WEBVTT

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PUBLIC PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE
OF THE FEDERAL DISTRICT

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In 2020,
3,748 women were murdered in Mexico.

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2,801 of these were intentional

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and 947 were femicides.

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For women seeking justice
for this violence,

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it means becoming sisters.

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It means being aware
that we need each other.

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Sayuri Herrera has been appointed director

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of the new Femicide Department

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for the Attorney General's Office
in Mexico City.

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Her appointment was announced
by the prosecutor through social media.

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As a lawyer
with a background in social activism,

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she has an atypical profile.

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Of course,
it's frightening taking the step up

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to become a prosecutor.

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But I thought,
"Well, someone has to do it."

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The appointment
of Professor Sayuri Herrera Román

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aims to establish a new model

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for addressing crimes against women
and to combat impunity.

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I mean, it didn't have to be me.
It could've been anyone.

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But I felt the need to do it.

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And so we ask ourselves,

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if we have a crime designation,
procedures, and public offices,

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then why is it that impunity is the rule?

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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
MEXICO CITY

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THE PROSECUTOR

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MEXICO CITY

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First arrivals on this side. Step forward.

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This side, please. Enter here.

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PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE
FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF FEMICIDES

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The people who commit femicides are men.

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They are usually acquaintances
of their victims,

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women with whom they have ties.

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So that's why it's a crime
that can be addressed,

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that can be reversed,
and maybe even eradicated,

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because we are aware
of where it comes from.

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SAYURI HERRERA
MEXICO CITY FEMICIDE PROSECUTOR

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Each unit has its own investigative team,

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and this one handles
all of the violent deaths

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that take place in the city.

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FEMICIDE BY STABBING
FEMICIDE BY BEATING

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Good morning,
Femicide Prosecutor's Office.

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How do we determine
if it's a violent death?

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Any time there is some type of injury,

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we have to rule out
four possible etiologies,

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a natural cause,

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accidental,

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suicidal,

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or the one
that concerns us in this office,

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criminal.

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So we are on the lookout 24 hours a day

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for anything that may come up
regarding these types of issues.

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Work shifts are not routine
or monotonous. Not at all.

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Whenever you're on duty,
you never know what to expect.

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HOLY WATER

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Which is the main avenue?

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At the corner of Gloria Marín Street?

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Emiliano Zapata neighborhood,
Iztapalapa, Mexico City.

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We have everything.
Violence, murder attempts, injuries.

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-Suicides.
-Gunshots, suicides, decomposing bodies.

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I mean, being on duty means living
on the edge all the time. It really does.

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She was found dead, wrapped in a blanket.

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A white and blue blanket with,

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uh, vertical and horizontal black stripes.

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When we are notified of a possible crime,

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the city police are sent to corroborate,

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then we send an investigative team
to the site to collect evidence.

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It's a lot of work.

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You're exposed to so much
because sometimes you go out on a call

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at, what, three in the morning?

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Sometimes we can't find the site.

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These are rough places
where sometimes there is no cell service.

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Nasty places, right?

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There's tons of garbage,

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cockroaches, bedbugs,
all kinds of things, you know?

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Like I said, when I opened
the store yesterday, I saw it.

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It's always full of trash,

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so I never thought
there would be someone in there.

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My career options were Homicide,
Femicide or Abductions, or FAS.

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Those were my three targets,
and they assigned me to Femicides.

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I remember, at that time,
femicides were still on the rise,

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although there weren't that many yet.

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I remember that on my shift
we would have one or two.

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There weren't that many.

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FEMICIDE MAP

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The prosecutor is the one
who is responsible for investigating

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and clarifying facts and incidents
of violence against individuals

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in order to give them access to justice.

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591? In which folders?

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-Those folders are no longer there.
-And what…?

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That's what I want to know. What folders?

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The prosecutor is
in charge of a team of specialists,

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which is made up of public prosecutors,
forensic experts,

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and investigative officers,

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all of whom are responsible
for carrying out this work.

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I didn't have a judicial career.
I've never been a prosecutor.

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I come from an activism background,

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so it's really challenging

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because of that stigma that there is
that you're not trustworthy.

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They always said,
"Sayuri is not institutional."

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The first day I took office as prosecutor,

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all of the other public prosecutors
resigned.

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All of them. They didn't want to be here.

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And they didn't want to work with me.

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They had prejudices about who I was.

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That's why we are on strike.

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That's why we have been
on strike for 83 days.

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And it's why we continue to resist

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and demand that the university
be democratic and free.

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And that is why we are demanding
to use this space for discussion.

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I've met people in the Prosecutor's Office

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who have said to me,
"Oh, you're from the '99 generation."

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As if to say,
"You're one of those troublemakers

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who went on strike."

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STUDENT STRIKE AT UNAM

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I have lived through very difficult times…

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…times of repression,

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because ever since UNAM,
we were criminalized

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for protesting,
for demanding access to education,

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keeping it free and public.

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The authorities acted
against all of the students

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who were supporting
the 1999 strike movement.

