San Pedro Cuitlapa, Guerrero – A wedding between two minors took place on May 5th in the community of San Pedro Cuitlapa, a municipality located on the border of the Costa Chica and Montaña regions. The ceremony has sparked concerns about the prevalence of child marriage in the area.
According to reports, the groom wore a gray suit while the bride was dressed in a white gown, both courtesy of generous guests who covered their expenses. Photographs and videos from the wedding were shared on social media by photographer Willy Paz and other users.
However, the event has been misinterpreted as an instance of forced marriage. In response to this misinformation, Willy Paz clarified that the union was not coerced, and both minors are 16 or 17 years old, not 12 as some sources claimed.
This is not an isolated incident; it is the second case of its kind to come to light in Guerrero this year. On February 23rd, a marriage arrangement between two teenagers under the age of 15 was held in the community of Huamuchitos, within the municipality of Acapulco.
The Mountain Human Rights Center (Tlachinollan) has documented over 50 cases of forced or child marriages in Guerrero. The organization attributes this phenomenon to a deep-rooted practice in some municipalities of the Montaña region, where poverty and lack of effective authorities have contributed to the prevalence of dowry payments and child marriage.
In these regions, which are home to Amuzga, Mixtec, and Afro-Mexican populations, extreme poverty has led to the continuation of customs such as dowry payments. According to local reports, there is a growing concern that the strategy launched by Governor Evelyn Salgado Pineda in 2021 to address violence against women and girls has not yielded tangible results.
The initiative, which aimed to prevent, address, punish, and eradicate violence in the Montaña region and Costa Chica region, did not involve consultations with victims or non-governmental organizations like Tlachinollan. Despite promises made by the government to tackle this issue, no concrete progress has been reported since its inception over three years ago.
In a bid to combat child marriage, the Guerrero Congress passed legislation in 2022 that established a minimum age of 18 for marriage and eliminated the requirement for parental consent. Additionally, lawmakers introduced prison terms ranging from five to 15 years for those who force minors into unions comparable to marriage, as well as sentences of three to 10 years for those who instigate or benefit from such practices.
These developments have been met with mixed reactions from human rights groups and local communities, who continue to face the challenges of poverty and lack of effective authorities in addressing the issue of child marriage.
Source: Proceso
