Advances in San Lázaro criminalize attacks on women with corrosive substances

Enrique Mendez

Newspaper La Jornada
Thursday June 2, 2022, p. 8

The Gender Equality Commission of the Chamber of Deputies approved a reform to criminalize injuries caused to women with acid or corrosive, caustic, irritant, toxic or flammable substances, which in addition to physical damage cause terror and submission.

The legislative body accepted the changes that the Senate made to the General Law on Women’s Access to a Life Free of Violence, to include the concepts of caustic, irritating or flammable substances, in order to extend the sanctions to attacks against them with those chemical agents.

He stressed that this violence is exercised to harm and affect a woman, by destroying her physical, psychological and work status, and in view of this it is the duty of Congress to protect the safeguarding of life, health and honor, as well as the right to full development of the personality of the feminine sector.

He warns that substance attacks leave imprint on the victims, and on some occasions it is for life, depending on the injuries caused by the chemical agents.

He expressed the urgency of legislating on the matter, since chemical aggressions against women are more recurrent, and it is necessary to prevent them through a adequate legislation that imposes more severe penalties, but also makes the population aware that these actions are so heinous that they cannot afford.

The opinion underlines that attacks with chemicals and similar substances constitute a act of subjugation and terror, which are not directed only against the victim, but against all those who share daily life with her.

In addition, the Ministry of the Interior reported that since July 2021, the saxophonist María Elena Ríos has been a beneficiary of the Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, therefore, it had a safeguard scheme in Mexico City and Oaxaca; this week the board of the mechanism confirmed the custody only for the second federal entity.

The protection she receives is due to her activity as a defender of fundamental guarantees, not because of his situation as a victim of the crime, which must be assessed by the state prosecution and administration of justice authorities within the scope of their powers, in order to determine what is appropriateaccurate.

The saxophonist, violated with acid more than two years ago, went to the National Palace on Tuesday to request the intervention of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.