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How many schools went on strike today?

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Strike!

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One more time!

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Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike!

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Strike! Strike! Strike!

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I come from that movement.

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I didn't ask permission from my family

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to participate in the strike.

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I thought it was the right thing to do.

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To defend public universities
against the imposition of fees,

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because my father was a farmer
and my mother was too.

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And we didn't have an income

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that would allow us
to pay for a college education.

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-Pay them! Pay them! Pay them!
-Pay them!

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I had already applied to law school.

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I had decided to become a lawyer
before the strike broke out.

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I thought, "Oh, I want
to work in an office

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and I'm going to defend people."

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It was the progress of the strike
and especially its conclusion…

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…which was when the Federal Police stormed
onto the university campus

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in order to put an end to the strike.

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I was very disillusioned, in general,

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with the institutions
and also with the government itself.

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There was a warrant for my arrest.

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I was persecuted.

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You're a bunch
of fucking disgusting bastards!

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-You deserve to die, you asshole!
-That's enough! Stop!

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Fuck you!

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After nine months
and 17 days of the strikes,

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the facilities were recovered peacefully.

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The main public leaders of
the General Strike Council were arrested.

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This is Alejandro Echavarría,
AKA "El Mosh."

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Mario Flavio Benítez Chávez,

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who maintains close ties

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with the Zapatista
National Liberation Army.

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When we talked about
the transformation of the university,

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we also thought about what we had read
about both male and female Zapatistas.

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The Zapatista movement changed everything.

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And it changed me too.

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I was at the main campus
when Subcomandante Marcos visited there.

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LA JORNADA PROFILE

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Good afternoon,
National Autonomous University of Mexico.

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EZLN! EZLN!

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EZLN! EZLN!

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It was a moment that filled us with hope.

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It was very exciting to hear them speak.

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To all the university students,

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we want to ask you

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to never stop recognizing
the less fortunate among us.

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Never stop seeking a future

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that, as such, will be a collective one,
or it won't exist at all.

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I have this picture framed on my wall

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so I don't forget where I come from,
and where I belong.

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My father went from being a farmer
to being a laborer.

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He thought, "I'll be able
to give my family a house."

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But unfortunately,
my father was a victim of fraud.

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And then he ended up detained,
deprived of his freedom,

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and when he tells you that,
he tells you very indignantly.

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He had a female lawyer who…
who got him out of jail.

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And when he was released from jail,

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he told me
how proud he was of this lawyer.

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And that's when I thought,
"I want to be a lawyer too."

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I took on cases of people
who had been imprisoned.

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President Enrique Peña Nieto,

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when, we ask,

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when will Julio Cesar's body
be returned to his family?

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You killed him. Give him back.

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Forty-two, forty-three, justice!

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WE ARE MISSING 43
WHERE ARE THEY

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I took on cases
of extrajudicial executions

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and cases of torture.

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What they do is start an investigation
into crimes other than torture.

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And I also took on cases

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of people who had been
falsely accused of kidnapping.

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We are applying
for the reunification of the family.

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I'd represented female victims
of sexual violence.

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I work at the Fray Francisco de Vitoria
Human Rights Center.

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And then Lesvy's femicide
occurred at UNAM.

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The woman found yesterday
who was strangled

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with a telephone cord in UNAM
was named Lesvy.

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She was 22 years old.

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It hasn't been determined

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whether the young woman
was murdered or committed suicide,

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since her body showed
no other signs of trauma.

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The strange thing is that she appeared

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with the cord of a public telephone
wrapped around her neck.

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This was the very first case
of femicide that I handled.

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Lesvy Berlín Rivera Osorio, 22 years old,
is the young woman we are representing.

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The prosecution's version
of this case stated that it was a suicide

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and they published a series of tweets
that revictimized Lesvy.

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And once again,
I had to go up against the authorities

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at the university.

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And once again,
I was part of the student movement,

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but a very different student movement
from what we had seen before,

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because this one was demanding
our right to live.

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We did an impeccable job
in the investigation.

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We presented
our forensic architecture report.

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We presented our reconstruction
of events at the crime scene.

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And they concluded
that this was a femicide.

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We were the only ones

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who told the authorities
and the civil servants

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from the very beginning
that no, it was not a suicide,

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that it was a femicide.

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And today… today, it has been proven.

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Today, the truth came out.

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Today, there is a new path to justice.

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And when we left the hearing,

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we saw that mothers
of other victims were there.

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FEMICIDE IN MEXICO

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KILLER WAS SENTENCED
TWO YEARS LATER

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The mothers were very excited,
and they were saying things like,

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"When will there be justice
for my own daughter?"

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"When will we have access to justice?"

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But now they had hope.

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They said, "Yes, you can have justice,
there can be justice,

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and when will it come for me?"

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And yes, of course I was happy.

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But when I saw the mothers with their hope
and their demands for justice,

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well, yes, I thought,
"We are not done here yet."

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Justice for one
feels like justice for all.

