Women Are Sharing This Murdered Teacher’s Last Tweet About Ending Gender Violence

Laura Luelmo’s murder is the latest incident to put gender violence in Spain under the spotlight.


Women are sharing the poignant final tweet of a teacher who was murdered while out running in southern Spain.

Laura Luelmo, 26, had been missing for six days when her half-naked body was found hidden behind some bushes on Monday. A 50-year-old man arrested in connection with her death has reportedly confessed to murder.

In the wake of Luelmo’s murder, women across Spain are resharing her last tweet, sent in March this year on International Women’s Day.

It shows the image of the 8M movement, an umbrella group of around 400 feminist organizations across Spain that came to prominence partially in response to a controversial rape trial.

The conviction of five men — who became known as La Manada or the Wolf Pack — for sexual assault, rather than rape as the prosecution called for, led to hundreds of thousands of women protesting across the country.

In the wake of Luelmo’s murder, women are also sharing tweets and Instagram posts under the hashtag #LauraSomosTodas — #WeAreAllLaura.

Laura sale a correr a las cuatro de la tarde y aparece asesinada días después. A todas se nos pasa por la cabeza que esto le ha pasado sencillamente por ser mujer. Correr sin miedo. Basta de violencias machistas El mayor de los abrazos para la familia y amig@s. #LauraSomosTodas

“Laura goes jogging at 4 in the afternoon and appears murdered days later. It’s going through all of our heads that this has happened simply because she was a woman. Run without fear. Enough of sexist violence. The biggest hug for her family and friends.”

El diseño de #LauraLuelmo en apoyo a la mujer. Hagámoslo viral. Revindiquemos. Salgamos a las calles. El #8M y todos los días. Luchemos. #LauraSomosTodas

“The #LauraLuelmo design in support of women. Let’s make it viral. Let’s reclaim [our rights]. Let’s take to the streets. On #8M and every day. Fight. #LauraSomosTodas.”

Este fue el último tuit de Laura Luelmo. Infinito cariño y fuerza a su familia y amigos. Infinito desprecio a los animales que agreden y asesinan mujeres y también a los miserables que, desde la política, buscan votos ensangrentados en el anti-feminismo. https://t.co/gFtk4pZZR3

“This was Laura Luelmo’s last tweet. Infinite affection and strength to her family and friends. Infinite contempt for the animals who assault and murder women and also the wretches who, from politics, seek votes bloodied in anti-feminism.”

Ella misma hizo esta ilustración para el pasado 8M, ojalá pudiéramos prometerte que serás la última. Descansa en paz. https://t.co/Tf6OR6ahvp

“She shared this illustration for the past 8M, I wish we could promise you that you will be the last. Rest in peace.”

Hola Laura. Aunque ya no puedes leernos, seguiremos luchando para que ni una mujer más acabe como tú. Seguirás en el corazón de toda la gente que queremos cambiar esta sociedad #LauraSomosTodas #NiUnaMenos #NiUnaMás 💜

“Hello Laura. Although you can’t read this anymore, we’ll keep fighting so that not even one more woman will end up like you. You will remain in the hearts of all the people who want to change this society.”

Su último tuit... https://t.co/cdbPBokBGg

“Her last tweet… There are some who consider it irrelevant (even morbid) to emphasize that everything indicates that this woman has died precisely because of the very thing that she warned her companions about and against which she actively fought.

They warned. It is what it is, and here is the tweet.”

Nunca mas silencio. Ni un hombre más que calle, que niegue, que no acompañe la lucha de las mujeres. Ni un hombre más que justifique, que no acuse a un culpable, que sienta a otros hombres su manada. Nuestra manada es el género humano y nuestra decencia feminista.

“No more silence. Not one man more who denies, who does not accompany the struggle of women. Not one more man who justifies, who does not accuse the guilty, because he feels other men are his pack. Our pack is the human race and our feminist decency.”

Women also shared cartoons that were a play on Nike’s “Just Do It” slogan, because Luelmo had been out jogging when she was assaulted.

And they shared images of them running in remembrance of Luelmo, promising to not stop.

La libertad nos pertenece única y exclusivamente a nosotras, y así será eternamente. Hoy salgo a correr por Laura, por mí y por todas nosotras. Y quiero hacerlo sin miedo. Jamás lograrán silenciarnos. JAMÁS #corrersinmiedo #correrenlibertad #LauraSomosTodas

“Freedom belongs to us only and exclusively to us, and it will be eternal. Today I run for Laura, for me, and for all of us. And I want to do it without fear. They will never be able to silence us. NEVER.”

Seguiremos corriendo, caminando, solas, acompañadas, por la ciudad, por la montaña. Nadie nos parará. Por Laura, por todas, por mi #NiUnaMenos #NiUnaMas #todassomoslaura

“We will continue running, walking, alone, accompanied, by the city, by the mountain. No one will stop us. For Laura, for everyone, for me.”

In the aftermath of Luelmo’s murder, many warned that her death was not an isolated incident.

Se le caiga la lengua al próximo que diga que el gran problema de este país son las "denuncias falsas" y la "ideología de género", al que diga que "la violencia no tiene género", al que diga que son casos aislados. Que se le caiga la lengua y luego que reviente. #LauraSomosTodas

“I hope the tongue falls off the next person who says that the great problem of this country is the ‘false accusations’ and the ‘gender ideology,’ the person who says that ‘violence has no gender,’ who says these are isolated cases. May their tongue fall out and they piss off.”

A prevalent culture of machismo, often weaponized by online forums, has seen a vicious pushback to the emerging feminist movement in Spain. Nowhere can this be seen more clearly than in the counterreaction to Luelmo’s murder. In one thread — denounced by feminists — one man described how in the wake of the murder he felt uncomfortable around women (with the exception of his mother and sisters).

This attitude could also be seen in some of the coverage around Luelmo’s murder. El Periódoco, a Spanish national daily, placed coverage of her killing in the “life” section of the paper, provoking outrage.

Para @elperiodico los ASESINATOS de mujeres están dentro del apartado "Cosas d la Vida"/sociedad...quién os subvenciona??...dais Asco

“For @elperiodico the murders of women are within the section ‘Life Things’/Society... Who subsidizes you? ...I am disgusted.”

The latest available figures on gender-based violence from Spain found 2017 was the deadliest year on record for Spanish women, according to the Local Spain. There was an almost 30% increase in the number of reported assaults, with statistics finding that between 2003 and 2017 more than 900 women were murdered.

In the days before her death, Luelmo reportedly told her boyfriend that she was worried about how her new neighbor Bernardo Montoya, 50, looked at her.

Montoya, who has confessed to killing her, has a previous conviction for assaulting a local hairdresser. An initial autopsy found that she was killed sometime between Friday and Saturday by a blow to the head, El País reported. It is unclear whether she was sexually assaulted before she was killed.

Luelmo was originally from Zamora in northwestern Spain, but had moved to El Campillo in the south to start a new job as a teacher only days before she was attacked.

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