In July 2019, two men raided her house in Quintana Roo, stole her work equipment and killed two dogs who were protecting the house. Since the release of Los Demonios del Edén (The Demons of Eden), the book where she revealed the existence of a network of child sexual exploitation involving high-profile businessmen and politicians, she has lived under siege and in constant danger.
To her biography, one could add that she is a woman committed to peace, to journalism for peace, and therefore upholds the spirit of Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security of the UN Security Council adopted two decades ago, on 31 October 2000, and the reason for this conversation, which, being remote, feels more like a profound exposition with herself.Īs well as being a specialist in organised crime and human trafficking, Lydia Cacho is herself a survivor of torture. With such experience, she did not hesitate to answer that she is "a journalist, a feminist and a defender of human rights" when asked about her work. She has also strived to decipher and explain corruption and structural violence towards women and girls in order to find creative responses to violence. In a 30-year journalistic career, Cacho has immersed herself in the stories of survivors of exploitation and those who refuse to allow the impunity of the powerful to prevail. This work has, however, brought her death threats and led her to move from her native country Mexico as a way to protect her own life.Īccustomed to combining her role as an interviewer with that of the interviewee, Cacho agreed to a video call during the only free space on her agenda, which happened to be after giving an online keynote address and receiving the Hay Digital Festival Journalism medal – her most recent recognition in a long list of international awards acknowledging her career as a journalist, investigative reporter, feminist, human rights defender and author of 16 books. Such discipline and her commitment to justice for women, girls and boys has made her investigations to unravel human trafficking networks become a reference for journalism. In exile, journalist Lydia Cacho Ribeiro won’t stop writing, reading, researching, engaging in conversation and time and time again returning to written expression. This piece is part of our dossier "No Women - No Peace: 20th Anniversary of UNSC Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security".
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