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And injustice for one feels the same way.

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It was the women,
the mothers, the female students,

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who pressured the state

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into recognizing that there was a crisis,

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and pressured them into creating
the Femicide Prosecutor's Office.

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Next, we give the floor
to Ms. Ernestina Godoy Ramos,

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who is the Attorney General
for Mexico City.

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We authorities were too slow to understand

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that the violence against women
would end up affecting us all.

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We would now like to establish
a specialized prosecutor's office,

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which will be dedicated exclusively
to the investigation of femicide offenses.

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PROSECUTORS' HALL

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We believe that this prosecutor's office

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should have
the following mission in mind.

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I felt strongly that this shouldn't be
a bureaucratic appointment.

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It wasn't about who we knew,
who was available, or any of that,

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but it should be a more public process.

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That's why we decided
to put out a public call for applications.

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Professor, good morning.

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This is the second part
of the recruitment process

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for selecting the head
of the Femicide Prosecutor's Office.

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For me, assistance should be focused
on assuring that the most important person

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is the one
whose rights have been violated.

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That is who we represent.

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From the very beginning,

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and then again after reviewing
all of the documentation,

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it seemed to me
that the best interview was Sayuri's.

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Well, I didn't know Sayuri personally.

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I was well aware that she had been doing
social work as a civilian.

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And so we talked to her.

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I never imagined I'd be a prosecutor.

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When the Attorney General called
to tell me

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that I had been appointed
as prosecutor for femicide,

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I was at UNAM's main campus.

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And I remember taking a deep breath

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because suddenly I felt
that my life was about to change.

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It was taking a big turn.

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If we decide to move upward, toward power,

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we can only choose between resisting alone

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or falling into the trap

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that claims that things
can be changed from within.

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How many left-wing activists
have fallen into this trap?

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They think that if they become
government officials,

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they can do something to change things.

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What happens is just the opposite.

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It's power that transforms them,

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and turns those
who were once social activists

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into mere bureaucrats in power.

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Without a doubt,
the task I intend to tackle

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is not one that can be resolved
by just one person,

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but it does require a person
who has the confidence,

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as well as the necessary skills.

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Not only that,
but also the hope and the conviction

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that we can reverse the situation
we find ourselves living in.

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I'm in the Prosecutor's Office
because I do believe

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that things really can be changed.

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But even so, regardless
of whether that change happens or not,

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I believe that there are cases, victims

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that right now, right here today,
we can provide support.

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And you can never lose sight
of why you're in this place

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and of… what you're looking for here.

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I came here to investigate femicides.

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Not for a position,
not to become a prosecutor.

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Good morning,
Femicide Prosecutor's Office.

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In the case of Joana Esmeralda,

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her husband turned himself in.

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He walked into a prosecutor's office
in the GAM District,

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and said, "I just murdered my wife."

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MY WIFE IS DEAD

23:12.516 --> 23:15.894
And he started telling us
what he did step by step.

23:15.977 --> 23:21.733
So then we were given the official order
to go look for the remains of a victim.

23:22.776 --> 23:25.529
Here, this is the ravine.
This would be the place.

23:26.696 --> 23:29.616
This is where he supposedly wanted
to dispose of her.

23:31.159 --> 23:35.831
GO TO THE CRIME SCENE

23:37.416 --> 23:40.293
So, there on the canal,
as referenced in number 28,

23:41.336 --> 23:43.880
he states that he dismembered her,
the victim,

23:43.964 --> 23:45.757
and he disposed of her limbs there.

23:45.841 --> 23:48.135
WENT TO DUMP THE BODY

23:49.261 --> 23:51.513
Betsy, what time
does the detention period end?

23:51.596 --> 23:52.514
At 7:00 a.m.

23:53.473 --> 23:54.641
3:45…

23:56.518 --> 23:57.436
…to 6:45?

23:57.519 --> 23:59.980
-We thought about moving him at 11:00?
-Thanks, chief.

24:01.314 --> 24:04.151
They authorized
the Femicide Prosecutor's Office

24:06.403 --> 24:11.074
to intervene at the scene,
that is, near the Remedios river.

24:23.086 --> 24:26.173
TICOMÁN NEIGHBORHOOD

24:34.139 --> 24:35.515
FAMILY RELATIONSHIP
ADULTS

24:45.066 --> 24:46.526
We were born here.

24:48.653 --> 24:52.616
My sister grew up here,
she went to school here.

24:52.699 --> 24:56.495
Her childhood, everything was
in this neighborhood.

25:02.083 --> 25:05.879
It's a very dangerous area.
I think it's a red-light district.

25:05.962 --> 25:10.091
So there's a lot of crime.
Right now, it's really ugly here.

25:19.601 --> 25:22.562
Well, she was the one
who was holding the family together.

25:23.063 --> 25:26.858
Being the oldest,
she was like a second mom to all of us.

