MONTERREY: More than two dozen women and girls have disappeared so far this year in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, sparking frantic searches among residents who hope their loved ones have not become the latest victims of endemic gender violence.
On Tuesday, Nuevo Leon Governor Samuel Garcia said that 26 women and girls have disappeared since the beginning of the year and five more have been found dead after being reported missing.
During the news conference in the state capital Monterrey, considered Mexico's most important industrial city, Garcia said he would increase funding and resources to combat gender violence.
Among the disappeared is Debanhi Escobar, an 18-year-old law student who has been missing since April 9. The last photo of her alive, which has since gone viral, shows her standing on the side of a highway on the outskirts of Monterrey not far from the Federal Attorney General's office.
Her disappearance, which came two days after the body of another kidnapped woman, Maria Fernanda Contreras Ruiz, was found in Monterrey, has sparked protests and national attention to the crisis of gender violence and missing people across Mexico.
Mexico has reported 155 femicides - the murder of women because of their gender - in the first two months of this year, according to federal crime statistics. Nearly 25,000 more women are missing nationally.
The disappearances and femicides are part of a broader crisis of violence in Mexico, where annual homicides top 30,000. Since 2006, when the Mexican government declared a war on drug cartels sparking a surge in violence, more than 85,000 people have also disappeared.
Around 10 women are killed each day in Mexico, according to official data, where gender violence regularly sparks protests. Shortly before her disappearance, Debanhi Escobar was among thousands of women who attended a series of nationwide demonstrations against gender violence for International Women's Day on March 8.
"She went to the feminist marches because she always wanted to help people," Debanhi's father, Mario Escobar, told Reuters. "We hope this will be a watershed moment, so no more girls, no more women go missing."
On Monday, Debanhi's parents, flanked by heavily armed police officers and search dogs, scoured the grounds of a trucking company near the spot where their daughter was last seen.
Nearby, about a dozen women distributed fliers to passing drivers offering a reward for information about Debanhi's whereabouts.
Maria Rodriguez said she had been volunteering in search efforts every day, enduring sweltering heat and skipping out on recent Easter festivities, because the missing teenager reminded her of the risks to her own 20-year-old daughter, Arlen.
Eying a makeshift shrine featuring a smiling photo of Debanhi, Rodriguez sighed.
"She could be my daughter," she said.
Reuters
Wed Apr 20 2022
![In northern Mexico, authorities search for missing women amid spate of disappearances In northern Mexico, authorities search for missing women amid spate of disappearances](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2022-04/41650419745_DebanhiEscobar.jpg)
A flyer with information of Debanhi Escobar, an 18-year-old law student who has been missing since April 9, is pictured during a search held by her loved ones and security forces, in Escobedo, Mexico. - REUTERS
![Saya tidak fitnah Lim Guan Eng, cuma jelas tentang siasatan SPRM - Muhyiddin Saya tidak fitnah Lim Guan Eng, cuma jelas tentang siasatan SPRM - Muhyiddin](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-07/51721121786_MuhyiddinYassin.jpg)
Saya tidak fitnah Lim Guan Eng, cuma jelas tentang siasatan SPRM - Muhyiddin
Muhyiddin memberitahu bahawa beliau tidak memfitnah Lim Guan Eng berhubung isu pengecualian cukai terhadap Yayasan Albukhary.
![Saintis kesan gen bantu rawat kanser pankreas Saintis kesan gen bantu rawat kanser pankreas](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-04/81712376317_TujuanForensik.jpg)
Saintis kesan gen bantu rawat kanser pankreas
Gen HNF4A (Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 4 Alpha) didapati akan berhenti berfungsi pada tubuh pesakit kanser pankreas.
Pantau Agenda Reformasi: Potensi dan cabaran percambahan e-Sukan di Malaysia
Pengerusi Gabungan Pelajar Melayu Semenanjung (GPMS) Negeri Selangor
merangkap Timbalan Presiden Majlis Belia Negeri Selangor
E-Sukan mampu mencetak nama Malaysia di pentas dunia. Memahami potensi, kekangan dan peranan yang perlu dimainkan semua pihak dalam melahirkan lebih ramai pemain E-Sukan yang berjaya, seterusnya menyokong pembangunan industri E-Sukan negara.
