(AFP).- The death of a Mexican student, presumably due to injuries caused by a classmate during a fight, once again brought to the fore the problem of bullying and discrimination suffered by thousands of minors in this country.
The event, which occurred in the tourist town of Teotihuacán (Mexico State, center), caused stupor, as the moment in which 14-year-old Norma Lizbeth was hit on the head repeatedly with a stone was recorded on video.
“Cultural, moral, and spiritual values must be strengthened,” Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador told reporters this Friday, when he intervened in the discussion about the serious consequences of “bullying.”
Of humble origins, Norma Lizbeth died last Monday due to a head trauma that she suspected suffered when confronting a classmate on February 21.
Although she was conscious after the altercation, in the following days she fainted and ended up hospitalized, according to the young woman’s family, who assures that she was a victim of harassment by her aggressor some time ago.
“He told me that his classmates were ‘bullying’ him because of the color” of his skin, Francisca Pérez, the teenager’s mother, told the press. “She was very quiet, I advised her not to be rude, to say anything to the teacher,” she added.
The director of the public school was dismissed, amid protests by parents who even blocked access to Teotihuacán.
“Don’t record, better help,” read one of the banners carried by a protester, alluding to the schoolboys who filmed the fight.
According to 2018 data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in Mexico 23% of students claimed to have been harassed several times a month.
This problem and discrimination have already had dramatic expressions in the past, such as the injuries suffered by Juan Zamorano, a 14-year-old Otomi, who was set on fire by colleagues on June 6, 2022 in the state of Querétaro (center), according to his family for being indigenous.
Without mentioning the case of Norma Lizbeth, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) published a tweet this Friday warning about the impact of bullying, and urging people to report this situation to the authorities.
