Mother’s Sit-In Demands Justice in Vicarious Violence Case

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, MX. – Grisell Balderas, a victim of vicarious violence, completed three days of a sit-in this Friday at the Women’s Justice Center in Playa del Carmen, where she is demanding the presence of the state’s attorney general, Raciel López Salazar, to request prompt attention to an investigation file opened against her aggressor.

It was on Wednesday night when this mother began this indefinite sit-in in an act that was disseminated on the social media of Mujeres México, an organization she herself presides over.

In a telephone interview, Grisell Balderas indicated that this sit-in originated after several years in which dozens of mothers, like her, have exhausted all avenues to have their investigation files judicialized and to resolve the procedures initiated at the Attorney General’s Office due to the vicarious violence they have been experiencing for several years.

She stated that their cases are plagued by corruption, omissions, and negligence, as are almost all cases of women victims of various types of gender-based violence.

In that sense, referring to her case, she recounted that her son Mathías, then only 8 years old, was taken from her maternal home on November 2, 2020, by her ex-partner, named Edén “B”, from whom she had already separated due to psychological and physical violence.

She commented that after recovering him, the minor was taken again on September 22, 2022, in the State of San Luis Potosí, due to a court order.

After that, on March 15, 2023, her ex-partner was linked to proceedings for failure to fulfill obligations and domestic violence; however, a judge granted this man provisional custody of her son Mathías.

Grisell Balderas maintained that, since then, efforts to recover her son continue, suffering institutional violence along the way, such as what she continues to experience at the Supervised Family Coexistence Center (CECOFAM), where she can hardly see Mathías.

Additionally, she asserted that her ex-husband is defended by a corrupt lawyer, who is, she said, “known throughout the judicial system of Playa del Carmen because the authorities themselves know perfectly well that she traffics in custody of girls, boys, and adolescents” in alleged collusion with the family control judge, Martín Alberto Zetina Zavala, who allegedly sells judicial deposits of minors for 80,000 pesos.

The interviewee highlighted that her story, fortunately, caught the attention of the Red Solidaria Década Contra la Impunidad, whose lawyers took the case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and, in parallel, continue advancing in the judicial process so that she can recover her son.

The interviewee said that, thanks to this network, compelling evidence has been gathered that this coming Sunday, in a criminal hearing, will be evaluated by a judge.

Grisell Balderas maintained that this Sunday will determine, then, whether the new judicial system is truly effective and does not simulate sensitivity to cases of gender-based violence.

She indicated that in this effort, she is accompanied by an entire network of women, victims of vicarious violence, who visit her every night.

She emphasized that many national organizations are also demanding justice for her and in the coming hours will issue separate statements.

Finally, Grisell Balderas called on all mothers who have been victims of family control judge Martín Alberto Zetina Zavala to join this sit-in.

“We invite them to come to the sit-in, to stay here and demand justice,” she concluded.