Mexico is on the precipice of electing its first woman president this June. What are the priorities of feminist movements in Mexico and how do they relate to the next presidency?
Brenda Vasquez lifts her purple sunglasses over her purple hair to explain what feminism means to her: “Here in Mexico, we focus on women who have been the victims of femicide.” Brenda and Maya sell handmade crafts in front of a pink sculpture of a fist inside the icon of a woman engraved with the words: “En México 9 mujeres son asesinado al día. ¡Ni una más!”—”In Mexico, nine women are assassinated each day. Not one more!” A banner hangs behind the sculpture with the words “Mexico Feminicida”—Mexico Femicide.
The families of victims, feminist activists, and sculptors created the sculpture according to the wishes of the families of victims, which they call the “anti-monument,” to raise awareness of violence against women in Mexico. Brenda explains, “Even though it has been proven that the murders are hate crimes, there has not been justice. Many people who have committed femicides walk free.”
The number on the anti-monument is no longer accurate. Nowadays between 10 and 11 women are murdered every day in Mexico. The community uses the name “anti-monument” to convey that the space is separate from a governmental institution: “It is an anti-monument because it is not part of an action of the State, but rather instigated by the mothers of the victims, that’s why it is ‘anti,’” says Brenda.
It is an anti-monument because it is not part of an action of the State, but rather instigated by the mothers of the victims, that’s why it is ‘anti.’
Brenda Vasquez
The anti-monument is more than just a statement: “This is a public occupation,” Maya explains. Around the anti-monument, women gather and sell their crafts for donation within a border on the sidewalk. “This space brings together multiple groups: the feminist comrades, victims of gender violence and the families of the victims,” Maya adds. “We support any women who come through who are experiencing violence. We protect them, we keep them safe, and we fight for legal support.”
The anti-monument has become a space for women raising their children in the streets, and activists often refer to themselves as una manada: a “herd” or “pack.” Maya describes a four-year-old who has grown up in the space and already says words like patriarcado. A mother shares that her daughter is currently incarcerated for 47 years for a crime she did not commit.
The government allows femicides to proliferate because the system itself is the world’s drug dealer.
A feminist telling the story of her cousin’s murder
Another feminist tells the story of her cousin’s murder by her cousin’s boyfriend. She describes how drug-trafficking is deeply entangled with the high rates of femicide in the country:
“The government allows femicides to proliferate because the system itself is the world’s drug dealer. It’s not in the interests of this system to remove bad people, murderers from the streets. The system is not going to give up power because it makes the masses afraid. It’s a second form of submission of the people.”
The Feminists’ Fight for Justice
Brenda enumerates the objectives of the group’s fight for justice. Firstly, “We fight for a world where no woman is murdered, raped or is discriminated against for the mere cause of being a woman. Secondly, “We advocate for political prisoners like Kenia Hernández.” Kenia an indigenous activist and founder and coordinator of Colectivo Libertario Zapata Vive, a social movement focused on defending Indigenous land rights. In 2020, Kenia was arrested and later sentenced to 21 years in prison for protesting the release of other political prisoners. In 2023 alone, eight Indigenous land rights activists in Mexico have been murdered, and one is missing.
“We also have comrades who have been murdered. Like Grisell, who was a founder of this space, and victims, like Lilia Alejandra. As feminists, we resist here in the occupation of this public space, a space for women and of women,” Brenda adds.
Grisell Perez Rivera was a lawyer, human rights defender, and feminist activist. In March 2021 she disappeared and was later found murdered. Lilia Alejandra García Andrade was 17 years old when she was found murdered in Ciudad Juarez in 2001. After years of inaction from the Mexican courts, her mother Norma Andrade led movements centered physically around the anti-monument to elevate her case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Lilia’s case will be heard in public audience in 2025.
As we are talking, another activist joins the space to tell us that the march for political prisoners is about to begin at the Angel de la Independencia. Five of the feminists load their megaphones, signs and drums into the back of a Didi cab, grab their black ski masks, and head out. They join a coalition of organizations and people from young children to elderly and people in wheelchairs making their way down Avenida de la Reforma in the blistering heat. To the rhythm of their drums the feminists chant:
¡Porque luchan por sus tierras, por eso las encierran!
Because they fight for their land, for that you lock them up!
¡Kenia, escucha, estamos en la lucha! ¡Kenia, escucha, aquí está tu manada!
Kenia, listen, we are in the fight! Kenia, listen, here is your pack!
Van a volver, van a volver, las mujeres que encarcelaste van a volver, la sangre que demoraste la pagaras. ¡Las mujeres que encarcelaste libre serán, libre serán!
They will return, they will return, the women you incarcerated will return. The blood you spilled you will pay for. The women you incarcerated will be free, they will be free!
Van a volver, van a volver, las balas que disparaste van a volver, la sangre que demoraste la pagaras. ¡Las mujeres que asesinaste no morirán, no morirán!
They will return, they will return, the bullets you fired they will return. The blood you spilled you will pay for. The women you murdered will never die, they’ll never die!
Mujeres contra la guerra, mujeres contra capital, mujeres contra el machismo y el terrorismo neoliberal.
Women against war, women against capital, women against machismo, and neoliberal terrorism!
Alerta alerta, que camina la lucha feminista (de las presas) por América Latina. Y tiemblen, y tiemblen, y tiemblen los machistas. ¡Que América Latina será toda feminista!
Alert alert, the feminist fight (the fight for prisoners) is in march for Latin America. They tremble, they tremble, they tremble the misogynists, that Latin America will become completely feminist!
Mexico’s Election and the Refusal to be Complacent
Will the upcoming election of the Mexico’s first female president herald change? The feminists are cynical. A few, but not all, say they would vote for Claudia Sheinbaum, the left-wing candidate who most polls project will win the presidency this June. One activist expresses, “[Sheinbaum] is not really interested in working on a comprehensive solution to femicide or bringing justice to the families of victims. We don’t expect a profound change or any real progress on the cases.”
Until you live through this process and see it firsthand, you understand why they say that everything burns. This is the courage that arises from pain.
An activist
Nevertheless, the feminists of the anti-monument refuse to be complacent: “The fact that these kinds of collectives are formed, that they become visible internationally, that attention is paid, puts pressure on the authorities,” says one activist. “Until you live through this process and see it firsthand, you understand why they say that everything burns. This is the courage that arises from pain.”
The murders of women and girls and the incarceration of political activists are integral to the feminist struggle worldwide, says the activist whose cousin was murdered. “If other countries could unite and denounce the femicides here, this would be bien chido”—”super cool,” she says.
For feminists around the world who want to support and connect with this group—check out Antimonumenta Viva Nos Queremos.
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