‘Narcos’ Actor on Femicide in Mexico

According to the Global Database on Violence Against Women, about a quarter of women in Mexico aged 15-49 have experienced intimate partner physical and/or sexual violence at least once in their lifetime. Nearly 40% of women over the age of 15 have experienced sexual violence by someone other than an intimate partner. More than 10 women are killed every day in Mexico.

Narcos: Mexico actor Luis Gerardo Méndez wants to bring awareness to the violence Mexican women endure on a daily basis. The Aguascalientes City native sees his new role as a series regular on Netflix’s hit show as an opportunity to do just that.

“In Mexico, we are still dealing with this femicide issue, which, for me, is the biggest problem we have in Mexico right now,” said Méndez in an interview with BackstageOL. The linked video begins at the start of the full quote. “It’s a really, really complex, painful universe to portray but I think it’s also very necessary to put it out there.”

Méndez plays Victor Tapia, a Juarez police officer drawn into the mystery of a series of brutal killings. Defining what integrity means to the cop will be crucial to his development.

“I think he’s a cop who’s trying to do the right thing but the universe he lives in is completely corrupted and gray, and he’s trying to understand what’s happening.”

Mexico’s Feminist Movement

The city of Ciudad Juarez is notorious for femicides going back to the 1990s when the first major cases of female homicides were recorded. The rise of drug cartels within the area has factored into this increase in violence towards women, and along with the cartels comes the systemic violence and corruption that allows it to continue. Stories of judges being bribed to overlook violence upon women and an indifferent administration are all too common in Mexico.

The vast range of violence directed towards Mexico’s women has led to an uprising in its feminist movement. Demonstrations have repeatedly overtaken the streets and have gone up to the doors of the presidential palace.

Mexico’s Supreme Court in September unanimously ruled it unconstitutional to penalize a woman for having an abortion. Prior to its decision, only four of Mexico’s 32 regions allowed abortions.