Latest news with #ValeriaMárquez
Daily Mirror
22-05-2025
- Daily Mirror
Mystery of influencer shot dead on livestream deepens
Glamorous young influencer Valeria Márquez's life was taken while she was going live on a TikTok live stream, leaving followers horrified. Questions surrounding her tragic death continue to linger Valeria Márquez was just 23 years old - a rising influencer with a love for makeup, fashion and travelling. She updated her followers through livestreams, letting them into her world. On this day, she was smiling on live, excited for a courier to bring her a gift. She'd joked about it. Speculated. But beneath the laughs, it was clear: something felt off. Still, no one could've imagined what would happen next. It was then that Valeria was gunned down in cold blood - live on camera. Valeria was known for her glamorous lifestyle, having carved out a name for herself on social media. Still only in her early twenties, she already owned her own salon while chasing bigger dreams through a ring light. She was right on the cusp of something greater. She often shared photos on Instagram aboard private jets and yachts. At the time of her death, she had more than 223,000 followers on Instagram and another 100,000 on TikTok. But just like that, her dreams were stolen from her. Everything changed on May 13, 2025. She was livestreaming from her beauty salon in Zapopan, a town in the central-eastern state of Jalisco. She was waiting for a gift to arrive, but she'd already mentioned feeling uneasy. Her friend couldn't see the courier's face when he showed up. It was believed to be concealed. She voiced her fear: 'Why didn't he just drop it off? Maybe they were going to kill me. Were they going to come and take me away, or what?' She was holding another gift - a pink stuffed animal when the delivery driver asked for her by name. It left a lingering doubt in her head. However, hours before, a man had posed as a delivery driver, claiming to have a 'very expensive' gift for her. Valeria looked away from the camera. Then she grabbed her chest and stomach before collapsing. A gunman had burst into her salon and shot her dead - all while the livestream continued. Another woman took her phone and ended the stream. The chilling footage was screen recorded and has since circulated online, showing Valeria laughing and chatting before a bullet silenced everything. Her life ended on screen, leaving her followers — and the world in shock. Mexican authorities later confirmed Valeria had no links to criminal activity, sparking deeper questions about the motive and whether she was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. But while many questions linger, some things have become clearer. The shooter didn't know her personally - he had to confirm who she was before pulling the trigger. Denis Rodríguez, a spokesperson for the JSPO, said, 'It appears he didn't know her. With that, you can deduce - without jumping to conclusions - that this was a person who was paid… obviously someone who came with a purpose.' The salon's location adds even more weight to the theory. Despite the private security and clean appearance, it's in one of the most violent areas of Jalisco, a state heavily affected by cartel activity. In fact, just 50km away, a cartel training centre was found in March. And in Jalisco alone, more than 15,000 people have disappeared since 2018. The same day Valeria was killed, former congressman Luis Armando Córdoba Díaz was murdered just two kilometres away, according to the newspaper Reforma. Authorities are investigating whether the two deaths are connected. Some media outlets have shared messages suggesting Valeria previously blamed her ex and feared for her safety. But Juan José Frangie, the mayor, claimed there were no official reports from her about threats. 'A femicide is the worst thing,' he added. While the speculation continues, there are questions that still need answers. Why was she targeted? Who could do such a thing? Valeria Márquez died with her smile still on screen, gunned down in her own salon, in the middle of doing what she loved - chasing a future that was so close to being hers. She should've gone viral for anything else but not for her murder.