25:26.942 --> 25:29.069
LIZBET CAMPOS
JOANA ESMERALDA'S SISTER

25:29.569 --> 25:32.572
For example, whenever we had a birthday,

25:33.073 --> 25:36.785
she used to dress up
as a clown and tell us jokes.

25:37.452 --> 25:40.038
We were like her first children.

25:40.121 --> 25:42.040
Then later, she had her own family.

25:43.959 --> 25:46.962
I took those. They're the last ones
I took of my grandma.

25:50.090 --> 25:51.633
My mom was very loving.

25:51.716 --> 25:55.762
In fact, for me, my mom was
my whole world, she was my best friend,

25:56.263 --> 25:57.722
the one I told everything to.

25:59.307 --> 26:01.309
Well, I think that she was the best mom

26:01.393 --> 26:04.604
because… she was always there for us.

26:06.523 --> 26:09.150
For my sister, her life was her daughters.

26:10.527 --> 26:12.195
And that morning, I noticed

26:12.279 --> 26:14.906
that she hadn't taken
her daughter to school.

26:14.990 --> 26:19.828
And I thought it was strange
because she was very, very responsible.

26:20.704 --> 26:24.207
I went to my mom's, and she told me
that my sister hadn't shown up.

26:27.586 --> 26:31.089
We had already noticed
some signs of violence.

26:31.756 --> 26:33.967
She couldn't leave him
because she was afraid

26:34.050 --> 26:35.677
that her daughters might be taken away.

27:21.306 --> 27:22.766
We went to file a report

27:22.849 --> 27:26.019
because we did suspect
that he had done something to her.

27:26.102 --> 27:29.272
We had indications that one of my sisters
had found her locked up.

27:29.356 --> 27:31.441
We said she's not answering.

27:31.524 --> 27:33.568
She's not giving us
any signs that she's okay.

27:34.069 --> 27:35.487
We think something's wrong.

27:35.987 --> 27:38.615
And that's why we decided
to go and file a report.

27:50.043 --> 27:53.296
But then one of my sisters,
who stayed at home, called me

27:53.380 --> 27:56.007
and told me
that some police officers had come,

27:57.092 --> 28:01.429
that he had turned himself in
and confessed to killing his wife.

28:04.641 --> 28:07.185
From where you are sitting,
you will make your statement.

28:07.268 --> 28:09.270
What do you have to tell us
about these events, Juan?

28:10.355 --> 28:14.859
It was at my relative's home.
I made the decision to take her life.

28:14.943 --> 28:18.405
-How did you take her life, sir?
-With a sharp weapon, sir.

28:19.364 --> 28:21.449
And what did you do after that, sir?

28:22.575 --> 28:26.663
I cleaned the place up
to remove all of the evidence.

28:27.163 --> 28:30.333
Cleaned the blood,
cleaned up any evidence.

28:30.834 --> 28:31.835
Okay.

28:34.671 --> 28:36.548
This person came to that hearing

28:36.631 --> 28:40.468
to tell the court
how he had taken Joana's life, and…

28:42.303 --> 28:46.516
and that he had done it
because she had, according to him,

28:46.599 --> 28:48.601
she had not been faithful to him.

28:48.685 --> 28:51.813
And he was hoping for the judge
to take that into consideration

28:51.896 --> 28:55.066
as his motivation
and justification for his crime.

28:55.567 --> 28:58.987
He was hoping that it was grounds
for dismissal of the charges.

28:59.487 --> 29:01.406
It was because of infidelity

29:01.489 --> 29:04.159
that I made the decision
to take this person's life.

29:04.242 --> 29:05.702
And she wouldn't listen.

29:05.785 --> 29:08.580
I wanted to fix things,
but she flatly refused.

29:08.663 --> 29:11.374
That's why I did it,
Your Honor. That's all.

29:13.752 --> 29:16.629
My mom told him that she didn't want
to be with him anymore.

29:16.713 --> 29:18.131
She was sure this time.

29:18.923 --> 29:21.468
And he said that they couldn't separate.

29:21.551 --> 29:25.680
He even told me, "Your mom can't leave me
because God made us to be together,

29:25.764 --> 29:28.183
and we are married, so she belongs to me."

29:28.266 --> 29:30.185
He even told me, "Because she is my wife."

29:30.977 --> 29:33.229
I feel that was what triggered everything.

29:33.313 --> 29:34.814
HIS WIFE TO THE CLIFF…

29:38.902 --> 29:43.198
So we carried out
the investigation at Joana's home.

29:47.076 --> 29:48.703
CIRCUMSTANTIAL RECORD
SEARCH WARRANT

29:52.749 --> 29:55.752
First, the Investigative Police
knock on the door.

29:55.835 --> 29:57.837
Then the public prosecutor shows up

29:57.921 --> 30:00.548
and says, "We are here
to do an investigation

30:00.632 --> 30:02.717
on behalf of the Prosecutor’s Office,

30:02.801 --> 30:06.095
if you give us,"
he said with a strong voice, "access."

30:06.179 --> 30:07.847
Then they open the door.

30:13.686 --> 30:16.773
There were several documents.

