An American college student was discovered dead in Mexico while on spring break, despite State Department warnings to avoid the country due to violence.
According to reports, Henry Meacock was an Ohio State University student who went to Mexico for spring break earlier this week.
The university confirmed his death, but no specifics about when, where, or how Meacock died have been released.
“The Ohio State community has suffered a tragic loss, and we extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Henry Meacock,” OSU said in a statement. The university also refers students to the counseling center for assistance.
Thousands of students continue to travel to Mexico for spring break.
Another student, who was airlifted out of Mexico, is on life support in a Florida hospital.
Liza Burke, a senior at the University of Georgia, went to Cabo San Lucas for spring break with her friends earlier this month.
According to her friends, Burke had a headache, lay down, and was unable to wake up. She was flown back to the United States for treatment after her family raised $142,000 in days through a GoFundMe campaign.
Burke, according to sources, has a genetic condition that causes her brain to hemorrhage, which she had prior to her trip to Mexico.
The FBI is still searching for three Americans who went missing last month and investigating the murders of two more.
The State Department issued a Level 4 “do not travel” advisory for much of Mexico last month. Many of those warnings were still in effect as of March 9. This includes Guerrero because of crime, as well as five other states because of crime and kidnapping: Colima, Michoacan, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas (where two Americans were killed earlier this month), and Zacatecas.
The State Department has issued a Level 3 warning to tourists in seven more states: Baja California, Chihuahua, Durango, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Morelos, and Sonora. If you are planning a trip to popular tourist destinations such as Cancun or the Riviera Maya (both of which have been named top destinations by AAA for 2023), the government advises you to “exercise increased caution.”
Spring breakers in Florida have also been victims of violence.
What you need to know about Mexico’s ‘do not travel’ advisories for spring break. Following two fatal shootings and rowdy, chaotic crowds that police have struggled to control, Miami Beach officials imposed a curfew beginning Sunday night during spring break.
According to a city news release, the curfew will be in effect from 11:59 p.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. Monday, with an additional curfew likely to be imposed Thursday through next Monday, March 27. The curfew primarily affects South Beach, the most popular spring break party destination.
The decision was prompted by two separate shootings Friday night and early Sunday that left two people dead, as well as “excessively large and unruly crowds,” according to the release. The city commission will meet on Monday to discuss potential additional restrictions for the following week.
Following two shootings on Ocean Drive last year, the city imposed a midnight curfew. The previous year, there were approximately 1,000 arrests and dozens of guns confiscated during a rowdy spring break, prompting Miami Beach officials to take steps to calm the situation.
This story was contributed to by the Associated Press.
The death of Shanquella Robinson is being investigated as a femicide, a term that many Americans are unfamiliar with because, while being a global issue, this gender-motivated crime has not been classified by US legislation.
Robinson, a 25-year-old North Carolina student, died in October while vacationing in a fancy rental house in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur.
Mexican prosecutors are attempting to extradite one of Robinson’s acquaintances as a suspect in the case. Last Monday, Daniel de la Rosa, the attorney general for Baja California Sur, notified local media that an arrest warrant had been issued in connection with Robinson’s case for the crime of femicide, or the killing of a woman because of her gender.
No one has been charged in the case, and the names of Robinson’s acquaintances have not been revealed.
Unlike Mexico and other Latin American countries, the United States does not have a legislation that distinguishes femicide from homicide, which numerous experts believe does not mean that killings against women are not occurring at alarming rates in the United States.
“Femicides happen all the time in the US, and many famous murder cases that we all have in our consciousness are actually femicide, but we don’t put that label on them,” said Dabney P. Evans, director of Emory University’s Center for Humanitarian Emergencies and expert on violence against women.
As the investigation into Robinson’s death continues, here’s what you need to know about what constitutes femicide in Mexico, why gender-based violence is a global problem, and why researchers believe that incorporating femicide into US law could benefit women.
Mexico is in the grip of a catastrophe.
Femicide is the most severe kind of gender-based violence (GBV), described as “intentional murder of women because they are women.”
Femicides are classified into two types: intimate and non-intimate femicide. The former relates to the murder of women by current orex-partners, whilst the latter refers to the murder of women by those with whom they did not have an intimate relationship.