Time of India
20-05-2025
- Time of India
Who was Maria Jose Estupinan? Columbian influencer shot days after Valeria Marquez's murder
Only days after the bone-chilling murder of the Mexican social media influencer Valeria Márquez, yet another internet personality has been killed – almost in the same way. What happened? On May 15, Maria José Estupiñán, a 22-year-old university student living in Colombia's northern city of Cúcuta, was reportedly shot several times at her residence by a man pretending to be a delivery person. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now In security footage that has been widely shared across social media, a man can be seen running away after allegedly shooting Estupiñán, who can be heard screaming in pain. Estupiñán, who was a student at Francisco de Paula Santander University, died shortly after from her injuries. Who was Maria José Estupiñán? Maria José Estupiñán Sánchez was a 22-year-old Colombian model and social media influencer from Cúcuta, Colombia. Estupiñán had a significant online presence, known for her modeling work and as a university student. She was tragically shot and killed on May 15, 2025, outside her home by a man posing as a delivery driver. The assailant shot her multiple times before fleeing the scene, and security footage captured the suspect's escape. Her death occurred just days after a similar incident in Mexico, where influencer Valeria Márquez was murdered during a TikTok livestream. What we know so far: Authorities are investigating Estupiñán's murder as a possible femicide, as she had previously reported her ex-partner for domestic violence. A judge had ruled in her favor just a day before her death, ordering compensation from her abuser. Women's rights groups have criticized the Colombian government for systemic failures, blaming state negligence for preventable deaths like Estupiñán's. Is Estupiñán's murder a femicide? Magda Victoria Acosta, president of the National Gender Commission of the Colombian Judiciary, revealed that Estupiñán's death came just as she was expecting to receive 30 million pesos from her ex-partner as part of a domestic violence complaint she filed against him in 2018. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Although authorities have said they are investigating Estupiñán's murder, it's unclear if they're pursuing it as a suspected femicide. Only days before Estupiñán's death, Valeria Márquez, a 23-year-old Mexican beauty influencer, tragically lost her life during a TikTok livestream on May 13, 2025. The incident occurred at Blossom the Beauty Lounge in Zapopan, Jalisco, where she was fatally shot while broadcasting to her nearly 200,000 followers. In her final moments, she reportedly said, 'Ya vienen' ('They are coming'), just before the stream abruptly ended. Before her death, Márquez had expressed concerns about her safety on social media, mentioning receiving a costly gift from an unknown person, which raised her apprehension. Authorities are currently investigating the case as femicide, a term under Mexican law referring to gender-motivated killings involving degrading violence or misogyny.
The Sun
17-05-2025
- The Sun
Dark side of Brit hols hotspot where innocent tourists are caught in crossfire between warring cartels & drug kingpins
FROM sun-drenched shores to shimmering turquoise waters, these Latin American resorts are a picture-perfect paradise adored by Brits. But behind the postcard-perfect facade, a deadly drug war rages - and tourists have found themselves caught in the crossfire. 10 10 10 Around 1.3 million Brits visited Mexico in 2024, with the UK being one of the Latin American country's top European markets. But over 25,000 people were killed in violent attacks in Mexico in 2024 alone - a deadly toll that has barely budged since 2018. And just this week, the violence hit the internet in real time. On Tuesday, Valeria Márquez, a Mexican model and influencer was shot dead in a hair salon. Though authorities say her death is being treated as a possible femicide - not a cartel hit - it highlights the ongoing crisis of violence gripping Mexico. Most killings in Mexico last year were brutal, execution-style hits - the work of drug cartels battling for control of smuggling routes and turf. In Quintana Roo - home to popular tourist hotspots like Cancún and Tulum - cartel violence is surging. At least five major cartels are battling for control in the state - including the brutal Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the Gulf Cartel, Los Zetas, Cartel del Noreste, and the local 'Cártel de Cancún'. And while it's not their home turf, the feared Sinaloa Cartel is believed to have a presence too, according to expert Bertrand Monnet, who has spent over a decade interviewing its members on the ground. Between January and August 2024 alone, authorities in Quintana Roo opened 3,650 criminal investigations. But that number may just scratch the surface: over 92 percent of crimes in the state go unreported or uninvestigated, according to the National Citizens' Observatory. In February 2024, American tourist Niko Honarbakhsh and Belizean Shawn Billary were gunned down at a beach club in Tulum. While Billary had known ties to Quintana Roo gang conflicts, Niko is believed to have been simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Los Angeles native Niko and her husband, Karl Pearman, used to split their time between their home in Beverly Hills and a condominium in Cancun. While staying in their Cancun condo for a few days as Pearman went on a work trip, she decided to spend a few days in an Airbnb just two hours away. Reports at the time suggested that Billary was being chased by the gang and tried to flee in a restaurant with Niko, when the shots were fired. Pearman, a DEA agent for 15 years, said he and his wife were aware of the State Department's travel advisory, but they figured that some areas of Mexico were safer than Los Angeles. These resorts are like a Swiss Army knife for the cartels. Speaking to The Sun, professor of economic crime at EDHEC Business School, Bertrand Monnet, explained: "Violence is an asset they use to do business - and if there are innocent victims, for them this is not an issue at all. "So that's why it becomes so dangerous for tourists." Monnet, who has interviewed members of the Sinaloa Cartel in both Mexico city and Culiacán, insists that "having spent time with these people, you realise that they don't care at all" about the collateral deaths. "First, they have to kill their enemies - and then they terrify others.' 