Women’s Strike in Mexico
Dalilah Loza is 15 and dreams of being an orthodontist, or an economist - perhaps even a photographer.
But most of all she wants to be the voice of her mother.
“I’m the only one who can speak for her now. I’m her daughter. I’m the only one who really cares,” said the teenager, whose 33-year-old mother was murdered at their home in Tijuana last September in front of Dalilah and her baby brother.
Before last month Dalilah had never taken part in a political protest.
But when Mexican feminists hit the streets on Valentine’s Day to denounce their country’s worsening femicide crisis, she saw a chance to ensure her mother’s life and death were remembered.
Flanked by scores of mostly young female demonstrators, Dalilah marched on the attorney general’s office clutching a homemade placard with her portrait and the message: “I miss you, mummy”.
“My mum was the best mum in the world,” she remembered, her face lighting up. “You could tell her anything you liked and she’d never tell anyone. She was literally my best friend.”
Dalilah’s mother, Nery Rodei Pelayo Ramírez, was stabbed to death by her boyfriend on 16 September – one of nearly 4,000 Mexican women killed in 2019.
Glad someone is mentioning this. It's really horrific what's going on right now, and AMLO seems completely clueless (or at least he's acting clueless.)