30:17.607 --> 30:22.320
Papers, posters up on all the walls
in the house.

30:22.403 --> 30:24.656
I remember there was a poster that said,

30:24.739 --> 30:27.450
"I will love you.
I will always take care of you."

30:28.368 --> 30:31.204
Things like that,
which was really very shocking,

30:31.913 --> 30:34.582
especially once you understand
the circumstances,

30:34.666 --> 30:37.252
and you know
what actually happened in there.

30:39.712 --> 30:43.258
And we also found
some writings by Joana herself.

30:43.758 --> 30:45.927
There was a letter
in which the victim told him

30:46.010 --> 30:47.428
that they should separate,

30:47.512 --> 30:49.305
that she didn't want anything
to do with him,

30:49.389 --> 30:51.558
and that she was leaving him
all the furniture,

30:51.641 --> 30:54.644
that he should sell it and he could give
the money to their daughters.

31:01.901 --> 31:04.070
We had to search each of the rooms

31:04.821 --> 31:07.657
in order for us
to pinpoint the exact place

31:07.740 --> 31:09.993
where this man ended up
taking Joana's life.

31:10.952 --> 31:13.538
We used techniques
such as blood trail tracking

31:13.621 --> 31:15.748
and luminol application.

31:15.832 --> 31:16.875
LUMINOL REAGENT

31:16.958 --> 31:19.252
And from there, you have your crime scene

31:19.335 --> 31:22.088
to then establish
that this is where it happened,

31:22.171 --> 31:24.215
whether it is his blood or not,

31:24.299 --> 31:26.718
because it's not enough
that he turns himself in

31:26.801 --> 31:28.469
and says, "I killed her."

31:28.553 --> 31:32.098
I mean, we need supporting data,
scientific and technical data.

31:32.181 --> 31:34.809
GENETICS EXPERT
IN FORENSIC CHEMISTRY

31:34.892 --> 31:38.021
At that time, the forensics
experts had very little luminol,

31:38.104 --> 31:41.816
and they told us, "We need you
to tell us where to apply the luminol,"

31:41.899 --> 31:45.069
as if to say, "If it doesn't work,
it's going to be your fault,

31:45.153 --> 31:46.905
because you told us where to use it."

31:49.699 --> 31:52.702
The forensics guy says,
"Well, here's a bed and some clothes."

31:52.785 --> 31:54.454
"Let's try it there, right?"

32:00.877 --> 32:03.254
This test is special
because not all of the blood

32:03.338 --> 32:04.923
is visible to the human eye.

32:05.590 --> 32:08.301
They deliberately clean up
the crime scene

32:08.384 --> 32:10.345
so it looks like there's nothing
to see there.

32:10.845 --> 32:13.389
But if we apply this luminol technique,

32:13.473 --> 32:17.560
we can see if there was ever
any blood in that location.

32:26.653 --> 32:28.863
Luminol reacts with the iron in the blood

32:28.947 --> 32:31.157
and forms a chemical luminescence.

32:31.658 --> 32:35.370
That blue light that is emitted
gives us a positive result,

32:35.453 --> 32:38.831
confirming that there is
the presence of blood.

32:45.755 --> 32:47.590
And what we see is impressive,

32:47.674 --> 32:53.054
because it is as if the luminescence
tells you, "This is how it happened."

32:53.137 --> 32:55.598
We saw that there were some drag marks,

32:55.682 --> 32:57.475
and the whole room was…

32:58.017 --> 33:00.478
-It lit up.
-It was literally lit up.

33:02.146 --> 33:05.525
Based on that evidence,
we established the scene of the crime.

33:05.608 --> 33:08.569
But the thing that we were
most interested in from that hearing

33:08.653 --> 33:11.114
and from further contact with the suspect

33:11.197 --> 33:13.157
was information he could give us

33:13.241 --> 33:17.120
regarding where we could find
Joana's remains.

33:17.203 --> 33:19.706
Where did you dispose of the remains?

33:19.789 --> 33:21.749
In the Remedios river, sir.

33:24.085 --> 33:26.379
What did you do
with the hacksaw and the knife?

33:26.462 --> 33:29.298
I threw them
into the Remedios as well, sir.

33:30.007 --> 33:33.928
It was all on the same night.
Everything happened during that one night.

33:35.722 --> 33:38.558
-Who helped you?
-I did it alone. No one helped me.

33:39.267 --> 33:43.271
I made three separate trips
to get rid of all kinds of evidence.

33:49.110 --> 33:52.530
He also stated that he disposed
of the remains near his home,

33:52.613 --> 33:55.992
that is, he continued
down the street and, right there,

33:56.075 --> 34:00.204
he turned a corner, and he went up
to where the river is and threw them in.

34:07.503 --> 34:11.340
The Investigative Police did a search
on the banks of the river,

34:12.091 --> 34:14.218
but it was unsuccessful.

34:14.302 --> 34:17.388
THE SEARCH ENDS
YIELDING A NEGATIVE RESULT

34:17.472 --> 34:20.767
I told the commander,
"We have to look again."

