Mario Escobar, the father of Debanhi Escobar, the 18-year-old girl who disappeared on April 9 in the northern state of Nuevo León and whose body appeared lifeless, he wonders if the authorities “sowed” the corpse.
“Four times they had searched (registered the area), why does it appear on the fifth? Question: did they plant it? How did he get there?” Escobar said in an impromptu press conference with local media.
The man He also denied the possibility that the young woman had climbed the fence of a motel in the General Escobedo municipality, inside which is the water tank where, according to the Nuevo León State Prosecutor’s Office, the body was located.
Although the genetic test is still missing, hours before these statements, at dawn on Friday, Debanhi’s father already confirmed the identity of the body to the local press, which He wore the same clothing and a crucifix as the young woman.
Missing
On April 9, Debanhi went to a party from which several friends left, but she got into a taxi, from which she got off on the highway from Monterrey to Nuevo Laredo. The driver took a photo of the young woman on the road that went viral.
In recent days, the authorities collected images from the cameras of the hotels and companies located in the area. “There is a document where the taxi driver extends his hand to my daughter’s breasts and from there I suppose that my daughter could not stand the harassment but the prosecutor says that there is no crime to prosecute. (…) I accuse Juan David Cuéllar (the taxi driver) of detonating all this”, sentenced the father.
In addition, Escobar complained that the family had access to this video just two days ago. “If I had had that information we wouldn’t be here, I would be with my daughter, and my wife too,” he said.
At the same time, he assured that he no longer trusts the prosecutor specializing in missing persons in the state, Rodolfo Salinas, but he does trust the government of Nuevo León, which “put all the people” to work on the case. “I was wrong because I believed in the Prosecutor’s Office, I feel used by the Prosecutor’s Office,” Escobar said.
The man asked the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to go to the place “and do what you have to do”, after the president invited this week to contemplate the possibility that the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) attract the case.
Escobar explained that he is now going to a meeting with the governor of the state of Nuevo León, Samuel García, and that he will continue until “whoever has to fall falls.”
“This is not a circus, my daughter is killed by incompetent people, by sexual harassers”, Debanhi’s father concluded, while recalling that five other bodies were found in the search for his daughter.
Amnesty International calls for justice
Amnesty International (AI) demanded on Friday justice for the case of the Mexican Debanhi Escobar in the northern state of Nuevo León, whose Prosecutor’s Office faces accusations of negligence.
“We demand that Debanhi’s femicide not go unpunished, and that those who committed institutional violence against her family be investigated and punished,” said the international association in a network position.
The international organization indicated that the Mexican authorities must investigate the disappearances and murders of women from a gender perspective. “The Mexican authorities continue to commit deficiencies that violate the right of women to a life free of violence,” Amnesty said in its statement.
The association cited that so far in 2022, 395 missing women have been reported nationwide, while in 2021 there were 1,145, the highest figure in four years, according to data from the National Search Commission (CNB).
Earlier, in his morning press conference, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador offered help from the federal government and suggested that the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) attract the case.
The case shows the wave of gender violence and disappearances in Mexico, where they murder more than 10 women a day and there are almost 100,000 people who have not been located since 1964, according to official figures.