Mexico and Colombia Mourn Ana María Serrano’s Feminicide

This past Saturday the feminicide of Ana María Serrano was confirmed in Mexico. The murder of the young woman took place on September 12. Her body was discovered by a neighbor after Ana María's mother, according to her story on her Instagram account, wrote to him with concern.

Ana María's mother, María Ximena Céspedes, gave statements to the media this weekend and gave details of the case. The aggressor entered Ana María's house at a time when she was alone. Her mother had tried to contact her by phone without success. After receiving a strange message from Ana María's cell phone, she contacted the neighbor who discovered her body.

According to the mother's story, the attacker had altered the crime scene to make it look like a suicide.

The Mexican Prosecutor's Office confirms the arrest of the culprit

This Sunday the Mexican Prosecutor's Office confirmed the capture of Alan Gil Romero, Ana María Serrano's attacker. Gil Romero had had a relationship for just over a year with Ana María.

Their relationship had ended last July and after the breakup, Gil Romero harassed Ana María. According to her mother, Gil Romero's insistence had gone from unsolicited gifts to threats.

Ana María Serrano was the niece of the former Minister of Finance of Colombia, José Manuel Restrepo. He was 18 and had started studying medicine a few months ago.

The Mexican Prosecutor's Office continues the investigation to prove Gil Romero's guilt and give justice to Ana María's family.

Feminicides in Mexico and Latin America

The case of Ana María Serrano, unfortunately, is just one in the statistics of femicides in Mexico and Latin America. This past June alone was the month with the most femicides in the Central American country so far this year.

According to figures from the National Public Security System, in Mexico there have been a total of 426 murders of women currently investigated as femicides since January 2023. However, states Almudena Barragán for El País, "civil society organizations consider that this number could be just the tip of the iceberg of an even greater crisis of violence."

Read also: Femicides: Latin America on Red Alert

This is a situation that is not strange to Colombia, Ana María's native country. The Attorney General's Office states that between January 1 and July 3, 2023, 320 cases of femicides have been registered in Colombia.

In fact, María Ximena Céspedes, mother of Ana María, stated in her statements to the media that she demands that the States be quicker in investigating femicides in the region.