Protesters Criticize AMLO's Plan for Domestic Violence Shelters

Mexican human rights activists have criticized a government plan that cuts funding for women’s shelters. The scheme is still not properly defined but the money will instead be given directly to the victims of domestic violence.

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The government has said that “support for this purpose” would always be there; however, rights activists are warning that slashing funds for shelters risks undoing two decades of activism and work done by civil society. It would also expose women to more dangers.

The activists also asked how the government would get the money to women who need to escape dangerous situations.

“They’re throwing 20 years of civil advances in multidisciplinary attention to victims of extreme violence in the garbage. The direct payments to women will help for three days, then the femicides will fall on [the interior ministry],” said Lydia Cacho, a journalist, and activist.

“[The president] doesn’t realize (or doesn’t care) that women are often put in danger when they receive cash in hand,” Regina Tames, the director of Gire, a reproductive rights organization, wrote on Twitter. “We know of many cases where their violent partners, neighbors and even their parents beat them to take the money from government programs.”

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) also announced plans to cut funding from daycare centers and give money to parents to spend on childcare according to their wish.

Mexican Finance Minister Carlos Urzua said that parents could give the money to a relative or  “perhaps it can be given to a grandma, who is going to better care for children than daycares. It’s giving flexibility to parents so they aren’t tied down to daycares in particular.”

AMLO had previously criticized projects operated by civil society organizations as “conservatives” and proposed taking away government spending from them.