MEXICO CITY, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Spain's foreign minister on Monday demanded justice after the killing of a 21-year-old Spanish student in central Mexico, a case local authorities are investigating as a femicide.
"We want to get to the bottom of this," Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters, adding authorities were in contact with the family of the woman, identified as Claudia Tacoronte.
Tacoronte, a student at the University of Granada, was in Mexico on an academic exchange program with the Autonomous University of the State of Morelos. Her body was found late on Saturday near the Casa de Cultura in Cuautla, a city in Morelos state, about 100 km (62 miles) south of Mexico City.
Local Mexican media, citing police sources, reported that she died of stab wounds. She had been in Morelos for less than a month, state prosecutor Fernando Blumenkron told journalists, and had been staying at the cultural center for a medicinal plant festival.
Spain's Equality Minister Ana Redondo said on social media that Tacoronte's exchange should have been "an experience of learning and freedom," adding that sexist violence "knows no borders and no age."
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said federal authorities were supporting the investigation.
Students at the Mexican university held a silent vigil on Monday and called on authorities to deliver justice. Some also urged stronger protections for female students, citing other recent killings of women in the state.
The University of Granada condemned the killing and held a minute of silence in Tacoronte's memory. According to Spanish newspaper El Pais, the university has also canceled exchange placements for three students who had been due to study in Morelos next semester.
Mexico has long struggled with high levels of gender-based violence. Morelos recorded 21 femicides between January and July this year, according to official data, while 380 were registered nationwide over the same period.
(Reporting by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez in Barcelona, Benjamin Mejias in Gdansk and Raul Cortes and Fabiola Aramburo in Mexico City; Editing by David Gregorio and Kylie Madry)