34:20.850 --> 34:23.478
And the commander told me,
"Well, the river is flooding."

34:23.561 --> 34:25.188
"We probably won't find anything."

34:30.026 --> 34:32.320
I said, "But we have to try everything."

34:33.696 --> 34:36.991
We've already started the process
to go and look for her.

34:39.160 --> 34:42.455
There is so much garbage
in the river that it's like…

34:42.538 --> 34:45.458
-Finding a needle in a haystack?
-Exactly.

34:46.042 --> 34:47.835
There are different types of searches,

34:47.919 --> 34:50.630
depending on the type
of area being searched.

34:50.713 --> 34:55.843
In this case, since it's an open area,
we use the quadrant method.

34:56.427 --> 35:01.849
So we searched in one quadrant,
and then we finished that search,

35:01.933 --> 35:03.893
and we moved on to another quadrant.

35:04.393 --> 35:06.521
That was in order to cover the whole area.

35:09.398 --> 35:12.026
Because there,
well, there is an inclined area,

35:12.110 --> 35:14.237
you have to go down very carefully.

35:14.320 --> 35:17.031
And that's where Brenda found
one of Esmeralda's arms.

35:23.663 --> 35:25.248
I saw a white cloth.

35:25.748 --> 35:28.251
But it had a lot of little flies on it.

35:29.085 --> 35:32.380
And ultimately, that would indicate

35:32.463 --> 35:35.716
that there is something
worth investigating right there.

35:36.509 --> 35:37.510
It was her hand.

35:37.593 --> 35:38.469
UPPER LEFT ARM

35:40.638 --> 35:43.141
HAND

35:43.766 --> 35:48.604
It was found almost on the shoreline,
so that was really the first, uh…

35:50.898 --> 35:54.902
like a sign or reference point
for where to continue our search

35:54.986 --> 35:56.279
from that moment on.

35:57.572 --> 35:59.532
And we were all very happy.

35:59.615 --> 36:02.535
We have a WhatsApp group
where we keep each other updated,

36:02.618 --> 36:04.829
and we reported that we found an arm.

36:05.538 --> 36:08.916
And at one point, some people said,
"Oh, we've found enough."

36:09.000 --> 36:10.376
"That's enough remains."

36:10.459 --> 36:12.336
I really think we were very stubborn there

36:12.420 --> 36:15.423
because we were insisting
on continuing the search.

36:16.090 --> 36:18.926
We asked the Fire Department
and search teams for help.

36:20.094 --> 36:23.264
We thought it was necessary
to request a boat

36:23.347 --> 36:26.225
so that we could keep searching
further up the river.

36:28.144 --> 36:29.645
There I am in the back.

36:29.729 --> 36:33.232
And that was when the search crews
used their belts and ropes

36:34.233 --> 36:36.402
to make their descent to the river.

36:43.409 --> 36:46.579
And the water was
almost up to their chests.

36:47.955 --> 36:50.583
The smell was very strong there too.

36:54.086 --> 36:58.841
I think even the most skeptical members
of the team began to get more invested.

36:58.925 --> 37:01.177
They became more enthusiastic
about the idea

37:01.260 --> 37:04.513
that it might be possible
to find all of the remains, you know.

37:11.646 --> 37:15.232
People can tell when you're doing
things because you're invested.

37:15.316 --> 37:18.861
That conviction,
that enthusiasm is contagious,

37:18.945 --> 37:21.489
when you're not doing something
just to fill out a form,

37:21.572 --> 37:23.115
or a piece of paper.

37:25.076 --> 37:29.538
From there, we conducted
three additional searches in the river.

37:38.089 --> 37:41.968
One of our team members
climbed down and said, "There's the leg."

37:43.219 --> 37:45.429
And so we called the whole team together.

37:46.138 --> 37:48.474
The experts and firefighters came down,

37:49.016 --> 37:53.104
and they confirmed
that it was the whole thigh and leg.

37:55.690 --> 38:00.027
RIGHT HUMAN SEGMENT
(THIGH, LEG AND FOOT)

38:00.111 --> 38:01.612
And there she was.

38:02.738 --> 38:05.241
We had found Esmeralda's whole body.

38:06.784 --> 38:09.787
MISSING LIMBS

38:09.870 --> 38:12.957
And, well, we were all very happy

38:13.040 --> 38:17.795
because we had completed the work
we had set out to do.

38:23.050 --> 38:26.679
Then we gave ourselves a round of applause
and that's when we took the group photo.

38:33.728 --> 38:34.812
After that,

38:36.772 --> 38:39.108
we contacted the family

38:39.191 --> 38:43.404
and we told them that we had found
all the rest of her remains.

38:45.823 --> 38:48.117
That's when I said, "This guy didn't win."

38:49.118 --> 38:50.619
He didn't win completely,

38:51.120 --> 38:55.166
because he wanted
to defeat Esmeralda even in death,

38:55.666 --> 38:58.669
so that neither her family
nor her children

38:59.295 --> 39:00.963
could honor her in her death.

