Dear Marisela, ten years after the brutal murder that took your life and left us without a human rights defender who knew how to go up against power, we write these lines to you with an aching heart and a renewed demand for justice for you and all mothers searching for their disappeared daughters, struggling against misogynous courts to end impunity for the feminicide of their loved ones, getting organized, healing together, and giving us an enormous lesson in dignity.  

Your assassination will never be forgotten.  Ten years ago we took to the streets of Mexico City and stood outside the embassies of many countries, shouting ¡Not one woman more! Now organizations like the Center for the Human Rights of Women (CEDEHM) that walked along with you still raise your name on high. Your struggle and that of your companions inspired those of us in the Mesoamerican Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders and the National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders in Mexico to create networks for the protection of women defenders. 

Today we continue to demand justice and once again shout ¡Marisela, Presente! to honor your memory and your struggle and to mourn your murder and that of  your daughter Rubi with the conviction that your work was not in vain and that today, thanks to you, we women are more determined than ever to do away with patriarchal violence. 

Mesoamerican Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders (IM-Defensoras)

National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders in Mexico