International Women’s Day, on March 8th, was marred by protests in Mexico City and Turkey as described by the BBC. In Mexico since the escalation of violence associated to drug cartels, over 900 women have been victims of “femicide.” The cartel in question, Los Zetas, was created by former Mexican Army soldiers like Arturo Guzman Decena who received training from the United States Army before he went off on his own to wreak havoc and harvest women’s souls.

The women in Mexico haven’t received much sympathy, or results, from the Mexican Government in tackling this issue. There are even conspiracy theories, like the one described in this Business Insider article, that claim the United States has something to do with these atrocities. Some banks have been accused of money laundering for Mexican Cartels and have negotiated to pay fines.

Historically, women have been second class world citizens. Religions and governments have conspired to carry this bias into our “modern” world. In 7000 years of written human history women’s equality in law has only existed since 1920, and hasn’t yet been realized in practice. Viva la Libertad y Derechos de las Mujeres!