Liliana's Invincible Summer: A Sister's Search for Justice

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, physical abuse, and gender discrimination.

Abusive, violent relationships like Liliana’s are a persistent global problem with a long history. Global femicide rates are high, with most victims dying at home: A November 2024 report released by the United Nations shows that family members or partners are responsible for the deaths of over 50% of women homicide victims (“140 Women and Girls on Average Were Killed by a Loved One Every Day Last Year, UN Finds.” PBS Newshour, 25 Nov. 2024). The United Nations has also confirmed that the number of countries reporting femicides has declined significantly in the previous five years, so the current data are an undercount (“Femicides in 2023: Global Estimates of Intimate Partner/Family Member Femicides.” UN Women, 2024). Some deaths, like honor killings (the murder of an individual believed to have dishonored the family; in women, it is often a response to perceived sexual impropriety), are not reported as femicide but as suicides, obscuring the true reasons for women’s deaths.

Intimate partner violence in Mexico is widespread; Liliana is one among many women subjected to abusive relationships that result in death, with Rivera Garza reminding readers that approximately 10 women or girls succumb to femicide each day in Mexico, a statistic that the United Nations confirms.