10 10 Mexico's big cartels are raking in an estimated $20-30 billion (£16-24bn) a year in profits, according to US government figures. Monnet says that cartels exploit tourist resorts as strategic tools for money laundering and criminal operations. Hotels, clubs and private beaches handle vast amounts of cash from visitors, making them ideal fronts for laundering illicit profits. "So they (cartels) fight for control," he says. "There's big competition for these kinds of places, especially in the Cancún region." But laundering money is just one reason - tourists also fuel a booming black market. "These resorts become markets for the cartels to shift drugs, and for the prostitutes they control, and so on," Monnet adds. "It's like the Swiss Army knife for the cartels." While tourists are not usually targeted directly, they can become unintended victims - caught in the crossfire between rival gangs fighting for control. Shooters fled on jet skis A few months after Niko's murder in 2024, a group of three men were shot dead when visiting Mexico for a surfing trip. Jake and Callum Robinson, two surfers from Australia, and Carter Rhoad from California were found dead after a suspected carjacking south of Ensenada in May 2024. Two months later, a 12-year-old boy named Santiago was struck by multiple stray bullets while sitting with his family on Cancún's Caracol Beach. The shooters fled on jet skis, as horrified Scottish tourist Carys Cannon ran for her life. Santiago was treated at the scene and rushed to hospital, where he later died. The Quintana Roo State Attorney General's Office said the assailants were targeting rivals over drug sales. In December 2024, a California couple was killed while on holiday in Michoacán, a state located in western Mexico. Gloria Ambriz, 50, and Rafael Cardona, 53, were driving their 2016 Ford Platinum pickup truck when gunmen began shooting at their car. In March 2023, two American tourists were killed in the crossfire of gangs, while two others were kidnapped. The group of four had travelled through a region labelled as dangerous by the US government when they were ambushed. In an odd turn of events, local mob gunmen left a letter accusing those who killed the Americans of breaking cartel rules. In November 2022, the butchered bodies of three men washed ashore at a beach resort in Acapulco, a city in Guerrero, a state plagued by cartel violence. Tourists discovered the bodies: one had their hand and foot tied to a cement anchor and another lay face-up in the sand. A third body was discovered just over a mile away on Icacos beach. 10 How tourists can stay safe Tourists continue to flock to Mexico - often unaware of the country's ongoing violence. The UK government currently advises tourists to "be very cautious after dark in downtown areas of Cancún, Tulum and Playa del Carmen." Expert Monnet says: "Tourists have to understand the reality of the country." He urges Brits to check trusted sources like the British consulate or Foreign Office before and during their trip. Monnet also advises asking hotel staff about which spots are safe to visit. While kidnappings mostly target locals, "cartels are very opportunistic' and on the lookout to "diversify their businesses", so tourists should stay alert. He warns against using private, unregistered taxis or 'fake Ubers'. Finally, he stresses: 'Don't consume drugs," both for the health risk and because "it's important not to fuel this economy as a consumer." What is the Mexican Drug War? Mexico is grappling with an ongoing conflict between drug cartels, the Mexican and US governments, along with their law enforcement agencies The drug war began in the 1980s, when Mexico became a key transit point for cocaine and other drugs being smuggled to the US In the 1980s, drug cartels like the Gulf Cartel and Sinaloa Cartel started gaining power In the 1990s, competition grew between cartels, leading to greater violence In the early 2000s, powerful criminal organisations, like the Sinaloa, Gulf and Zetas cartels, fought for control of drug trafficking routes and markets In 2006, President Felipe Calderón launched an all-out war on drug cartels, deploying the military to fight them - this is seen as a major turning point, sparking a surge in cartel violence In 2010, the Sinaloa Cartel and Los Zetas cartel became the dominant forces, leading to brutal turf wars By the 2010s, the murder rate in Mexico soared, with tens of thousands of deaths related to the drug war In 2014, 43 college students were kidnapped and likely killed in Guerrero, reportedly due to collusion between police and drug gangs In 2016, El Chapo Guzmán, leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, was captured after escaping prison twice In 2024, top leaders of the Sinaloa cartel, including the son of El Chapo, were arrested by US authorities Today, Mexico's drug war continues with reported violence, more cartels and civilian casualties How US and Mexican crackdowns could shift the drug war Mexico's drug war has never just been between the cartels - to a large extent, it's a battle between suppliers and consumers, cartels and the US, the historic destination for Mexican drugs. Almost all of fentanyl - the "silent killer drug" - intercepted at the US-Mexico border comes from Mexico, according to data by the US Customs and Border Patrol. Trump 's return to the US presidency in January ramped up the pressure on cartels. In February, the US slapped "global terrorist" labels