In the past two weeks, 10 women have been murdered in Michoacán, Mexico

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – According to data from the state Public Security Secretariat, so far a total of 140 women have died violent deaths in the state this year: only 11 cases have been classified as femicides.

The Mexican state of Michoacán has recorded the murders of 10 women in the past two weeks. Some were shot with firearms, stabbed, asphyxiated, another was poisoned, one had her throat cut, and two were decapitated.

Danna Kennet, 24, disappeared on June 26. A day later her body was found near a river. She was murdered in the municipality of Zitácuaro. Her body not only had a bullet wound but her throat had also been slit.

Last Sunday Lizbeth “C” and María Anahí “A” disappeared, 24 and 21 years old, respectively. On Monday morning, their bodies were found inside an abandoned pickup truck in the municipality of Tepalcatepec.

State authorities were alerted by neighbors in the area. Moments later, municipal police reached the road known as Los Olivos canal to cordon off the area and investigators from the Coalcomán Regional Prosecutor’s Office and personnel from the Forensic Services and Crime Scene Unit (USPEC) came to collect evidence and clues to investigate the case.

Members of the Michoacan State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) launched investigations. The bodies were removed and taken to the Forensic Medical Service by Expert Services personnel.

“At first sight they had injuries caused by firearm projectiles, so the bodies were removed and transferred to the Forensic Medical Service for the autopsy and to determine the cause of death,” said the Prosecutor’s Office in a statement.

It is presumed that the victims are part of a group of 8 people kidnapped in a bar in the municipality of Tepalcatepec on Sunday: an armed commando took 6 men and 2 women while they were in the establishment. However, this account has not been confirmed by the authorities.

Lizeth, 24 years old, was kidnapped in the municipality of Los Reyes and later taken to the city of Guadalajara. There she was found poisoned in a gas station bathroom. She died on June 18 in a hospital.

The rest of the victims were murdered and found in the municipalities of Zamora, Uruapan, Tarímbaro, Puruándiro, and Charo.

Violent deaths of 769 women have been reported in Michoacán from 2006 to 2015: an annual average of approximately 72 cases. However, from 2016 to 2021 they amount to 1,003: an annual average of 166 deaths.

When Silvano Aureoles Conejo took office as governor of the state in October 2015 he expressed his anger and indignation at the almost 800 women murdered in the state during the last decade and urged Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, then Secretary of the Interior, to declare a gender alert in Michoacán.

Rosa Icela Rodríguez, head of the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), acknowledged that during the first 5 months of 2021 crimes of femicide and rape have increased, compared to the same period last year.

Source: Infobae