19 Facts About Lydia Cacho

Lydia Maria Cacho Ribeiro was born on 12 April 1963 and is a Mexican journalist, feminist, and human rights activist.

Lydia Cacho is the winner of numerous international awards for her journalism, including the Civil Courage Prize, the Wallenberg Medal, and the Olof Palme Prize.

Lydia Cacho Ribeiro was born in Mexico City to a mother of French-Portuguese origin who moved from France to Mexico during World War II and a Mexican engineer father.

Lydia Cacho attributed her refusal to compromise to her mother, who was shocked by what she called Mexicans' willingness to "negotiate their dignity in exchange for apparent freedom".

Lydia Cacho's mother taught her social awareness by taking Cacho along for grassroots community projects into poor neighborhoods.

Lydia Cacho lived briefly in Paris as a young woman, studying at the Sorbonne and working as a maid.

However, guided by her mother's feminism, Lydia Cacho soon began writing about violence against women.

Lydia Cacho believes that the attack was a retaliation for her investigations.

Lydia Cacho continued her investigations and the following year founded a shelter for battered women.

Lydia Cacho was then imprisoned for a short time on defamation charges before being released on bail.

Lydia Cacho took the case of her arrest to the Supreme Court, becoming the first woman in Mexico's history to testify there.

On 29 November 2007, the Court ruled 6 to 4 that Marin had no case to answer in Lydia Cacho's arrest, jailing and harassment, a case that The New York Times described as "a setback for journalistic freedom in Mexico".

In May 2008, a few days before she was scheduled to testify at Kuri's trial, Lydia Cacho was almost killed when the lug nuts on one of her car's wheels were loosened.

In 2006, Lydia Cacho reported on the hundreds of female homicides in Ciudad Juarez.

In 2020, Lydia Cacho was the host and executive producer of a bilingual podcast produced by Imperative Entertainment and Blue Guitar about the femicide in Juarez.

In 2009, Lydia Cacho was awarded the Wallenberg Medal from the University of Michigan for her work to bring to public attention to the corruption that shields criminals who exploit women and children.

Lydia Cacho was named a World Press Freedom Hero of the International Press Institute.

Lydia Cacho won the Civil Courage Prize of The Train Foundation, which she shared with Triveni Acharya for efforts against "sex trafficking, domestic violence and child pornography", and the Olof Palme Prize together with Roberto Saviano.

In 2017, Lydia Cacho was awarded the Distinguished Leadership Award for the Defense of Human Rights by the Inter-American Dialogue.