The Government of Puebla will give protection to the sister of Cecilia Monzón after the first arrests for the femicide of the lawyer

The sisters Helena and Cecilia Monzón.

Cecilia, a lawyer and activist, was murdered on May 21. Courtesy

Cecilia Monzón's family fears for her life.

The first arrests for the femicide of the lawyer and activist for women's rights have been accompanied by intimidation against her family.

Her sister, Helena Monzón, has denounced through social networks that a car has been following her and that she fears for her safety and the integrity of her family.

“They are following us right now, they are probably trying to scare us, although it is probably something else.

As you know, the Prosecutor's Office proceeded to arrest Mr. López Zavala, so we consider that our lives are in danger at this time,” said the also lawyer.

After noon on Wednesday, Monzón realized that a gray Mazda was making the same movements as the car in which she was traveling.

His call for help through networks had an effect and he asked for the support of the State Prosecutor's Office.

She and her private escort decided to take refuge in a café until her agents arrived to protect her.

Ever since she arrived in Mexico from Spain, the country where she lives and of which she has nationality, Helena Monzón has been aware of the risk she runs in demanding justice for her sister.

"I think I'm not untouchable, because in this country no one is untouchable," she says in an interview with EL PAÍS.

"I am very aware that I am taking risks by saying what I say, but I will not stop saying it for my sister, for the women of this country, because enough is enough," she affirms forcefully.

Two days earlier, the Puebla Prosecutor's Office arrested former PRI deputy Javier López Zavala and two other people for the femicide of Monzón, which occurred on May 21.

The politician was the father of the lawyer's son and she had denounced him two years earlier for abandoning the minor and for non-payment of alimony.

These two previous accusations served the Prosecutor's Office to put the handcuffs on the politician more quickly.

After the arrest, the authorities claim to have evidence that attributes the intellectual authorship of the femicide to López Zavala and the material to two other hitmen, one of them, the former deputy's nephew.

According to this line of investigation, the PRI politician hired the assassins and gave them the weapons, the motorcycle and money to commit the crime.

One of them is still on the run.

Given the facts, the governor of Puebla, Miguel Barbosa, has assured that the Secretary of Public Security will give protection to Helena Monzón.

“It is the response that we have to give, it is understandable in the face of this abominable fact, of so much evil and so much perversion.

It is the decision that I have made so that we can safeguard the safety of Helena Monzón”, the president stated.

Tension has escalated in Puebla since the first arrests occurred.

Before Monzón denounced the persecution, he had already noted on networks that someone had covered the paid billboards in some parts of the city that were asking for justice for his sister.

“They are taking away the billboards of #JusticiaParaCecilia.

This is how Puebla responds to the truth, hiding and hoping that we don't make a noise.

Tell me you are guilty without saying you are guilty, ”she wrote on her Twitter.

The lawyer points out that her attacks have not only been against her, but also against friends and close people.

"There are people who, unfortunately, for retweeting things or even showing their closeness to me, are being threatened," she says.

Hours after these statements, a video of a woman who claims to be Avianet Méndez, López Zavala's second wife, has been published by some media outlets.

In it, the woman describes the politician as a "beater" and says she also fears for his life.

According to the local press, the video is about a year old.

“We have three daughters and the truth is that I fear for my life.

He is a beating man, who likes to subdue, pressure, scare (...) I am asking for support, if something were to happen to me, I would make him responsible”, the woman is heard saying.

A man of great influence, López Zavala was a candidate for governor in 2010 and Mario Marín's right-hand man, during his Administration, between 2005 and 2011. Both represent the embodiment of power and impunity of the political class in the State.

Marín is currently serving a sentence in prison for the crime of torture against journalist Lydia Cacho.

“Mario Marín Torres and Javier López Zavala are not an anomaly.

They are the expression of those who know that they are extremely unpunished.

And this is how those who, like them, have held at one time or another in our history the main factual power group in the state of Puebla are recognized”, analyzes the journalist Sergio Mastretta in a column published in

.

Helena Monzón's greatest wish now is that López Zavala go to trial and pay maximum penalties for the alleged authorship of her sister's femicide.

“I ask for maximum sentences for those responsible and not furtive releases from prison.

These people should not get out of jail, ”she said in an interview with this newspaper.

Another of her main concerns is to fight for the custody of her nephew, "The little one", as she affectionately calls him.

Monzón fears for the well-being of the child and wants to take him to Spain with her.

“If I am still standing it is because I have the hope of being able to get out of here with him and give him the life he deserves far from all this hell,” she remarks.

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