'Nowhere is safe': Colombia confronts alarming surge in femicides

[Judi Lynn]

Vice-president joins activists in calling for zero tolerance of ‘machismo’ that has left hundreds of women and girls dead

Joe Parkin Daniels in Bogotá
@joeparkdan
Mon 25 Jan 2021 02.15 EST

When authorities pulled the lifeless body of four-year-old María Ángel Molina out of a river in rural Colombia on 13 January, the South American country mourned what was the 14th documented case of femicide this year.

Her murderer, Juan Carlos Galvis, also kidnapped María’s sister, and later admitted to authorities that he committed the brutal crimes in order to punish the girls’ mother for seeing another man.

With five more femicides, murders directly related to the victim’s gender, documented since María’s killing – 18 in total, with a further 13 to be verified – rights groups are worried about the safety of women and girls once again forced indoors with abusive men amid a new round of strict lockdowns to curb coronavirus outbreaks.

“Sadly when we speak about violence against women in Colombia, there isn’t a single place that we can call ‘safe’,” said Juliana Castillo Rodas, who works with the Femicide Foundation Colombia, an NGO that provides support for women and tracks gender-based violence. “But what we can say is that the home has become one of the most dangerous places for women.”

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/jan/25/nowhere-is-safe-colombia-confronts-alarming-surge-in-femicides