Mexican activist dies after being set alight

GUADALAJARA, Mexico — A Mexican disability rights activist has died after she was attacked and set on fire in the state of Jalisco, the local prosecutor’s office said Wednesday.

The mother of an autistic child, Luz Raquel Padilla was part of “I take care of Mexico,” an organization of families with experience in caring for people with disabilities.

Three men and a woman doused the 35-year-old in alcohol and set her alight in a park in the town of Zapopan, prosecutor Luis Joaquin Mendez told a press conference, citing witnesses.

Padilla died Tuesday from the “seriousness of the injuries” in a hospital in nearby Guadalajara, he said.

She had burns on 90 percent of her body.

In Mexico, an average of 10 women are murdered daily, according to official figures. Many of these cases bear the hallmarks of gender-based violence.

“We condemn the murder of #care activist Luz Raquel Padilla in #Jalisco, as well as any form of violence against people who defend women’s human rights and fight against gender-based violence,” UN Women Mexico wrote on Twitter.

Padilla was living under protection measures after threats from a neighbor.

She had posted on social media denunciations of some of her neighbor’s behavior, such as listening to loud music, which affected her son’s health.

On May 17, she posted photographs on Twitter of threatening graffiti outside her home.

“You’re going to die,” and “I’m going to burn you alive,” the messages read.

“How long am I going to have to live in fear that something could happen to me and my family,” she wrote next to the images.

The case is being investigated as a possible femicide, said prosecutors, indicating that the neighbor had been called to testify.

Her son had been left in the custody of his grandmother, whom the Jalisco government would support, the office said.

This year at least 43 people have been lynched and 173 injured in mob attacks in Mexico, according to a report by the National Human Rights Commission.