on eight Latin American drug gangs, six of them Mexican. Trump even threatened a 25 per cent tariff on Mexican goods unless drugs - especially fentanyl - and migrants stopped entering. In response, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum launched a crackdown on cartels, sending 10,000 National Guard troops to the border and hundreds more soldiers to Sinaloa state. By February 27, nearly 30 suspected cartel figures were handed over to the US. Monnet acknowledges the effort, saying: "The government of Mrs. Sheinbaum has adopted a very good strategy: they have upgraded the resources of the state's forces, the police, the intelligence and so on, to try and fight against the cartels. "But it's not sufficient, of course, because they [cartels] have billions of dollars." Discussing the US' crackdown, he says: "Maybe Trump's pressure on the cartels will slow down the operations and so on - but it's not sufficient." 10
The Guardian
17-05-2025
- The Guardian
The livestreamed killing of an influencer could be femicide – a misunderstood crisis
Valeria Márquez was killed in one of the most horrifically public ways possible. On Tuesday evening, the 23-year-old Mexican social media influencer, who had built up a large following with videos about beauty and makeup, was recording a TikTok livestream in the beauty salon where she worked in Jalisco, a state in west-central Mexico. A man entered the establishment and, with her video still running, shot her dead. Many details of the case are still unclear. However, Márquez's death is being investigated as a femicide, according to a statement by the Jalisco state prosecutor. Femicide is defined as the intentional killing of a woman or girl with gender-related motivations. (The term for killing males because of their sex, something that has occurred during war and genocide, is androcide.) While femicide is a universal and age-old issue, it is poorly understood. It is also sometimes wilfully misunderstood by some men's rights activists, who like to argue that it is a nonexistent problem because men make up the majority of victims (and perpetrators) of homicide. So it's worth spelling out the parameters of femicide. If a woman is killed in a robbery gone wrong, that's (probably) not femicide. If she is killed by an ex-boyfriend who views women as the property of men rather than autonomous human beings, that's femicide. 'Honour'-related killings are also obviously femicide. We are missing a lot of data on femicide. 'Too many victims of femicide still go uncounted: for roughly four in 10 intentional murders of women and girls, there is not enough information to identify them as gender-related killings because of national variation in criminal justice recording and investigation practices,' UN Women wrote in a report last year. Naming the problem – understanding why femicide is different from homicide – is important, because it helps us solve it. If more institutions took misogyny and domestic violence seriously, we'd see fewer dead women. A report by the World Health Organization notes, for example, that 'stronger gun laws related to men previously cited for or convicted of intimate partner abuse are of particular importance in reducing rates of femicide'. Justice for Márquez doesn't just involve finding her killer and ensuring they are punished. If this was femicide, it means being very clear about the misogyny that led to her death. It means holding all the lawmakers and institutions that perpetuate this misogyny to account. Justice means understanding that her death wasn't some sort of tragic one-off, but part of a far larger problem. 'If I die, I want a loud death,' the Palestinian photojournalist Fatima Hassouna wrote on social media shortly before she was killed by an Israeli airstrike this year. 'I don't want to be just breaking news, or a number in a group, I want a death that the world will hear, an impact that will remain through time … ' That quote has haunted me ever since I read it. So many women who die premature and violent deaths die quiet deaths. They become statistics. Márquez must not just become another femicide statistic. Let her death, which has shone a spotlight on femicide, be loud. Let it have an impact that will remain through time. The president is obsessed with Swift and has posted about the pop star multiple times. The big Viagra budget, which has been widely discussed for years, isn't problematic in itself. The issue is that while the government has no problem spending this money on what is arguably gender-affirming care for cis men, it keeps yelling that trans people are a drain on resources. The issue is in the news once again after a judge in the Talbott v USA case, which challenges Trump's transgender military ban, noted that the military spends eight times more on erectile dysfunction medication than on gender-affirming care for trans service members. Liz Stead, 78, got kicked out of the military in 1969 when higher-ups sniffed out proof (a love letter) of Sapphic activity. She was also given a criminal conviction for 'perceived same-sex sexual activity'. As the BBC reports, she only found out about the conviction when applying for a scheme that awards financial redress for veterans sacked during a ban on homosexuality. Due to the fact that Israel isn't allowing international journalists into Gaza and murdering the Palestinian journalists and aid workers who are trapped in the enclave, it's impossible to really know how many children have been killed or starved to death by now. But we know there are more child amputees in Gaza than anywhere else in the world and, by one estimate, Israel kills a child in Gaza every 45 minutes. We also know that young children who do survive will never recover from being malnourished and traumatized in those formative years. While many people stay silent about a genocide that has been funded and enabled by the US, UK and Europe, the children's educator and entertainer Rachel Accurso (known and loved by parents of toddlers everywhere