Under most nations, femicide is treated the same as homicide in criminal law, however Mexico is one of at least 16 countries that has designated femicide as a distinct crime.
If convicted, offenders in Mexico face up to 60 years in prison under federal law. In Mexico, the distinction between homicide, or unlawful killing, and femicide varies by state.
There could be a history of sexual or non-sexual assault and threats, or “if the victim was in community, for example, and if she was killed and her body was in public,” according to Beatriz Garca Nice, who directs the Wilson Center’s work on gender-based violence.
Shanquella Robinson Video News
A video that has been circulating online in recent weeks appears to show Robinson and another individual getting into a physical struggle inside a room. Bernard Robinson, her father, told CNN that his daughter is seen in the video being pushed to the ground and assaulted on the head.
It’s unclear when the video was shot or if it represents the moment Robinson got the injuries that killed her.
While there is legislation in Mexico banning femicide, “the main problem is the execution,” according to Garca Nice. According to her, the number of cases of gender-based violence is underreported in national statistics, and the law is “under executed” in the judicial system.
According to Garca Nice, over 95% of femicide crimes in Mexico go unpunished. “If you commit femicide, there is very little likelihood that you will be prosecuted. And this is one of the reasons why rates remain quite high.”
According to Alejandra Marquez, an assistant professor of Spanish at Michigan State University with a focus on gender and sexuality in Latin America and the Caribbean, the “feminicidos” crisis in Mexico began several decades ago and first gained national attention in the 1990s when hundreds of women were killed in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez.
“There used to be this idea, especially in central Mexico, where it was like ‘women are getting killed over there at the border,’ but because it’s expanded all over the country, it’s sort of become this phenomenon that can no longer be ignored,” Marquez told CNN.
“When you’re in Mexico, it’s part of day-to-day conversation,” Marquez continued.
According to experts, more needs to be done in the United States.
Experts claim that disproportionate homicides of Black women, the situation of missing or killed Indigenous people, and the tragic shootings of women at Atlanta-area spas in 2021 are instances of cases that could be characterized as femicides.
“As a society, we must acknowledge that these are not isolated incidents. These are, in fact, linked to patterns of masculine aggression, and we need to think more carefully about how to prevent this type of violence “Evans, an Emory University expert, stated
According to the Violence Policy Center’s study of homicide data, 2,059 women in the United States were slain by men in 2020, with 89% knowing their perpetrators.
According to Evans, femicide legislation in the United States would not eliminate the issues of toxic masculinity, patriarchy, and misogyny that contribute to gender-based violence, but it would “allows us to talk about this phenomenon” and prevent it from happening.
There are current laws in the United States that address gender-based violence, as well as procedures to track domestic abuse, but they are faulty.
The federal hate crime statute applies to violent or property crimes motivated in part by prejudice against race, religion, handicap, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity. The definition of a hate crime varies by state, and several states do not cover gender hatred.
The Violence Against Women Act was reauthorized earlier this year by federal lawmakers. The Act is intended to protect and help survivors of domestic abuse, sexual assault, and stalking, all of which have been identified as precursors to femicide.
President Joe Biden stated that more needs to be done to address the issue during a March event commemorating the act’s passage.
“Abuse should not occur, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. Period. And if they do, they should have access to the resources and support they require. And we’re not going anywhere.”
Gender-based violence is a worldwide issue.
According to a UN report released last week, an estimated 81,100 women and girls were purposefully killed around the world last year, with almost 56% of them being killed by intimate partners or family members.
According to the research, it is difficult to explain the true scale of gender-based violence because about four out of every ten homicides reported by authorities lack “no contextual information to allow them to be identified and counted as gender-related killings.”
“These rates are alarmingly high, as we can see; however, that’s the tip of the iceberg,” said Kalliopi Mingeirou, the chief of UN Women’s Ending Violence Against Women Section, one of the entities that created the study.
Police, according to Mingeirou, cannot adequately investigate femicide if it is not legally designated as such. Other obstacles to preventing and stopping femicides include a lack of resources and training for officials expected to enforce legislation.
