The Attorney General of Nuevo León reported this Monday the identification of the body of Yolanda Martínez, a young woman from 26 years that had been missing since the past 31 of March in this state in northern Mexico.
The remains, in an advanced state of decomposition, were found this Sunday in the municipality of Juárez, in the metropolitan area of Monterrey.
Griselda Núñez Espinoza, a prosecutor specialized in femicides in the state, revealed that the The corpse was wearing the same clothes as on the day of the disappearance and that it presented an estimated evolution of more than three weeks, an indication that death could have occurred shortly after it disappeared.
The case is surrounded by questions and loose fringes.
Martínez was seen for the last time in San Nicolás de los Garza after leaving her grandmother’s house, also in the metropolitan area of Monterre y.
Since her disappearance, her family has searched for her non-stop and has accused the authorities of negligence in the investigation .
For weeks, the Nuevo León Prosecutor’s Office maintained the hypothesis that the young woman had left home of “her own volition” and later raised the possibility that she was fleeing alleged family violence .
Reasons that have not been corroborated by the victim’s father, Gerardo Martínez, who starred in days of campaigns and protests asking for more attention and investigation to the case.
The discovery of Martínez’s body occurs a few weeks after the bodies of Debanhi Escobar and María Fernanda Contreras were found, two other young women who disappeared in Nuevo León in similar circumstances.
- The questions about the case of Debanhi Escobar, the young Mexican woman who was found dead in a tanker after two weeks similar
In recent months, this Mexican state has been under the spotlight due to the wave of disappearances, in its mostly young women.
Now, in the absence of confirming the cause of death of Yolanda Martínez, this case increases the indignation with which its inhabitants ask the authorities for answers to stop an endemic problem, that of violence against women, which seriously plagues the entire country.
What is known about the victim?
Single mother of a three-year-old girl, Yolanda Martínez lost track about noon in the past 14 March.
That day he left his grandmother’s house, in San Nicolás de los Garzo in Monterrey, to supposedly look for work in the area.
Two days before, the woman had visited the home of her ex-partner in Guadalupe, on the outskirts of the same city, to see her daughter.
That 31 March, Martinez was wearing a black striped blouse, blue jeans, black tennis shoes and a black bag. The same clothes in which she was found dead on Sunday afternoon.
A woman who collected firewood in some bushes and who ran into the body after a fetid odor reached him, he was the one who reported the finding to the authorities.
The area where the body was found, in the municipality of Juárez, it is located about kilometers from where it was last seen.
Why is it criticize the authorities?
Gerardo Martínez has denounced slowness and negligence in the investigations of the Prosecutor’s Office. She assures that a lot of search time was lost because the authorities affirmed that the majority of women leave home due to family problems or disagreements.
During the first few days, practically all the search efforts were conducted by relatives, relatives of the victim and volunteers. They have been distributing flyers, outlining possible routes, asking neighbors, protesting in the media and at the headquarters of institutions.
For several weeks, the Prosecutor’s Office handled the hypothesis that Yolanda Martínez had left home of her own free will, a line of investigation that was later discarded.
Later, on May 5, much criticism was directed against Samuel García, governor of Nuevo León, who told cameras that the disappearance of the young woman could have to do with an exit from his home due to a case of family violence, allegedly by “an uncle, the mother’s brother, very violent”.
These statements were widely criticized on social networks.
In this wave of disappearances in Nuevo León, the name of the victims changes , but the criticisms against the authorities are repeated: slowness, negligence, lack of t transparency and frivolity.
A crisis that does not stop
The appearance of Martínez’s corpse, and in the absence of confirm the cause of his death, it only amplifies the phenomenon of disappearances that is hitting Nuevo León, one of the wealthiest states in Mexico.
The case of Debanhi Escobar, still wrapped in questions, has been the most mediatic of the crisis that has the entire country pending.
At the end of April, the Nuevo León Prosecutor’s Office admitted deficiencies and removed from their positions the heads of the Disappeared Persons Prosecutor’s Office and the Anti-Kidnapping Prosecutor’s Office.
More of 300 women have been reported missing so far this year in Nuevo León. About 30 remain unaccounted for and six have been found dead.
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