In recent days, the streets of La Paz and Montevideo have seen two women’s movements that have brought together thousands of people against gender-based violence.
Bolivian history is macabre. It turned out that a former convict for crimes against women, who had been sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2015, had come out of jail favored by a corruption scheme between judges. The man, known as “el Richard”, was arrested again for killing at least two women and raping more than 70. He ended up confessing that the victims were buried in his own home, in the city of El Alto, next to La Paz. Richard, 36, met them through social media, offering them work or dating, holding them prisoner for a while, sexually abusing them, and then killing or releasing them.
Most of his victims’ families had reported against him, but the police are accused by relatives and women’s rights NGOs of acting too slowly and disinterestedly, probably because most of them are from humble origins. Lucy, 17, and Iris, 15, spent days as the rapist’s prey until they were killed and buried. Searches of the property found a third corpse, as yet unidentified, and are not yet completed. That is, there may be more fatalities.
The inhabitants of El Alto and the women’s defense associations were alarmed by the situation, which shows a double irregularity. One, Richard’s ghastly crimes. The other, the fact that he and hundreds of others accused of crimes against women had quick access to a release of their sentences by presenting false medical documents.
The march, held on the 31st, brought together women and activists asking for justice, and started at the house where the women were found, in El Alto, to end in front of the Court of Justice, in La Paz. The government of President Luis Arce said that the hundreds, or even thousands, of cases of irregular releases of criminals who committed violence against women will be reviewed. The judge who released Richard, accused of being part of a scheme of judges who release prisoners for a bribe, was also arrested.
In Uruguay, the act took place on January 29, with the flag “KArda” (that burns), against violence against women, in Montevideo and in several cities in the interior. The protesters were organized around recent horrific cases of gang rape, in which the victims were two young women aged 19 and 26, three girls aged 10 and 12 and two women aged 30 and 75. A week earlier, a 30-year-old woman had been raped by four men.
Uruguay is on the eve of a referendum that will define the application of a group of laws that, if approved, will increase the budget to reinforce security, a project by President Luis Lacalle Pou. Women’s rights groups, however, call for more emphasis on prevention measures than punishment.
It can be seen that, even in a country ruled by the left, such as Bolivia, or by the right, such as Uruguay, violence against women is a latent issue that is not limited to certain economic sectors of society either.
