Activist Lydia Cacho Is Standing Up for Mexico's Victims of Sexual Abuse IFEX
go to original January 3, 2016

Lydia Cacho responding to the murder of her friend, the Mexican photojournalist Rubén Espinosa:

Only those who live under death threats know how the clock marks the hours differently. Not only does it imply living with fear, but it also goads the spirit of self-censorship that makes us ask: Is it worth it? Is exposing yet another atrocity in a country of despicable leaders really worth the risk?

In Mexico, investigative journalists are often murdered, and the level of femicide has been described as a pandemic. In this dangerous environment, women's rights activist and writer, Lydia Cacho, stands out for her clarity, and her sureness of purpose in exposing sexual abuse against women and children, bringing their violators to account. Her immense courage and willingness to be a high profile advocate has led her to become one of Mexico's most well known journalists and has earned her worldwide respect.

In 2000, Cacho set up Centro Integral de Atención a las Mujeres (CIAM) in the Cancún tourist resort region. Her own experience of brutal rape a year earlier had spurred her into setting up the centre, which gives shelter and advice to women and children who have suffered violence and sexual exploitation. Cacho writes for a number of newspapers, edits magazines and hosts television programs that give her a platform that ensures that the deep-set problems faced by vulnerable women and children are not sidelined. For this, she has suffered death threats and harassment, threats that have extended to survivors of abuse and staff at the shelter. It takes courage to enter, whether as a victim or a staff member, and armed guards have had to be deployed at the building.

Read the rest at IFEX

Photo: Eneas De Troya/Flickr

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