CNN
—
The homicide of a 22-year-old mannequin and influencer in Colombia has despatched shock waves via the nation and drawn parallels to the killing of a Mexican influencer final week, highlighting the excessive charges of femicide in Latin America.
Maria Jose Estupinan, a college pupil in Colombia’s northeastern metropolis of Cucuta, near the Venezuela border, was killed on Could 15, in line with Magda Victoria Acosta, president of the Nationwide Gender Fee of the Colombian Judiciary.
Talking at a information convention, Acosta mentioned the suspect, disguised as a supply man, shot Estupinan in her residence when she opened the door.
“She was a younger, enterprising lady with an entire life forward of her, however these goals are minimize quick just like the goals of many ladies on this nation,” Acosta mentioned.
Estupinan had been the sufferer of a home violence case and was about to obtain compensation for it, Acosta added. She mentioned the fee “very strongly” condemned the crime and would work to ship justice.
Authorities are investigating the killing. CNN has reached out to the Colombian Nationwide Police and prosecutor’s workplace for extra info.
Estupinan’s Fb web page confirmed pictures of her travels and each day life, together with journeys to New York and California, and of her posing by the pool or on the health club.
The case has been coated extensively by native media and unfold on social media, with many evaluating it to the Could 13 taking pictures of 23-year-old magnificence influencer Valeria Marquez in Mexico. Simply days earlier than Estupinan’s loss of life, Marquez was killed throughout a dwell stream at a salon by a male intruder.
Officers in Mexico’s Jalisco state mentioned they’re investigating Marquez’s loss of life as a suspected femicide – the killing of a lady or woman for gender-based causes.
Whereas not all homicides involving ladies are femicides, many are. In 2020, 1 / 4 of feminine killings in Mexico have been investigated as femicides, with circumstances reported in every one of many nation’s 32 states, in line with Amnesty International.
Acosta didn’t say whether or not Estupinan’s loss of life was a suspected femicide – however her killing has highlighted the sheer scale of violence in opposition to ladies in Colombia.
Gender-based violence within the nation is widespread, together with by armed teams, in line with non-profit group Human Rights Watch. Survivors face many obstacles in in search of care or justice, and perpetrators are not often held accountable, the group famous in its World Report 2024.
Colombia’s Nationwide Gender Fee has logged hundreds of circumstances of gender and home violence, together with excessive charges of sexual violence, neglect, abandonment and psychological violence, Acosta mentioned.
Some 41 ladies have been reported lacking in Colombia between January and August final 12 months – with 34 circumstances in Cucuta, the place Estupinan lived, Acosta mentioned. Most of the ladies have been minors.
Northeast Colombia has been particularly volatile in latest months, with a pointy rise in preventing between militant factions. Escalating violence within the Catatumbo area displaced tens of hundreds of individuals in January, lots of whom flocked to Cucuta, the place Colombia’s army deployed hundreds of troopers and particular forces.
Support Greater and Subscribe to view content
This is premium stuff. Subscribe to read the entire article.
