Mexico's 'shocking epidemic': Actress, singer Tania Mendoza becomes the latest victim of femicide
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As per the report, various problems contribute to the authorities' inability to investigate femicides in Mexico, including evidence being lost, insufficient investigation, and inadequate understanding of gender
In another apparent case of femicide in Mexico, a Mexican singer and actress was shot dead in Morelos state while waiting to pick up her 11-year-old son from a football academy.
According to reports, on Tuesday, two armed men approached Tania Mendoza on a motorbike and shot her multiple times before escaping. Mendoza along with other parents was reportedly waiting outside the sporting complex when this attack occurred.
Data shows that an average of ten women were murdered in the country every day last year.
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The human rights group Amnesty International in a report called it a "shocking epidemic", pointing out that around a third of the 940 victims were femicide cases, which is the intentional killing of women because of their gender.
As per the report, various problems contribute to the authorities' inability to investigate femicides in Mexico, including evidence being lost, insufficient investigation, and inadequate understanding of gender.
Mexico has long been plagued with high levels of crime, with much of the violence caused by drug cartels. Although there has been a growing campaign to raise awareness of femicide, authorities have not been able to prevent it from happening.
Amnesty International also reports that most cases go uninvestigated and perpetrators are typically unpunished.
Mendoza rose to fame after playing the lead in the 2005 film La Mera Reyna del Sur.
In 2010, she was kidnapped along with her husband and 6-month-old son from the couple's car wash business. Since then, she had reported multiple death threats to the Morelos State Attorney General's Office.
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Mendoza's murder remains a mystery, and no motive has yet been determined. After the shooting, police conducted an operation to search for the suspects, but no arrests were made.
Efe news agency reported that the Attorney General's Office would investigate the case as femicide, but no specifics were provided.