEGIES of SOLIDARTY
MEET JUANA
Professor of the Lived Experience – FEMINICIDIO, MEXICO.
Juana Villalobos Castro lost her daughter in 1997 and has been relentlessly fighting for justice ever since. A prominent campaigner Juana has risked her life to draw attention to the endemic kidnapping, trafficking and murdering of young women in Ciudad Juarez. Continually let down by organisations proposing to help her, she now refuses to work with anyone that isn't prepared to engage with her directly. This is your chance to be taught by her and understand how to support her and the Mothers of Victims of Femicide in their struggle.
Juana has formed a collective of Mothers of Victims of Femicide – Las Comadres (@las_comadres_del_mundo) – who are supporting each other in their search for justice for their missing or murdered daughters.
Since 1992 Cuidad Juarez, a Mexico-US border town, has become infamous for the term femicide, a global term for systemic gender-based violence against women that has, in this instance, culminated in the mass killing of thousands of young women and girls. In this series of detailed interviews with Juana and activists within her network you can listen to the context and get connected on how to act.
“Van a buscar una persona que no cuente con recursos, que no pueda buscar a su hija...
¿Qué pasó con Marisela Escobedo?
Ella por estar pidiendo justicia por su hija y todo ¿qué le pasó?
La mataron.
¿Por qué?
Para callarla.
Eso es lo que también quieren hacer con uno.
Callarnos una por una”
“They prey on low income people, people who aren't able to look for their daughters...
What happened to Marisela Escobedo?
For seeking justice for her daughter, what happened to her?
They killed her.
Why? To shut her up.
This is what they
want to do with us.
Shut us up one by one”
Mothers seeking justice for their daughters are actively hunted down by local forces that do not wish for this news to reach the world, which is why Las Comadres (@las_comadres_del_mundo) are also looking for support through social media and the eyes of the international community to make their situation more visible and harder for their murders to go both unnoticed and unpunished.
"Creemos que limitar el uso del ecosistema
como lo hemos hecho tradicionalmente, significa un atentado para la vida, pero también un atentado
para el ecosistema y
la sobrevivencia de estos pueblos."
“Así como me ven a mí así hay varias mamás de bajos recursos, de bajos recursos que en verdad necesitan el apoyo de todos ustedes”
“The same way you see me, there are many mothers on low, low income, who truly need the help of all of you”.
The murders continue to this day and after years of being taken advantage of by local NGOs Juanis and Las Comadres now refuse to deal with any intermediaries who she says have only "profited with her pain". It is now up to us from the international community to be in direct solidarity with Las Comadres.
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1
WATCH THE INTERVIEW
Listen to people who are living the human rights injustice explain what they are going through.
2
UNDERSTAND WHAT'S BEING ASKED
Take note of how they are asking you to join their struggle.
3
ANALYSE YOUR POTENTIAL TO ACT
Ask yourself which of their requests, if any, you are well suited to get involved with.
4
TAKE ACTION
Contact the person to let them know what you can be of assistance with and begin a meaningful relationship in the defence of human rights.