Inquiry In Mexico For A Case Of Rape

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

The acquittal this week of young Diego Cruz was the straw that filled the glass of outrage at the multitude of Mexicans tired with the apparent impunity before justice of the wealthy and powerful of their country.

The 21-year-old, one of four members of a group of boys from wealthy families in Veracruz known as the Porkys, was accused of having abused and raped with his friends the young Daphne Fernández after a night of partying more than two years.

Despite the fact that he fled to Spain last year when he was charged and had to be extradited, the judge who settled his case ended up determining that there was not enough evidence to find him guilty of pedophilia.

In the opinion of Judge Anuar González Hemadi, despite the victim's statements that the accused inserted his fingers into her vagina, Cruz's conduct was not "lascivious" and lacked the intention of "copulating", for which reason He tried insufficient "accidental rubbing" to find him guilty.

"It is inconceivable. I am surprised and outraged, "the father of the victim, Javier Fernández, told the Spanish newspaper El País. “We are totally fed up. Two years of struggle, battle, rowing against the current, so now they can get away with this.”

The controversial ruling aroused again the outrage generated by the case when it came to the attention of public opinion when the girl's father, tired of the process against the accused not progressing in the judicial system, made a public complaint.

The case dates back to January 2015, when the Porkys went out partying through the Port of Veracruz to celebrate a new Mercedes car that the father of one of them had bought. When they left a disco, they forced her to get into the vehicle, where Cruz and another young man from the group, Jorge Cotaita, sexually abused Daphne, who was then 17, according to what she said.

Later, when she arrived at the home of the gang's boss, Enrique Capitaine, she was raped by this son of a former Veracruz mayor, according to authorities.

Almost nobody knew about the case in Mexico until Daphne's father, with the intention of embarrassing the authorities, released a video in which the young people acknowledge their responsibility and apologize for their actions.

The Porkys then released a statement claiming that their confession had been made under duress and Capitaine's father said it was all a set-up.

It did not matter, the images penetrated deep into the Mexican public opinion, where there is an ingrained feeling that the powerful never answer for their crimes, and the protests were immediate.

They were even louder when Cruz, Capitaine and Cotaita managed to evade justice by fleeing Veracruz because no arrest warrants had even been issued against them. The first was captured under a false identity in Madrid last year and the second in a town in northern Mexico, while the third remains unaccounted for. A fourth young man in the car was never charged, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The discomfort caused in Mexican society by this week's ruling, which has manifested itself both in the streets and on the networks, has caused the judicial authorities to decide to suspend Judge González Hemadi and put all his sentences under review.

Now it remains to be seen what will happen to Capitaine, who faces the most serious charges and is still awaiting trial.