LETTER FROM MEXICO

Mexico today presents two faces when it comes to women's rights: On the one hand, the reassuring image of a new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, who pledged during her campaign to improve conditions for women with the slogan "Es tiempo de mujeres" ("It's time for women"). On the other hand, an outdated and worrying reality persists, where women and children who are victims of sexual violence still face criminal charges.

On October 1, at her investiture, the head of state stated: "No llego sola, llegamos todas" ("I don't arrive alone, we all take power together") and ensured that new inalienable rights for women were enshrined in the Constitution: equal pay and representation in all public administrations, and the right to live free from violence – a historic demand of the feminist movement that has shaken the country in recent years. A minimum retirement age of 60 for women, four years earlier than for men, was also included in recognition of women's double workload.

At local level, 18 of the country's 32 states have legalized abortion, including four in October and November. On November 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Mexico's most populous state, Mexico City, adopted the law, while the "marea verde" ("green wave") demonstrated in front of Congress.

Yet alongside this progress, achieved largely thanks to the unprecedented mobilization of Mexican women, a 14-year-old girl spent eight months under house arrest, accused of homicide. Esmeralda had been raped by her cousin, three years older than her, and had reported neither the rape nor her pregnancy, until she suffered a miscarriage at 36 weeks in January.

At the hospital, in a state where abortion remains criminalized, medical staff were required to notify the authorities, who concluded that there had been "strangulation of the fetus." The prosecution requested a three-year prison sentence and 500,000 pesos (around €23,000) in compensation for the child's father, her alleged rapist. Esmeralda had told investigators about the rape she had suffered, and the penal code of the state of Queretaro defines rape as "any sexual relationship with a minor."

If the local feminist organization ADAX Digitales hadn't caught wind of the case in August, Esmeralda might have ended up in prison. "We reviewed the case, understood right away that the forensic analysis had been poorly conducted, and, above all, we always believed what the child was saying," Mayra Davila, founder of the organization and Esmeralda's lawyer, told us over the phone. Esmeralda's mother has died and her father is illiterate. "I was very angry at the hearing, at the cruelty of the prosecutor, in asking for compensation for the rapist, for a poor child who doesn't even have a mother to defend her," said Davila, who has a daughter the same age as Esmeralda. "When I left, I shared my outrage with a journalist friend, not expecting the case to go viral."

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