Diana, The Vigilante Femicide Bus Driver Hunter
APSketch of ‘Diana, the Hunter,’ the female vigilante who killed bus drivers suspected of aiding in the murder of women, by eye witnesses.
In recent years, there has been a growing pandemic of “femicide” in Mexico, the abduction and killing of women.
It is estimated that six women are murdered every day in the country and, most alarmingly, news reports revealed many of these crimes were aided by local officials and transit officers, including city bus drivers who sometimes doubled as drug dealers.
The worsening conditions have spurred a grassroots movement of women rights activists who are bringing wider attention to this horrific trend. But rampant corruption in law enforcement has often forced women to take matters into their own hands — one of these female vigilantes is a woman named Diana.
Nicknamed the “Bus Driver Hunter,” Diana was a disguised vigilante who worked to avenge the more than 800 girls and women allegedly killed or abducted by Ciudad Juárez bus drivers.
After murdering two bus drivers suspected of being accomplices in these crimes against women, Diana sent out a letter to local news outlets explaining her actions:
This American Life
Reporter Yuri Herrera, who covered Diana’s story on This American Life, spoke with female public transit users in Ciudad Juárez — where the homicide rate is double that of the entire country — about the armed vigilante. One young mother remarked candidly, “How great that someone’s doing what many of us should have done.”
Another woman commented on her bravery, saying, “I’m not sure what she did is justified… but you’ve got to admit that that woman has guts.” The public’s response to the vigilante fighting for women’s safety clearly stems from the public’s hopelessness in the face of the growing murders.
“First [the police] denied the problem… then they played it down, and finally, they blamed the victims’ lifestyle and their families,” explained Oscar Maynez, a criminologist who has worked on numerous femicide cases in Mexico.
Possibly wearing a bright blonde wig, Diana’s M.O. has been a quick bullet or two to the back of the head from a revolver. It’s unclear how many times Diana has acted but her extreme actions have definitely had the intended effect on conspiratorial men looking to hurt more women.
“We’re terrified,” said one bus driver, complaining of constant headaches due to the strain of looking over his shoulder for fear of Diana’s reprisal. “We’re frightened of our own shadow.”
So far, Diana remains at large and while her revenge against the men who continue to harm and kill Mexican women has not stopped the rising toll of victims, it has provided women some form of comfort that someone is looking out for them.
“Perhaps they will realize that it is not so easy to abuse women now,” one female passenger said with a smile.
