Acid attack survivor Maria Elena Ríos plays her saxophone during a rehearsal at the National Autonomous University of Mexico music department, in Mexico City, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023. Some of the attackers and the ex-boyfriend, who ordered the acid attack, are in jail. Her love of the instrument, she says, is helping heal the psychological scars left by the acid attack. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme) 
Acid attack survivor Maria Elena Ríos is reflected in a mirror while playing her saxophone during a rehearsal at the National Autonomous University of Mexico music department, in Mexico City, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023. “We are reconciling, little by little,” says Ríos about her instrument. “I hated it, because I thought it was responsible” for the 2019 acid attack. Ríos thought her career as a musician and her devotion to her sax was what led her former boyfriend and politician to hire the men who splashed acid into her face and body, disfiguring her. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme) 
Maria Elena Ríos holds her saxophone at the end of a rehearsal at the National Autonomous University of Mexico music department, in Mexico City, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023. Ríos, 29, thought her career as a musician and her devotion to her sax was what led her former boyfriend and politician to hire the men who splashed acid into her face and body, disfiguring her in 2019. Later, she learned that he simply couldn’t accept that she had broken off their relationship. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme) 
CORRECTS TYPE OF CRIME OF PROPOSED BILL – Acid attack survivor Maria Elena Ríos tells her story to lawmakers who support a proposed bill which would classify acid attacks as a distinct, serious crime equivalent to attempted femicide, in the assembly room of the Mexico City Congress, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023. Her former boyfriend accused of ordering the attack, was a local legislator and businessman. He has declared himself innocent and his lawyers deny he had any involvement. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme) 
Acid attack survivor Maria Elena Ríos poses for a photo during a resistance meeting at the Monument to Women in Struggle, in Mexico City, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023. Ríos, 29, has joined a push among activists for stronger punishments for acid attacks. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme) 
CORRECTS TYPE OF CRIME OF PROPOSED BILL – Acid attack survivors; Maria Elena Ríos, center, wearing a white face mask, and Elisa Xolalpa, left center, raise their fists in unison during a press conference concerning a proposed bill bearing Ríos’ nickname, “Malena,” at the Mexico City Congress, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023. The proposed bill would classify acid attacks as a distinct, serious crime equivalent to attempted femicide. Currently they are treated as simple assault or bodily injury. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme) 
The “anti-monument” known as the Monument to Women in Struggle depicting a woman with a clenched fist and propped up by the Spanish word for justice, towers over Reforma Avenue in Mexico City, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023. The Carmen Sanchez Foundation, started in 2021 to highlight the issue of acid attacks in Mexico, says government health data from 2022 suggests more than 100 women were attacked by chemicals or some kind of corrosive agent, though only 28 were reported to authorities. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)
Mexican musician finds refuge in saxophone after acid attack
