The murder of a 22-year-old model and influencer in Colombia has sent shock waves through the country and drawn parallels to the killing of a Mexican influencer last week, highlighting the high rates of femicide in Latin America.
Maria Jose Estupinan, a university student in Colombia’s northeastern city of Cucuta, close to the Venezuela border, was killed on May 15, according to Magda Victoria Acosta, president of the National Gender Commission of the Colombian Judiciary.
Speaking at a news conference, Acosta said the suspect, disguised as a delivery man, shot Estupinan in her home when she opened the door.
“She was a young, enterprising woman with a whole life ahead of her, but those dreams are cut short like the dreams of many women in this country,” Acosta said.
Estupinan had been the victim of a domestic violence case and was about to receive compensation for it, Acosta added. She said the commission “very strongly” condemned the crime and would work to deliver justice.
Estupinan’s Facebook page showed photos of her travels and daily life, including trips to New York and California, and of her posing by the pool or at the gym.
The case has been covered widely by local media and spread on social media, with many comparing it to the May 13 shooting of 23-year-old beauty influencer Valeria Marquez in Mexico. Just days before Estupinan’s death, Marquez was killed during a live stream at a salon by a male intruder.
Officials in Mexico’s Jalisco state said they are investigating Marquez’s death as a suspected femicide – the killing of a woman or girl for gender-based reasons.
While not all homicides involving women are femicides, many are. In 2020, a quarter of female killings in Mexico were investigated as femicides, with cases reported in each one of the country’s 32 states, according to Amnesty International.
Acosta did not say whether Estupinan’s death was a suspected femicide – but her killing has highlighted the sheer scale of violence against women in Colombia.
Gender-based violence in the country is widespread, including by armed groups, according to non-profit organization Human Rights Watch. Survivors face many obstacles in seeking care or justice, and perpetrators are rarely held accountable, the group noted in its World Report 2024.
Colombia’s National Gender Commission has logged thousands of cases of gender and domestic violence, including high rates of sexual violence, neglect, abandonment and psychological violence, Acosta said.
Some 41 women were reported missing in Colombia between January and August last year – with 34 cases in Cucuta, where Estupinan lived, Acosta said. Many of the women were minors.
Northeast Colombia has been particularly volatile in recent months, with a sharp rise in fighting between militant factions. Escalating violence in the Catatumbo region displaced tens of thousands of people in January, many of whom flocked to Cucuta, where Colombia’s military deployed thousands of soldiers and special forces.