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02/07/12 – On Friday February 3, 2012, Amnesty International in Mexico reported that well-known activist Norma Andrade was attacked near her home in Mexico City. According to the Los Angeles Times, local police stated that Andrade was walking her granddaughter to school in the Coyoacan neighborhood when a man approached her and slashed her face.

This marks the second act of violence against the co-founder of Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa (May Our Daughters Return Home), a non-profit organization that demands justice for female homicides in Ciudad Juárez, in the state of Chihuahua. On December 2, 2011, Andrade was shot five times in Ciudad Juárez, outside of the school where she taught. For more information about the original attack, click here.

Following the first incident, Andrade moved to Mexico City under the auspices that she would be relatively safer. The second attack has more or less confirmed, however, that Andrade is being targeted for her work documenting unsolved homicide cases-including that of her daughter-in Ciudad Juárez.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) has called for an investigation by local officials to punish those responsible for the attacks in order to prevent and dissuade future acts of aggression against defenders of human rights. Amnesty International states that the attacks constitute an imminent threat for Norma Andrade, and subsequently asks that Mexican authorities provide her with the protection that she needs, especially at the hospital where she is being treated.

El Universal reports that the Attorney General of Justice of the Federal District (Procuraduría General de Justicia del Distrito Federal) is heading the investigation to identify Andrade’s most recent anonymous attacker.

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