Mexico vows justice over police killing of Salvadoran

MEXICO CITY: Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday condemned the killing of a Salvadoran woman at the hands of police and vowed "no impunity" for those responsible.

Victoria Esperanza Salazar "was subdued by four individuals," Lopez Obrador said of Saturday's incident in the Caribbean beach resort of Tulum.

"She was brutally treated and murdered. It fills us with sorrow, pain and shame," he added, speaking at the inauguration of a virtual international forum on gender equality.

"All those responsible are going to be punished. They are already in the process of being prosecuted and there will be no impunity," Lopez Obrador said.

The 36-year-old mother of two had lived in Mexico for five years and worked in a hotel, according to her family in El Salvador.

"She did not deserve that death," said Salazar's mother, Rosibel Arriaza.

"It was an abuse of authority, so I ask for justice," she told reporters during a visit to El Salvador's foreign ministry to arrange the repatriation of the body.

"My daughter's case is being compared to that of (George) Floyd in the United States," she added, referring to the African American whose death by suffocation while a white policeman knelt on his neck sparked a national outrage.

Oscar Montes de Oca, prosecutor for the state of Quintana Roo, home to Tulum, said that the police used "disproportionate force" against Salazar, which caused a fatal spine fracture.

Salazar was involved in an altercation with the manager of a grocery store, who called the police, he added.

Montes de Oca said the four officers were already in custody and would be brought before a judge to face the charge of femicide, which is punishable by up to 50 years in prison.

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele called for those responsible for her death to face justice.

"I am sure that the Mexican government will apply the full weight of the law to those responsible," he wrote on Twitter, adding that "there are bad people everywhere, let's not forget that."

Dozens of women protested outside the offices of the Quintana Roo state government in Mexico City to demand justice.

"Four policemen attacked a single woman and murdered her," said Karen Campos, a member of an activist group called the League of Revolutionary Women.

"She was a working woman, a migrant woman, who had a humanitarian visa. She fled the violence of her country El Salvador to come to be assassinated in Mexico. That's completely outrageous," she said.