Activists And Shanquella Robinson’s Family Will Mail Letters With Pink Envelopes To Mexican Officials
More than three months have passed since Shanquella Robinson died in Mexico and her family is still demanding justice.
According to The Charlotte Observer, on Feb. 18 at noon activists from Million Youth March of Charlotte and Robinson’s family will march from Little Rock A.M.E. Zion Church to a local post office to send 1,000 letters in pink envelopes to Mexican officials. According to organizer Mario Black, the hope is sending the letters “will ignite someone there to push a little harder.”
Robinson, 25 at the time, had traveled to Mexico with six friends from college – four women and two men – was discovered unconscious on Oct. 29 in a rented tourist property in San Jose del Cabo, in Baja California Sur, more than 1,000 miles south of San Diego. Her family said her friends told them she had died of alcohol poisoning. However, a video went viral on social media of someone in the traveling party attacking her in a bedroom while she was naked. A man who appeared to be filming the assault is heard questioning Shanquella, saying, “Quella, can you at least fight back?” The time and date of the filming have not been verified.
A representative for Villa Linda 32, the property where the group stayed, told WJZY that the concierge contacted a doctor who attempted to revive Shanquella, but to no avail. She was declared dead at 3 p.m. local time. It took a month before reports surfaced that Robinson was likely a homicide victim and did not succumb to alcohol poisoning, as her travel companions allegedly told the family.
Last month, Baja California Sur Attorney General Daniel de la Rosa Anaya said at a press conference, “There is no impunity in this case. Everything is under investigation.”
He also revealed they are working with authorities in the U.S. and added, “It is important to obtain the court order with regard to whoever is responsible for this, but also if there were any accomplices.” While his office has requested extradition for a suspect, their name has not been made public.