Just to note before we get started, this episode mentions sexual assault and suicide.

And if you or someone you know is in crisis, call, text, or chat with the suicide and crisis lifeline at 988.

From NPR music, this is all Latino.

I'm Felix Contreras.

And I'm Anna Maria Sayer.

Let the Chisme begin.

Okay, so Felix, last Sunday, I hope you're aware, was International Women's Day, and it's

a month to celebrate.

So March 8th in particular is acknowledged in many parts of the world as a day of

notability right for women. But in large swaths of Latin America, it is much more than a perfunctory holiday.

It's a yearly recognition for the acknowledgement and support of basic rights for women.

And Anna, you were in Mexico City on Sunday. What did you see?

International Women's Day or Ocho M.E. in Mexico City is a huge deal. Mexico has one of the world's

highest femicide rates to this day, and it's deeply embedded in everyday life. One third of

murders is at the hands of partners or ex-partners. So every year,

on the 8th of March, women take to the streets to demand attention and action. Over 120,000 people

turned out in the streets on Sunday in Mexico City.

Okay, so what you're hearing right there, Felix, is traffic lights being smashed to the soundtrack of I Can Buy Myself Flowers.

It's a day of seeming contrast in many ways.

The streets are lined with only female police officers. Some yell at them, others adorn them with flowers. The police response in particular to Femmicide is often sluggish and incomplete, with some claiming that the government's limited response to these murders is designed to keep women oppressed. Not a man, notherst, not one more, not sessi nada more.

Not one more murdered one is something they chant over and over again.

But Felix, amidst all of the chanting, there's a lot of singing too.

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