Valeria Marquez, a 23-year-old Mexican influencer, was fatally shot Tuesday while live streaming.
With over 113,000 followers on the platform, Marquez was broadcasting to audiences when the attack occurred.
According to a statement from the Jalisco State Prosecutor’s Office, the case is being investigated under murder protocols that apply if a woman is killed due to gender.
What is murder?
Fedice refers to gender-related murders of women and girls. Murders are on the rise all over the world, according to the latest report from the United Nations Office for Drugs and Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the United Nations Women.
In 2023, a woman was intentionally killed by her partner or family member every 10 minutes.
Of the 85,000 women and girls killed worldwide in 2023, 60% (51,000) were murdered by intimate partners or family members.
How common is murder in Latin America and the Caribbean?
Honduras has the highest homicide rate in which 7.2 women died per 100,000 people in 2023, followed by the Dominican Republic (2.4 per 100,000 people) and Brazil (1.4 per 100,000).
Mexico has the fourth highest murder rate in Latin America and the Caribbean, along with Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia. All in 2023 there were 1.3 murders per 100,000 women.
As for absolute murders, Brazil saw the most murders in which 1,463 women were murdered. Mexico followed, killing 852 women in 2023 as a result of the murders. Honduras had the third highest number of 380 murder cases.
Murders are on the rise in Mexico
Despite some fluctuations over the years, the rate of murders has risen across the country.
It has become a major concern in Mexico, with a significant increase in cases recorded over the past decade. In 2015, feminization accounted for 19.8% of female murders. This percentage had risen to 24.2% by 2024.
In 2015, the murder rate in Mexico was 0.7 per 100,000 people, according to the United Nations Economic Commission in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNCLAC). In 2023, that number now reaches 1.3 per 100,000 people, but is a slight decline from the 2021 peak of 1.6 per 100,000 people. Gender-based violence against women grew globally during the Covid-19 pandemic, and Mexico was no exception.
UNCLAC statistics show that Mexico’s homicide rates have fallen over the past three years, but remain a prominent and silent issue due to underreporting, experts say.
In Mexico, a Mexican national survey of family relations dynamics found that around 85% of women over the age of 15 who experienced physical or sexual violence did not file a complaint.
Where in Mexico has the worst murder rate?
Marquez’s murder happened days before another woman, a mayoral candidate for Veracruz, was shot dead along with three others during a live stream.
According to the Mexican National Public Safety System (SNSP), the national murder rate in 2024 was 1.18 per 100,000.
In the southern state of Morelos, Mexico, 4.7 women were killed per 100,000 people, followed by Chihuahuas (2.35 per 100,000) and Tabasco (2.22 per 100,000), with the highest murder rates.
In Jalisco, where Marquez was killed, the murder rate in 2024 was 0.63 per 100,000.
According to data consultant Tresearch, Jalisco ranks sixth in 32 states including Mexico City, including Mexico City, and has been recorded since the beginning of President Claudia Sinbaum’s term in October 2024.
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