Guatemala -- Femicide ....

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RIGHTS-GUATEMALA: One Arrest in Gender-Killing Epidemic
By Danilo Valladares/IPS

GUATEMALA CITY, Aug 18 (IPS) - "Femicide," or gender-based murder, has reached epidemic proportions in Guatemala. But at least for Rosmery González - one of the more than 700 Guatemalan victims of this crime in 2008 - justice is finally being done with the arrest of her alleged killer earlier this month.

On Aug 6, Óscar Romero, the 19-year-old victim’s uncle, who was the leading suspect in her murder since she turned up dead in July of last year, was taken into police custody from his home in a poor district of the capital.

Pressure from human rights organisations and the women’s movement, combined with the unrelenting efforts of the victim’s parents finally led to Romero’s arrest. Just before she went missing, Rosmery had been on her way to meet with her uncle, who had promised to help her get a job at the National School of Agriculture (ENCA). Days after her disappearance, her body was found on the grounds of ENCA.

"On the one hand, I’m nervous and worried because there are a lot of risks involved, but I’m also happy because the authorities are now behind me," González’s mother, Elizabeth Chajón, told IPS.

Just a few days earlier, she had described to this reporter the impotence she felt at seeing how crimes like her daughter's murder went unpunished.

"When I went to the police to file the complaint (about Rosmery's disappearance), they told me she couldn't have been kidnapped and must have run off with her boyfriend," Chajón said.

Femicide is a term coined for misogynist or gender-related murders of women, sometimes accompanied by sexual violence.


http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=48126

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1. k i c k

[defendandprotect]

2. k i c k

[csziggy]

3. K&R

[Book Lover]

4. K&R

[defendandprotect]

5. k i c k

[defendandprotect]

6. An amazing disinterest in this subject . . . the very basis of patriarchy--!!

[deep1]

7. I don't get it.......

women are the ones that feed, clothe, and take care of your ass as a child and now you want to kill them. Do these cretins not respect their mothers? WTF?

[Joanne98]

8. All those countries and been infected by the christian right...

They travel down there and start shit in the population. Kill gays, union members, enviromentalists, human rights activists and anything LEFT!

FOLLOW THE MONEY AND C STREET!

Watch YWAM. It's packed full of pedophiles!

[deep1]

10. Nope.......

don't start the christian bashing again.......because misogyny existed way before the makings of Christianity or even religion. Silly argument.

[defendandprotect]

12. True . . . organized patriarchal religion is the underpinning for patriarchy . . .

Seems you can't declare yourself superior . . . you have to have "god" on your
side declaring you so!

The Bibble was written to cement patriarchy --

In fact, the GOP gave start up funds for the Christian Coalition ...

Others gave start up funding -- sorry can't remember the specific individual right now --
to Dobson's group and Bauer's group.

[malaise]

9. K&R for women everywhere

n/t

[kiva]

11. As much as I agree that violence against women

is a huge problem, which is exacerbated by the failure of many countries' law enforcement and court systems, I think that this article is somewhat dishonest in it's presentation of the problem in Guatemala.

From the article: "Femicide is a term coined for misogynist or gender-related murders of women, sometimes accompanied by sexual violence."

From other sources, however, it seems as though they are labeling all murders of females as Femicide.
http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=48126
http://old.redbrickonline.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2394&Itemid=63

Though both of these articles mention the growth of violence toward women, they also indicate it parallels the growing violence within the country itself.

This may be a petty point, but saying that all women who were murder victims in Guatemala (or any country) were killed because of their gender is disingenuous and misses the point that violence against everyone in this country is on the rise. A bloody civil war, widespread poverty, lax law enforcement and an inept (and possible corrupt) court system seem to conspire to put all Guatemalans at risk.

[defendandprotect]

13. . . . you think the article is "dishonest" . . . ?????

This is the international community calling for attention to the issue of Femicide
in Guatemala --

Amnesty International: "An alarming increase in Femicide" . . .
"targeted violence against women compounded by weak laws."

United Nations: "Impunity a key factor in violence against women in Guatemala" --



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Unfortunately, you don't seem to have read your own link which makes quite clear . . .

Murder rates are high amongst both men and women in Guatemala, but the motive behind feminicide appears to be exclusively based on the gender of the victims.

An independent study performed by the Human Rights Ombudsman's Office (Procuradoria de Derechos Humanos – PDH) discovered that 80 per cent of cases of male murders were perpetrated using a firearm and involved no intimate physical contact between the perpetrator and victim. In stark contrast to this, 69 per cent of female murder cases used a firearm and 31 per cent of cases involved direct physical violence between the attacker and the victim, including the use of knives, blunt objects and strangulation. Many of the victims suffer exceptional cruelty and are subjected to sexual assault, mutilation and dismemberment before being killed.

Numerous cases have been reported of families who have witnessed the abduction of a relative relaying this information to the police, who argue they must wait 24 hours before they can conduct any searches. In July 2005, the abduction of Cristina Hernández was witnessed by neighbours and reported to the police by her father. After searching for his daughter for two hours, Hernández returned to the police station to find out if any leads had been gathered. He was told he had not reported anything. The family were also told by the homicide department that they could do nothing. The following morning Cristina Hernández's body was found sexually assaulted and shot four times.

The vast majority of feminicides (approximately 80 per cent) are carried out by the country's numerous organised gangs, who often threaten the family members of the victims into submission.

The lack of an institutionalised policy of protection further hinders the judicial process and results in the retraction or abandonment of witness testimonials during trial. Guatemala's discriminatory legislation also allows violence against women to remain undetected. In 2006, reform of the Guatemalan Penal code was proposed in a draft amendment by three Congressional Commissions to address the issue of violence directed against women. They sought to alter such laws that stated it was not a criminal offence to have sexual relations with a minor as long as they were considered 'honest' (33). They also looked to abolish Article 200, which waived criminal responsibility for rape and certain other types of sexual violence (if the victim was twelve years of age or older) upon the perpetrator's marriage to the victim.

In April 2008,

Congress finally approved the 'Law Against Feminicide and Other Forms of Violence Against Women'

with the hope of providing legislation that will support the work of public prosecutors, human rights organisations and the police. However, sceptics argue that despite the implementation of new legislation,

the 'machisto' attitude entrenched within Guatemalan culture will take much longer to change.

I doubt their Congress passed the "Law Against Femincide and Other Froms of Violence Against
Women" because they were "dishonest" or poorly informed!

Nor do I consider Amnesty International "dishonest"!

Also keep in mind, in only 12% of the cases where women are murdered in Guatemala is an autopsy
requested to determine if there was sexual assault prior to death!

BOTH articles also point to the culture of "machisto" which underlies inequality of females and
which leads to sexist violence.


These murders are "marked by extreme cruelty" . . .
"particular characteristics of gender-killings in Guatemala is their viciousness" . . .
"torture, dismemberment, mutilations, extreme sexual violence and other unimaginable brutalities
are the hallmark."

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14. k i c k