39:01.464 --> 39:03.215
And he didn't get that victory.

39:03.299 --> 39:05.384
She is Joana Esmeralda.

39:05.468 --> 39:07.470
And today, we recovered her body.

39:07.553 --> 39:10.056
And that was very, very beautiful.

39:13.309 --> 39:14.643
41 YEARS OLD.

39:30.659 --> 39:32.745
WelI, I was in shock.

39:32.828 --> 39:35.164
I didn't grieve like I should have.

39:35.664 --> 39:38.542
I didn't experience grief at the time,

39:38.626 --> 39:40.294
because I was more concerned

39:40.377 --> 39:43.339
about whether justice
was going to be served or not.

39:44.006 --> 39:46.342
So I was more worried about that part.

39:57.603 --> 39:59.313
Liz, good morning.

39:59.855 --> 40:01.482
All right, well, first of all…

40:03.692 --> 40:08.406
we are very sorry
for everything that happened to Joana.

40:08.489 --> 40:10.658
And as we told you at the time,

40:10.741 --> 40:13.911
our team has been focusing on the search

40:14.412 --> 40:16.831
to locate the rest of her remains.

40:16.914 --> 40:23.003
And fortunately, we have been able
to find all of her remains. Okay?

40:23.087 --> 40:26.298
Excuse me, I'm going to take
my mask off for a moment.

40:26.382 --> 40:27.424
No problem.

40:28.884 --> 40:34.056
Well… we wanted to find
and restore dignity

40:34.140 --> 40:36.475
to the remains of Joana Esmeralda,

40:36.559 --> 40:38.310
and to return them to her family,

40:38.394 --> 40:43.149
so that with her complete body,
she can finally rest in peace.

40:53.242 --> 40:57.329
Everything that can explain
what a femicide is in this country,

40:57.830 --> 41:00.082
I think is summed up in that case.

41:04.420 --> 41:07.256
I mean, you have everything there.

41:07.756 --> 41:09.842
You have a history of violence,

41:09.925 --> 41:11.635
you have orphaned children,

41:11.719 --> 41:14.513
you have a person
who trashes women's bodies,

41:14.597 --> 41:17.308
a person who believes
that his behavior is justified,

41:17.391 --> 41:20.603
that he owns Esmeralda,
whom he considers his property.

41:20.686 --> 41:23.981
I think what we did was
to follow the principles of thoroughness

41:24.064 --> 41:27.693
and follow through on the obligation
that we had to look for her.

41:28.194 --> 41:29.778
We didn't take anything for granted,

41:29.862 --> 41:33.491
thinking she's not going to be there,
we're not going to find her.

41:52.718 --> 41:55.888
Well, we deposit
the remains in the coffin,

41:55.971 --> 41:58.974
then we close it
and we give you time to say goodbye.

41:59.058 --> 42:02.895
And you tell us when we can come back
to cover them, okay? All right.

42:04.647 --> 42:06.315
That's it. Like that, buddy.

42:07.733 --> 42:10.736
Let's give the family
a few moments of privacy, please.

42:10.819 --> 42:13.489
Let's step back a little
and wait for them to tell us.

42:29.296 --> 42:32.633
When my mom died,
I didn't want to go on anymore.

42:32.716 --> 42:35.970
Without my mom,
I honestly couldn't find any reason to.

42:36.053 --> 42:38.472
I really didn't want
to be in this world anymore.

42:39.515 --> 42:40.891
At least, in a way.

42:43.894 --> 42:46.021
I just wanted to die.

42:46.647 --> 42:48.482
But my little sister scolded me and said,

42:48.566 --> 42:51.443
"If you're not here,
I don't know what I'm going to do."

42:51.527 --> 42:53.946
"If I don't have my dad,
if I don't have my mom,

42:54.029 --> 42:56.198
I don't know
what I'm going to do without you."

42:57.449 --> 42:59.577
So that's when I got up
and said, "It's true."

42:59.660 --> 43:02.830
"I'm thinking about my own pain,
but I'm not thinking about hers."

43:02.913 --> 43:07.001
She was also very young. She lost her mom
when she was just ten years old.

43:07.543 --> 43:10.462
And when she said those words to me,
I said to myself,

43:10.546 --> 43:12.464
"I have to stand up, no matter what."

43:13.090 --> 43:15.593
"I have to put my pain aside
to understand her,

43:15.676 --> 43:18.429
and the two of us are going
to move forward together."

43:29.815 --> 43:31.525
I am my sister's guardian,

43:31.609 --> 43:34.194
so the only job I could find
with a decent schedule

43:34.278 --> 43:36.238
was as a maid on the night shift,

43:36.322 --> 43:38.574
so I could be with my sister
in the daytime.

43:46.081 --> 43:48.876
I feel that justice is…

43:49.710 --> 43:53.505
well, you could say that in a way
it goes hand in hand

43:53.589 --> 43:55.841
with giving each person what they deserve.

