Ricardo Pascoe Pierce
In the media, there is a consensus that Congressman Cuauhtemoc Blanco’s presentation before the Attorney General’s Office of the State of Morelos with immunity in hand is equivalent to an act without legal relevance. In any case, it is a mockery of justice.
It is a mockery of the women’s movement, which, for years, has been making one demand: women must be believed, in the first instance. The reason? There are three feminicides a day in Mexico, according to official figures, although independent organizations such as the National Citizens’ Observatory on Feminicide report that the actual figure is higher because many are not reported or are classified as simple homicides.
Cuauhtémoc Blanco is not accused of feminicide, but of attempted rape. In Mexico, the official figures for 2023 reported 23,963 rapes (simple and equivalent rape, which is the case of Blanco), which is equivalent to 66 rapes per day. However, INEGI estimates that only 10% of assaults are reported, which means the daily figure is significantly higher.
Data from the National Survey on the Dynamics of Relationships in the Home (2021) indicate that more than 70% of women in Mexico have suffered at least one incident of violence from their partner in the home, be it emotional, physical, sexual, or economic.
There are many reasons for underreporting these crimes, including fear and mistrust of the authorities.
The case of Cuauhtémoc Blanco is, and always will be, emblematic. The entire Morena official party and its allies, together with the PRI, mobilized in defense of the alleged aggressor of a woman and voted against a woman, now considered sinister. The witch from all children’s stories. What more powerful social, legal, and political intimidation against women can there be?
Especially when that official party won the Presidency of the Republic and the head of Government of Mexico City claiming that we are “in times of women” and that “we have all arrived”.
Obviously, the President and the head of Government had to endorse the decision, even assuming that they could have been personally against it. For the time being, they did not speak out publicly against pardoning Blanco. They did not dare. What does this behavior of the country’s two most important female political leaders reveal to us?
That they are weak rulers, dominated by a patriarchal structure that has placed them in a leadership position but does not allow them to exercise their authority to the full; they are limited to the dictates of others, presumably men.
And it reveals the political, ethical, programmatic, and moral weakness of the structures of their party, which, with a woman occupying the presidency of Morena, did not speak out or defend the woman victim of an alleged sexual aggressor.
The defense of Cuauhtémoc Blanco is a “victory” of men exercising real political power. It consolidates a culture of protection and alliances that makes all women small, without exception, and it is a sign of who is in charge in Mexico.
And in all this, who is in charge here? Cuauhtémoc Blanco? The deputies and senators, or their leaders, all men? Who is in charge of Morena if not its president?
Or could it be that all the women in power think that a sinister woman has mistreated Cuauhtémoc Blanco? If so, the Republic is lost, and so is democracy. Because with that power structure, no one dares to think freely.
We have lost much more than we can imagine with this defense of the alleged aggressor. We have lost essence, empathy, and direction and irrevocably twisted our humanity. Will we know how to find the way to build a country for everyone, without rhetoric and lies?
@rpascoep
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