Armando Vega Gil: Mexican rock star kills himself after being accused of child sex abuse

Musician’s death sparks debate about whether he should have tried to clear his name through justice system

Mexican musician Armando Vega Gil, left, killed himself on 1 April 2019 after being anonymously accused of sexually abusing a woman when she was 13 years old. (AP)

A Mexican rock star killed himself after being accused of sexually abusing an underage girl.

Armando Vega Gil, 64, was found dead at his home in Mexico City on Monday after posting a public suicide note on Twitter.

In the letter, he said he had been falsely and anonymously accused of abusing and harassing a woman when she was 13 years old via the #MeTooMusicosMexicanos hashtag.

The founder and bassist of rock band Botellita de Jerez wrote: “I will say this categorically, this accusation is false.

“Let me make it clear that my death is not a confession of guilt, on the contrary it is a radical declaration of my innocence. I just want to clear the path my son will walk in the future.”

The band’s representative Paola Hernandez said she spoke with Mr Vega Gil at about 2am, some two hours before his death.

She said: “He was really sad and p****d off, he didn’t know how to clear his name.

“He said he wasn’t guilty...he was worried about how his son would take all this.”

Mr Vega Gil’s death sparked a debate on Mexican social media.

Some argued that if he was innocent he should have cleared his name in Mexico’s justice system, while others said the court of public opinion, especially online, had already found him guilty and permanently muddied his reputation.

The musician ended his letter saying: “Don’t blame anyone for my death, this suicide is a conscious, voluntary, free and personal decision. Hasta pronto.”

The Me Too movement has seen women take to social media to share their experiences of sexual assault and harassment.

The idea for the #MeToo hashtag started with singer and actress Alyssa Milano in October 2017 when she asked people who had experienced sexual violence to reply “me too” to her tweet so that the magnitude of the problem would become clear.

However the “me too” movement actually began back in 2006 with a Black activist in Harlem called Tarana Burke, who wanted to spread awareness and understanding about sexual assault in underprivileged communities of colour.