43:58.385 --> 44:02.306
So, with my mom, justice was served,
although it took a long time.

44:02.389 --> 44:04.933
It took them about two years
to be able to convict him,

44:05.017 --> 44:07.478
but they did give him a fair sentence

44:09.355 --> 44:12.816
without the possibility of parole
any time soon,

44:12.900 --> 44:15.444
also taking away
any rights he had over us,

44:15.527 --> 44:17.404
over both my sister and me.

44:22.201 --> 44:24.453
Please allow us
to proceed, Mr. Prosecutor.

44:24.536 --> 44:28.582
Yes, Your Honor. It is
requested that the accused be sentenced.

44:29.083 --> 44:32.419
The formal sentencing
of Juan Gómez Pérez is decreed

44:32.503 --> 44:34.838
as the probability has been demonstrated

44:34.922 --> 44:37.257
that he acted as the principal offender

44:37.341 --> 44:41.011
in the commission of the act
defined by law as the crime of femicide

44:41.095 --> 44:44.181
against the victim
whose identity is being kept confidential.

44:47.768 --> 44:53.524
GÓMEZ PÉREZ JUAN
SENTENCED TO 70 YEARS

44:53.607 --> 44:55.651
It was a lesson for everyone.

44:56.151 --> 45:00.406
It was a relief in terms of justice,
and dignity, and memory.

45:00.906 --> 45:02.825
It was a moment of pride,

45:02.908 --> 45:07.121
which those of us who carry out
these kinds of tasks need to feel.

45:08.122 --> 45:09.665
Is it from that one?

45:09.748 --> 45:12.960
It's thanks to the team.
It's about teamwork.

45:21.427 --> 45:24.263
When I ask myself what it means

45:25.305 --> 45:27.433
to be a woman in Mexico,

45:28.142 --> 45:33.856
I think of all of them, of all those women
who I know will never give up,

45:35.441 --> 45:38.861
who I know will continue
to demand justice.

45:41.029 --> 45:42.865
They are women who are building,

45:42.948 --> 45:46.827
just as we are all building,
in different spaces,

45:47.327 --> 45:50.497
the kind of world
in which we all want to live.

45:54.209 --> 45:58.630
Over time, I didn't want
what my mom did in life to be in vain.

45:58.714 --> 46:00.758
Her goal was for me to have a career.

46:01.258 --> 46:03.635
So I continued studying.

46:03.719 --> 46:06.388
I still feel a lot of pain,
and I'll always feel it,

46:06.472 --> 46:08.223
but I keep studying.

46:08.307 --> 46:11.393
I'm studying law. I work and study.

46:14.146 --> 46:17.483
With the money I earn,
I can pay my rent, my internet,

46:17.566 --> 46:21.403
and I try to make sure my sister has
everything she needs for school.

46:27.743 --> 46:31.830
Justice for one
feels like justice for all.

46:31.914 --> 46:35.501
And injustice for one
also feels the same way.

46:37.586 --> 46:41.131
So… we have to work on it.

46:47.971 --> 46:51.433
Because of my experience,
I would also like to be a prosecutor.

46:51.517 --> 46:55.354
Before, I wanted another career,
but with the experience I had,

46:55.437 --> 46:57.648
I would like to work
in the Prosecutor's Office

46:57.731 --> 47:00.609
as a prosecutor
handling cases of femicide.

47:03.237 --> 47:05.823
In this case,
I feel the pain I have experienced

47:05.906 --> 47:08.116
would help me empathize
with those families,

47:08.200 --> 47:11.912
because I am able to understand
all that they are going through.

47:21.380 --> 47:24.216
I remember
we used to go to the Chapultepec Zoo.

47:24.716 --> 47:26.343
My sister really liked animals.

47:27.177 --> 47:29.429
My nieces were very young at the time,

47:29.513 --> 47:32.724
so we used to take them
out on the boats a lot.

47:41.984 --> 47:46.071
Look, my mom bought me one of these
when I was very little. Remember?

47:46.154 --> 47:49.658
There were some you could use like pets,
and you could drag them on the floor.

47:56.415 --> 47:58.333
The best therapy is justice, isn't it?

48:00.252 --> 48:02.879
If there is justice,
people can live in peace.

48:03.422 --> 48:07.884
They can stop obsessing over things,
over thinking about what happened,

48:07.968 --> 48:12.139
over putting their lives on hold
just to be in the Prosecutor's Office.

49:11.114 --> 49:12.115
Oh.

49:13.158 --> 49:14.618
We have an incident.

49:17.537 --> 49:20.749
Patrol unit 56132
is reporting a Code 33 call

49:20.832 --> 49:23.835
inside the Suntory Restaurant
in the Del Valle neighborhood,

49:23.919 --> 49:25.379
Benito Juárez borough.

49:25.462 --> 49:26.755
Notify Central.

49:27.964 --> 49:29.299
Please report to the base.
nt
in the Del Valle neighborhood,