Four female students murdered in seven months at the University of Morelos, where Claudia Tacoronte was studying
Authorities are investigating the femicide of the young Spanish woman, who was on an exchange program in Mexico, while the previous murders of Kimberly Ramos, Karol Toledo, and Michelle Fuentes remain unsolved
Kimberly, an accounting student, disappeared and her classmates took to the streets to protest. The day they found her dead in an industrial area of Cuernavaca was the same day they learned that Karol, a nursing student, had vanished, and the protests continued. Demonstrations surrounded the Autonomous University of the State of Morelos (UAEM) early in the year. Karol’s body was found just before International Women’s Day on March 8, and terror gripped the university in central Mexico: “We didn’t know studying could cost you your life,” students chanted. Despite the scrutiny, in May, Michelle, a high school student at the same institution, disappeared. She was 15 and was also later found dead. In Mexico, the history of femicide is long, but it is sometimes forgotten. Last Saturday, Claudia Tacoronte, a Spanish exchange student in Morelos who was returning that night from the opening of the National Medicinal Plant Festival, was killed, and the murders of Kimberly, Karol, and Michelle have resurfaced: in just seven months, four students have been murdered.
About 40,000 students study at UAEM, spread across some 20 campuses throughout the state. Morelos is a small state bordering Mexico City and has the second-highest homicide rate for women in Mexico. Up to July this year, 69 women had been killed, according to official data from Mexico’s Secretariat of Security. Those figures include the cases of UAEM students.
The last time Kimberly Ramos, 18, was seen was on February 20 near the Chamilpa campus in Cuernavaca, the university’s largest campus. Nearly half of UAEM’s students study at the campus in the state capital. The young woman’s 11-day disappearance shook students, who blocked access to the campus, occupied the rector’s office, and forced the suspension of in-person classes. They pushed until the Prosecutor’s Office confirmed it had found her body in an industrial area on the outskirts of Cuernavaca. Another university student, Jared Alejandro N, was arrested; Kimberly’s bag and ID were found at his home. After that first crime, Morelos Governor Margarita González Saravia said the university would receive “full, supportive assistance to strengthen its security program.”
However, about 25 miles away in Mazatepec, Karol Toledo, also 18, was abducted that same day. Her classmates dressed in white to demand that she be located. The young woman’s family went to the faculty to thank them: “We are Karol’s parents; you don’t know what we are going through and the immense pain we are in. We appreciate your support and hope you forgive us for not being with you; we must support the Prosecutor’s Office.” “You are not alone,” the students replied. Hours later Karol’s body was found in Coatetelco, three miles from where she had disappeared. “There are no words that can express the pain of our community,” the University of Morelos said in a statement.
There have been no arrests in the case of Karol Toledo, nor progress reported in the investigation. On May 24 another name was added: Michelle Itzayana Fuentes Calderón, a high school student, disappeared in Yautepec. Her mother, who is a UAEM academic, said she had gone out at midday to buy art supplies and did not return. Her body was found on June 2 in Tepoztlán, a popular tourist municipality about 30 miles away. The Morelos Prosecutor’s Office again said the case would be clarified. It was not.
Despite these events, the University of Granada organized an exchange with the University of Morelos. A month ago Claudia Tacoronte, 21, a student of early childhood education, arrived in Cuautla. Last Saturday Claudia attended the opening of the Medicinal Plants Fair, an event involving talks and workshops concerning traditional medicine. At the conclusion of the event, around 11.00 p.m., she was attacked with a knife. She tried to take refuge in the Casa de la Cultura, but the assailant followed her inside, local media reported. She died from her wounds in a crime that has shaken Spain. The University of Granada has canceled the exchange trips of three other Spanish students in Morelos because of the situation.
In response to the crime, UAEM president Viridiana Aydeé León and Governor González have spoken out again. “The Autonomous University of the State of Morelos expresses its profound indignation and joins the sorrow that engulfs the family of Claudia Tacoronte,” the president’s statement reads: “The corresponding protocols and institutional mechanisms were activated to keep channels of communication and support open with the family, through the University of Granada and with the Spanish consular authorities.” Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said: “We want to get to the bottom of this.”
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