SRG cipta sejarah pasukan Malaysia pertama juarai MSC MLBB 2024
merangkap Timbalan Presiden Majlis Belia Negeri Selangor
E-Sukan mampu mencetak nama Malaysia di pentas dunia. Memahami potensi, kekangan dan peranan yang perlu dimainkan semua pihak dalam melahirkan lebih ramai pemain E-Sukan yang berjaya, seterusnya menyokong pembangunan industri E-Sukan negara.
SRG cipta sejarah pasukan Malaysia pertama juarai MSC MLBB 2024
Jualan kereta di Malaysia diunjur cecah 765,000 unit
Persatuan Automotif Malaysia (MAA) melakukan semakan semula berkaitan sasaran jumlah keseluruhan industri (TIV) kepada 765,000 unit berbanding unjuran awal 740,000 unit untuk 2024. Semakan dibuat disokong oleh persekitaran ekonomi yang positif dan jumlah tempatan tertunggak yang masih berada pada tahap yang baik
Kementerian Digital cari kaedah kurangkan kos pelaksanaan sistem e-invois
Kerajaan sedang mencari kaedah mengurangkan kos pelaksanaan sistem e-invois untuk Perusahaan Kecil dan Sederhana (PKS) selepas sistem itu diwajibkan untuk semua perniagaan pada 1 Julai 2025
Perbelanjaan pengguna dijangka meningkat tahun ini
Perbelanjaan Pengguna Malaysia dijangka meningkat sepanjang tahun ini
dengan unjuran sebanyak RM904.6 bilion, ketika proses pemulihan ekonomi menunjukkan kemajuan pada ketika ini.
dengan unjuran sebanyak RM904.6 bilion, ketika proses pemulihan ekonomi menunjukkan kemajuan pada ketika ini.
![Suspek bunuh Nur Farah Kartini dibawa ke lokasi kejadian Suspek bunuh Nur Farah Kartini dibawa ke lokasi kejadian](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-07/71721123609_lokasi.jpg)
Suspek bunuh Nur Farah Kartini dibawa ke lokasi kejadian
Suspek kes pembunuhan Nur Farah Kartini Abdullah dibawa ke lokasi kejadian di ladang kelapa sawit di Kampung Sri Keledang, Hulu Bernam, Selangor.
Beberapa kementerian bincang perketat undang-undang - Fahmi
Penambahbaikan aspek perundangan akan diteliti kerajaan, termasuk mengadakan perbincangan dengan beberapa kementerian berkaitan dalam masa terdekat, bagi memperketatkan undang-undang berkaitan buli siber.
Denda terhadap syarikat ADSSB lewat bekal Black Hawk
Adly berkata, pihak ADSSB juga turut telah memohon tuntutan lanjutan masa kedua kepada pihak kementerian.
Faisal Halim berduka pemergian Kim Pan-gon
Pemain kebangsaan, Faisal Halim, meluahkan rasa kekecewaan menerusi laman Instagramnya ekoran pengumuman mengejut Kim Pan-gon meletakkan jawatan sebagai Ketua Jurulatih Skuad Kebangsaan serta-merta.
Sebelum ini, jurulatih berusia 55 tahun itu meluangkan masa melawat tonggak Selangor itu ketika dimasukkan ke hospital akibat terkena simbahan asid di sebuah pusat beli belah di Lembah Klang.
Sebelum ini, jurulatih berusia 55 tahun itu meluangkan masa melawat tonggak Selangor itu ketika dimasukkan ke hospital akibat terkena simbahan asid di sebuah pusat beli belah di Lembah Klang.
![Pentas kempen parti politik runtuh, sembilan maut Pentas kempen parti politik runtuh, sembilan maut](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-05/71716456691_TBcollapses.jpg)
Pentas kempen parti politik runtuh, sembilan maut
Sembilan orang maut selepas sebuah pentas dalam acara kempen untuk parti politik runtuh pada petang Rabu di negeri Nuevo Leon di utara Mexico.
![Terjatuh dari tingkat enam gara-gara buat aksi yoga ekstrem Terjatuh dari tingkat enam gara-gara buat aksi yoga ekstrem](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/http://img.astroawani.com/2019-08/51566921683_yogaekstrem.jpg)
Terjatuh dari tingkat enam gara-gara buat aksi yoga ekstrem
Seorang pelajar kolej di Mexico terselamat selepas terjatuh pada ketinggian 24 meter ketika kejadian pada Sabtu lalu.