“What women and girls deserve around the world is to have a world that respects their choices, that respects their rights,” Mingeirou added. “We require equal rights. We have a fundamental right to be free of violence because we can achieve and prosper in this world if we are free of violence and harassment.”
A Mexican woman flew to Peru to explore a romantic relationship with a medical student she met online; however, her remains were subsequently discovered on a beach, and he is now accused of harvesting her organs.
The Independent said that Blanca Arellano, 51, told her family in late July that she was traveling 3,000 miles to Huacho to meet Juan Pablo Jess Villafuerte, 31, a medical student with whom she had an extensive internet relationship.
The infatuated woman told her niece Karla Arellano on November 7 that her budding romance was doing well, but she ceased contacting with her family afterward.
Karla tweeted on November 12: “I never imagined I would be in this situation, but today I’m asking for your help to spread this post and locate one of the most loved and important people in my life.”
“My aunt Blanca Olivia Arellano Gutiérrez vanished in Peru on November 7.” We worry for her life,” the speaker continued.
Karla stated that she felt frightened when Villafuerte informed her that Bianca was returning to Mexico after the breakup.
She wrote, “I decided to communicate with Juan P because he was her only contact in that country, and that’s when our fear was triggered.”
According to Villafuerte, Bianca decided to return home after informing him, “I couldn’t give her the life she desired.”
Authorities in Peru discovered a severed finger with a silver ring still attached on a local beach on November 10.
In the days that followed, a faceless head, an arm, and a torso with all the internal organs removed were also discovered.
The Independent reports that the distraught family matched the ring to their missing loved one.
The arrest warrant for Villafuerte was issued on November 17, the news source stated, citing Latin Noticias. Villafuerte was accused of trafficking in human organs.
El Popular reported that immediately after Blanca’s abduction, the suspect began posting films on TikTok in which he allegedly dissected human parts, including a pancreas and a brain.
During a check of Villafuerte’s residence, authorities discovered blood in the bathroom, the laundry room, and on his mattress, according to The Independent and El Pais.
“There are no words to describe what we are experiencing,” tweeted Karle on Wednesday. My aunt was a kind, warm, clever, devoted, and loving person, and that is how she should be remembered.
She continued, “We believe in Peruvian law and have complete faith in the authorities to implement it, as they have done an excellent job thus far.” “It is time to raise your voice and demand #JusticeParaBlanca.”
Prosecutors in Mexico have issued an arrest warrant for a female friend of the 25-year-old American woman who was discovered dead in the country last month. According to the Associated Press, they are also working to have the friend extradited to Mexico to face charges.
Shanquella Robinson, of Charlotte, South Carolina, traveled to San José del Cabo, Mexico, with six friends on Oct. 28 and died a day later, on Oct. 29, in a villa rented by the group.
According to CNN, Mexican prosecutors said Thursday that Robinson’s death was the result of a “direct attack, not an accident,” and that one of her female friends was involved in her death. They did not name the alleged aggressor, but she is an American citizen who is believed to be in the country.
The attorney general of Mexico’s Baja California Sur, Daniel de la Rosa, told local reporters that they are seeking an extradition order for the woman linked to Robinson’s death.
According to De la Rosa, the death was caused by direct aggression from the friend who allegedly carried out the attack, rather than a fight.
De la Rosa confirmed that both the victim and the friend are citizens of the United States.
According to The Associated Press, the group Robinson was traveling with all left Mexico after her death.
The new information contradicts how Robinson’s friends initially described the woman’s death to her family.
“She wasn’t feeling well, they said. “She had alcohol poisoning,” Robinson’s mother, Salamondra Robinson, told Charlotte’s Queen City News. “They were unable to obtain a pulse. Everyone who was there with her was telling her a different story.”
The death certificate, which stated Robinson suffered severe spinal cord injury and neck trauma and died within 15 minutes of the injury, also calls her friends’ account into question.
A graphic cellphone video circulating on social media purports to show Robinson being violently attacked by another group member.
Bernard Robinson, Robinson’s father, confirmed to CNN that the person being attacked in the video is his daughter.
The FBI’s Charlotte field office has also opened an investigation into Robinson’s death.
