Statement on the Occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
To the Women of our Diocese
To the Women of Chiapas
To the Women of our Country
To the Women of the World
To Society in General
Today, November 25th, with hope and strength in our hearts, we walk and move through the streets of San Cristóbal de las Casas to say ENOUGH OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN. We, as women, want and deserve to live a life free from all forms of violence.
We recognize the decision and effort of the women gathered in the Diocesan Area of Women’s Pastoral (CODIMMU) for calling us to this pilgrimage to make known the situation of violence we continue to experience today, especially in the communities along the southern border. We know they are not the only ones, since this cancer of organized crime has been spreading throughout Chiapas and beyond.
As women, we seek for our participation and contributions to be recognized and valued in the construction of new relationships in the ecclesial, social, and political life of our country.
Sisters and brothers, we want to speak of the pains that, as women, this situation of misrule has brought upon us—caused by those who seek control of our territories, of our lives, and who sow fear and terror. These pains include: living with insecurity, having to move with fear to seek medical care for our families; a deeper pain is death, domestic violence, and poverty fueled by alcohol consumption, because in our communities it is easier to open a bar than a school or a clinic. There is also obstetric violence against our bodies as women. And the pain of justice being denied to us simply because we are women, even when we report the violence we have suffered.
But also, as Christians, believers in God Mother and Father, we feel the pain of the violence that is inflicted upon us within our own religious institutions.
We also want to speak to the mothers, wives, sisters, daughters who are searching for their fathers, husbands, brothers, companions, sons and daughters; we stand in solidarity with your pain, with your courage, and we demand that the authorities do their job, that they search for the thousands of missing persons across our country, and that the impunity reigning in Chiapas and Mexico finally ends.
We express our trust and hope in the God of Life who accompanies and strengthens us, and we affirm that through our work as women we seek to transform this situation of death by becoming builders and weavers of Life and Peace—so that we may live with dignity and in harmony among ourselves and with all creation. Mother Earth, who—like us—is being exploited and impoverished.
We reaffirm our commitment to continue working for the unity of our peoples, for the unity of women. Let us not allow our conscience to be lulled to sleep. Let us not allow political parties to buy us with gifts while they seize our communal goods, control our territories and bodies, and destroy Mother Earth.
We encourage you, Women, to continue in active resistance, caring for Mother Earth, in harmony with the care of Community Life, as taught to us by our grandmothers and grandfathers, caring for ourselves as peoples. As women, let us continue exercising our rights, working to build healthy relationships based on equality and equity within our families, our churches, and our society.
Let us walk, sisters and compañeras, with hope and strength in our hearts!
In the face of violence, our resistance!
UNTIL WOMEN’S RIGHTS, JUSTICE, AND PEACE BECOME A WAY OF LIFE!
Stop the violence!
Stop alcoholism!
Stop racism!
Stop discrimination!
San Cristóbal de las Casas, November 25th, 2025
Statement made by the Diocesan Women’s Coordination of San Cristóbal de las Casas.
Translation and source by Schools for Chiapas.