as Ms Rachel) has been speaking up about children in Gaza. And, quite predictably, she's getting vile abuse for it – including a piece in the New York Times that amplifies baseless, ridiculous and dangerous claims that she may be funded by Hamas. Sign up to The Week in Patriarchy Get Arwa Mahdawi's weekly recap of the most important stories on feminism and sexism and those fighting for equality after newsletter promotion A French study has found that men emit 26% more pollution because they eat more red meat and drive more. Of course we all need to be cognizant of our environmental impact, but it feels increasingly futile when billionaires pop to the grocery store on their private jets and warmongers pollute the planet. Last year, the Guardian reported on a study that found that '[t]he planet-warming emissions generated during the first two months of the war in Gaza were greater than the annual carbon footprint of more than 20 of the world's most climate-vulnerable nations'. In Jacobin, the anthropologist Kristen Ghodsee argues that 'the tradwife phenomenon and the manosphere are two sides of the same coin, reflecting the shift toward authoritarian politics'. Sometimes it's the people you most suspect. Tayo Bero spells out exactly how disturbing this is. 'You can't write a folk song – a folk song becomes one,' says Seeger. 'And they have helped to engender change because the community felt they spoke for them.' Chimpanzees are a hygienic bunch, a new study has found: they wipe their bums and even clean up after sex. Like orangutans, they also apply chewed plant material – which may have medicinal properties – to their wounds. In short, they are probably more knowledgeable about medical matters than the US health secretary. Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist
USA Today
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Who was Valeria Márquez? What to know about TikTok influencer killed while livestreaming
Who was Valeria Márquez? What to know about TikTok influencer killed while livestreaming The Jalisco Attorney General's Office is currently investigating Valeria Márquez's death as a femicide, an intentional killing with a gender-related motivation. Show Caption Hide Caption TikTok influencer Valeria Marquez shot while livestreaming in Mexico A man fatally shot a 23-year-old Mexican TikTok influencer, Valeria Marquez, while she was livestreaming. Valeria Márquez, an influencer who was fatally shot in Mexico, made a name for herself on social media. Though the 23-year-old was best known for making aspirational beauty and lifestyle content online, she was also the owner of Blossom the Beauty Lounge, a budding salon in Zapopan, a city located in the western Mexican state of Jalisco. The influencer was shot and killed on May 13 at her salon by an unknown assailant while she was livestreaming on TikTok. Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, the President of Mexico, confirmed an investigation into Márquez's death was underway, telling a pool of reporters at a May 15 press conference that the federal government and authorities in Jalisco were actively working to find those responsible and uncover a motive. The beauty parlor, an avid proponent of self-care, was open from August 2024 up until Márquez's murder. From massages to hair extensions, Blossom the Beauty Lounge offered a range of services to its clientele. Márquez also created content to promote her business, filming various videos of the customers and the establishment since it opened. "There is no better treatment than the time you dedicate to yourself" was the slogan associated with Márquez's business. Here's what to know about Valeria Márquez. Who was Valeria Márquez? Márquez was a model, influencer and entrepreneur. Márquez, originally from Guadalajara, amassed a following from sharing beauty and lifestyle content on both TikTok and Instagram. But her winning Miss Rostro, a regional beauty pageant, in 2021 is what kicked her career as an influencer into high gear. What made her stand out from the crowded space was her authenticity and how close she was to her followers, with whom she shared personal experiences and advice. She also shared photos of her outfits, various travels and from photoshoots on her personal Instagram account, which has over 380,000 followers. What happened to Valeria Márquez? An unidentified male approached Márquez while she was broadcasting live on TikTok from her salon. The exchange, heard on TikTok, began around 6:30 p.m. The assailant asked for Márquez by name and shot her in the chest and head after confirming her identity. He fled the salon on a motorcycle, according to reports from local outlets. The broadcast was interrupted by one of Márquez's friends, who was also in the salon. Hours before the shooting, Márquez told her followers she was concerned about suspicious packages and unnerving messages, telling them she wanted to get out of there. The Jalisco Attorney General's Office is currently investigating Márquez's death as a femicide, an intentional killing with a gender-related motivation. Márquez's remains were reportedly identified and released to her family. The family held a service for Márquez in Guadalajara on May 14, the day after she was fatally shot in her salon. "Femicide is driven by discrimination against women and girls, unequal power relations, gender stereotypes or harmful social norms," according to UN Women. "It is the most extreme and brutal manifestation of violence against women and girls which occurs on a continuum of multiple and related forms of violence..." The agency also clarified on May 14 that there is no evidence, at least in this stage of the investigation, that points to any one person despite public speculation. Any statements or allegations made related to Márquez's death, whether on social media or in the press, will be "processed and analyzed," officials said. Additional details about the case were not immediately available. Contributing: Saleen Martin and Boris Q'va, USA TODAY
