Mourning on Women's Day: Feminicides poison, dismember and kill viciously

Page Seven

Our Country
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11.10.2021
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Daniel, Jéssica's self-confessed murderer, planned the crime 16 days earlier. Despite having a restraining order for violence, on 22 July he called the young woman from an unknown mobile phone number and told her that he was at the door of her house - in the Ovejuyo neighbourhood of La Paz - and that he wanted to see her children. It was a hoax. As soon as the victim opened the door, he hit her and stabbed her 20 times in front of her children.

A 17-year-old teenager bought poison, mixed the substance with soda and set up a date with his 15-year-old girlfriend in the Valle Hermoso area of Cochabamba. At the meeting - which took place on 18 September - the young man gave the drink to his partner. She became ill and died. He confessed that he planned the crime because the girl was supposedly pregnant and wanted to attend a party with someone else.

In both cases, the perpetrators planned how to end their victims' lives, and they are not the only ones. Of the 90 femicides registered so far this year, 81 - that is, 90 per cent - were planned and committed with great cruelty, according to a register compiled by Página Siete. This report was based on data from the Public Prosecutor's Office, the police and the victims' families.

In the other nine crimes (10%), the perpetrators were not identified, did not know the victims and claimed excessive alcohol consumption, but had previously assaulted their partners.

Source: Página Siete

Today, the country remembers Women's Day in Bolivia with mourning for the 90 women who have been murdered since January to date. La Paz leads the cases with 33, twice as many as Santa Cruz. (See infographic)

23 women died as a result of strangulation, 21 by stabbing (throat slit or stabbed) and 10 by mechanical asphyxia. Another 15 were beaten to death. 13 were killed by attacks with stones, pickaxes, sticks and others. (See infographic)

According to the legal representative and founder of Voces Libres, Mercedes Cortez, as hate crimes, these murders have certain characteristics typical of the patriarchal system "that places women as inferior objects who must fulfil a role and be subjected to what the man says".

With the Comprehensive Law 348 to Guarantee Women a Life Free of Violence, the woman stands before this system and says "I'm going to denounce you" and the man, losing what he believes to be his, ends up killing his partner or victim.

Full story in Página Siete

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