Puebla is the first state to reform the law to remove parental authority from feminicides and suspend it from those people who are being investigated for femicide.
The local Congress unanimously approved this Thursday the reform of the Criminal and Civil Codes that sets a precedent in the country and opens the door for other States to legislate in the same sense.
The reform has been dubbed the 'Monzón Law' in honor of the feminist lawyer murdered in May of last year and whose main suspect in the case is the father of her son, former PRI politician Javier López Zavala.
The text seeks to prop up a paradigm shift and ensure in these cases the best interest of the minor, even above the presumption of innocence of the alleged feminicides.
The reform proposes suspending the parental authority of minors whose father is linked to a process for a femicide or attempted femicide.
And if said sentence is confirmed, the definitive withdrawal of that right will take place.
"This violence has collateral effects, especially when there are girls, boys and adolescents involved, who become indirect victims, when it is exercised against their mothers," said PT deputy Mónica Silva, promoter of the measure.
“They are the ones who are left in an even more vulnerable situation than they were, since their mother has been taken from them and in many cases,
Cecilia Monzón's family has celebrated the approval of the legislative reform.
"I am fully convinced that this initiative will free children from the circles of violence to which the law currently binds them," says the lawyer's sister, Helena Monzón.
Cecilia Monzón's family is the one who currently has custody of the activist's son, a 4-year-old boy.
However, the alleged femicide, given the current legislation, retains the right to parental authority of the minor.
Sources close to the case point out that López Zavala's defense, in the middle of a legal battle, has come to propose the exercise of the child's visitation rights "although they were never exercised [when Monzón was alive] and now they are trying to use them in the framework of the custody procedure”, said the Monzón family in an interview with EL PAÍS.
The lawyer and activist from Puebla had denounced Javier López Zavala for years for abandoning his son and for non-payment of alimony.
“These reforms are one more step in the great debt in which we find ourselves because no femicide, even when the violent act has not ended and has remained an attempt, will not be able to retain parental authority, with which girls, boys and adolescents will be able to be free from that environment of violence”, Mónica Silva concluded.
Puebla also approves the 'acid violence law' in the same session
Congress also unanimously approved classifying acid attacks as an attempted femicide in the State.
From the guest rostrum, several women victims of these attacks followed the vote.
Among them Carmen Sánchez, Esmeralda Millán and the saxophonist María Elena Ríos, who were accompanied by activists from the feminist movement.
The ruling adds to the Law for Women's Access to a Life Free of Violence the term "acid violence" as an act that inflicts non-accidental damage, using acid or any corrosive substance that may cause internal or external injuries or both. .
The reform also modifies the state Criminal Code, which establishes that these injuries will be punished with penalties ranging from 20 to 40 years in prison.
According to the Carmen Sánchez Foundation, 28 women have been attacked with acid in Mexico in the last 20 years and according to United Nations data, every year some 1,500 people are attacked with acid and corrosive substances.
Of these, 80% are women.
According to figures from the foundation, six out of 10 acid attacks in Mexico are committed by partners or ex-partners of the victims.
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