The request for a gender violence alert in Coahuila, submitted by feminist collectives, has been stalled for two years without the federal government making progress toward determining whether to declare it. Activists consider this situation a reflection of the lack of interest in protecting women, while femicide-related violence continues in the state.
Sofía Díaz, legal representative of the Assembly Mujeres que Luchan por Mujeres, expressed regret over the lack of progress on the request submitted in July 2024, particularly after a reform established a maximum period of 45 days to determine whether to issue a gender violence alert.
She said they believed that the change from the National Institute for Women to the Ministry of Women under the current federal administration would lead to a different outcome, but that did not happen.
She recalled that in December 2025, she met with the official responsible for gender violence alerts at the Ministry of Women, who told her there was no budget to send personnel to conduct the interviews.
“It has been two years and we still have no progress. There is no budget to continue because of spending cuts. We are going to continue without substantial progress on the alert. It has been back and forth,” Sofía Díaz criticized.
In 2026, the budget of the Ministry of Women was 2 billion 140 million 988 thousand 180 pesos, according to information published on the National Transparency Platform.
Brenda Olivas, a member of the Abogadas Laguneras collective, said that the changes within the Ministry of Women have only existed on paper: “We have not seen significant, real changes, changes that have an impact on women and girls in the state.”
She said she has the impression that there is no interest in providing security for women or giving them the certainty that they can report crimes if they are victims or go to security authorities.
“There is an incredible amount of revictimization to begin with. That leads you to no longer want to report. Why should I speak up if there will be no consequences?” she said.
For Sofía Díaz, there is a sense of disappointment with the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum: “We thought there would be more funding for investigations and sanctions, but in reality, this is not a government of women, nor is it a government that protects women or allocates funding to the areas that should concern and occupy us. We thought there would be empathy, but that has not been the case.”
Violence Continues
Sofía Díaz recalled that when they submitted the gender violence alert request, the figures were alarming, since Torreón was even among the top 10 cities with the highest number of femicides. She said that although the numbers decreased in 2025, femicide cases in the state have increased this year.
According to the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP), in 2024, the year the gender violence alert was requested, 20 femicides were recorded in the state. In 2025, the figure fell to nine cases, but by July of this year, 18 femicides had already been recorded.
Sofía Díaz emphasized that femicide-related violence, which encompasses many other crimes such as sexual abuse, rape, and domestic violence, continues to be present.
Regarding cases filed for domestic violence, Coahuila ranked sixth in the country through July, with 8,940 reported cases, according to the SESNSP. It ranked second nationally when analyzed by the rate per 100,000 inhabitants, with a rate of 259.85.
In 2025, 12,634 complaints of domestic violence were received, an average of 34.6 every 24 hours.
Brenda Olivas described the incidence of domestic violence crimes as “incredible” and stated that there is no public policy at any level of government to address this phenomenon.
She said that despite repeated claims that they live in a safe state and that there are no high-impact crimes like those seen elsewhere in the country, there is indeed neglect of crimes against women, girls, and adolescents.
Coahuila is also among the 10 states with the highest number of women who are victims of intentional injuries, emergency calls related to incidents of violence against women, emergency calls related to sexual abuse, calls regarding sexual harassment or stalking, calls regarding rape incidents, and calls regarding domestic violence incidents.
According to Sofía Díaz, these figures demonstrate that if gender-based violence is not reduced, femicides will continue to occur.
Agencies Are Falling Short
For Brenda Olivas, government agencies are falling short because every March and November they try to step up their efforts, provide counseling, and listen to victims, but ignore victims for the rest of the year.
In this regard, Sofía Díaz said that the state government began activating violet points and created a specialized prosecutor’s office for crimes against women, but she considers these measures to be public policies that merely conceal the problem rather than address it at its root.
“The numbers have not decreased. We have not moved out of the top six in domestic violence, and this has been going on since 2017. There has been no rapid resolution of the cases. In addition, 95% of femicide victims had already filed a complaint for domestic violence and had restraining orders,” she explained.
Against this backdrop, Brenda Olivas insisted that the gender violence alert request be processed because they are currently in a legal limbo. “We don’t know whether they are going to accept it, reject it, or what is happening,” she said, while women continue to be assaulted and murdered.
Source: es-us.noticias.yahoo
