Although it is incredible, the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language has not entered the word “femicide” in its dictionary. If Raúl Prieto (1918-2003), Mexican writer and journalist, the RAE’s staunchest dissenter, were to come back to life and find out about the mistake, he would die again.
Raúl Prieto was an implacable critic of the lack of logic, bad syntax and the closedness of ideas embodied in any text that passed through his eyes and acute mind. He published a 757-page book to satirize and correct from the good use of the language what he called “dinosaur and inquisitorial Mother Academy.” But before he died again, he would describe “his rotten and bitter prejudices” as patriarchal.
On the other hand, in the “Dictionary of the use of Spanish” by María Moliner (1900-1981), a lexicon that reformulates the way of defining some words by the RAE Dictionary and that admits neologisms without stubbornness, there is a definition of femicide: “Homicide of women due to domestic violence”. Although domestic violence is one of the most common causes, there are currently other factors of femicide such as rape, cruelty and exacerbated machismo. In any case, the definition —and the time in which it was stipulated— was a good contribution to our language by the Spanish philologist and lexicographer.
On one occasion Doña María was proposed to occupy a chair in the RAE, but apparently the fact of being a woman meant that she was not admitted. For this fact, after her death they began to call her: “The academic without a chair”.
After the extensive introduction I fall into the subject: According to the Executive Secretariat of the Public Security System (SESNSP) in the first quarter of this year in our country 299 femicides were committed. The largest number of them (39) were perpetrated in the State of Mexico. Nuevo León and Veracruz came in disgraceful second place with 21 cases each.
The most commented event in the media and on social networks has been that of Debanhi Susana Escobar Bazaldúa, who disappeared on Friday, April 8, in Colonia Nueva Castilla in Escobedo, Nuevo León. The 18-year-old was found 14 days later. Her body was found inside a cistern at the Nueva Castilla Motel. In my opinion there are dark spots in the incident.
The fact raised a stir at the national level, the governor of Nuevo León, Samuel García, followed up on the case. He was on several occasions close to the family (and the cameras, of course). He was on the lookout. He participated in a press conference and made several statements to the media.
Yolanda Martínez is a 26-year-old from New Leon who has been missing since March 31. Her case has not had the media relevance that Debanhi’s had. Perhaps that is why when Gerardo Ortiz, Yolanda’s father, asked the governor of Nuevo León for help last Tuesday, he made a comment on his Instagram: “I am very concerned, now they think I am in charge of dispensing Justice… Do they not know or study the three powers? Executive, Legislative and JUDICIAL”. What the governor meant: If there are no cameras and national significance, speak to the prosecution.
Final point
An example of the way in which Raúl Prieto made fun of the RAE and its Dictionary. Next, I transcribe four definitions of the tome and a question from the writer. Albogue: Kind of dulzaina… Dulzaina: Wind musical instrument, similar to the shawm… Chirimía: Wind musical instrument, made of wood like a clarinet… Clarinet: Wind musical instrument, which is made up of a cane reed mouthpiece , a tube lined with several pieces… Very good, but what is the albogue?
Writer and television screenwriter
The Privilege of Opinion
Mexican television writer. He is known for having written the scripts for programs such as Ensalada de Locos, La carabina de Ambrosio, La Güereja and something else, El privilege de manda, among others.