Maricela Escobedo Presente! Chihuahua, Mexico

One year Marisela, we still hear you, loud and clear.

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12/16/2011 – Express News

Social justice activists on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border are mounting protests today to mark the one-year anniversary of the assassination of Marisela Escobedo, an outspoken critic of the Mexican government, its drug war and the cartels fueling it.

Escobeda was gunned down last Dec. 16 in front of the state capitol in Chihuahua City — an event captured on tape and aired nationally. Her murder has galvanized activists on both sides of the border.

Protests are planned in San Antonio, Houston and El Paso, where Escobedo’s son is scheduled to attend.

In San Antonio, protesters are expected to gather at noon in front of the Mexican Consulate, which houses the offices of Cónsul General Armando Ortiz Rocha, the government’s top official in the Alamo City.

The consulate did not comment on the protest.

Ruben Solis, leader of the San Antonio effort and co-founder of the Southwest Workers Union, said the protest will highlight escalating violence against activists who’ve been critical of the Mexican government, charging it with corruption and ineptitude in handling the drug war and the economy.

Like journalists that have become targets of violence, “now social justice activists are under attack,” Solis said.

At the time of her death, Escobedo — whose daughter’s brutal death is among the more than 500 unsolved slayings in Juárez — was protesting a court’s dismissal of the suspect in her daughter’s murder. He has been linked to the Zetas cartel as well as Escobedo’s murder last December.

No one has been arrested or charged in the case.

“There have been a number of such killings related to Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa,” Solis said of the Juárez group organized by families of the murdered women. “A lot of the mothers and families have been fighting for a long time to get to the bottom of this.”

Political scientist Kathleen Staudt of the University of Texas at El Paso said, “Marisela’s case epitomizes the injustices that have long plagued the impunity of law enforcement institutions in Mexico.”

Solis said members of several local groups plan to participate, including the Southwest Workers Union, the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, Fuerza Unida, the Texas Indigenous Council and the Committee for Environmental Justice Action.

For more information on the protest, call 210-378-5699.
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Link to Marisela Escobedo’s page in this site
Link: http://neglectedwar.com/blog/stories/the-marisela-escobedo-story