10:07 AM
The feminicide figures in Colombia are skyrocketing. The recent cases of Stefany Barranco Oquendo and Natalia Vásquez Amaya, both died violently at the hands of their former romantic partners, have the authorities on alert, whose actions seem ineffective in the face of security guarantees for the women, beyond a restraining order and two months of lodging in a protection home.
Families in mourning, hundreds in the country, dust off the complaints against the executioners of their dead relative; the evidence that it could have been avoided and yet it was not done.
“That was known, my niece tried to get away from that man and couldn’t, she had reported him, she even lived near a CAI, the Police and there they had orders to be alert in case that man arrived and he still arrived and the killed”, says the uncle of Natalia Vásquez Amaya, the nurse murdered by her ex-partner, in the town of Suba, Bogotá.
In contrast, there are the figures of the Attorney General facing the investigation of these cases. In the offices of the accusing body there are only 138 openings in different stages, of the total 217 femicides committed during 2024according to the Colombian Observatory of Femicides.
Of those, 79 are in the investigation stage, 29 in investigation, 27 in trial, 2 in execution of sentences and only 1 conviction due to acceptance of the facts.
These deaths are a direct consequence of systemic violence against women, of stacked complaints and the trite problem due to judicial congestion. A devastating cocktail for women in vulnerable situations, where abuse, in most cases, became routine.
The atmosphere of indignation that Colombia breathes today, due to recent crimes, is not unfounded. In addition to the 271 fatalities, the Observatory He also revealed that there is a record of at least 193 attempts at feminicide throughout the national territory; Hence, the entire citizenry turns to reject these facts and demand efficiency from the authorities..
In the most recent report, last April, 62 femicides were recorded in 18 departments. The majority of the victims were women between 20 and 24 years of age.
The cases reported so far warn of the risk of exceeding the 525 femicides occurred in 2023, and more than 848 alertsaccording to data from Feminicides Colombia.
In parallel, the Prosecutor’s Office has ordered the opening of 407 processes of those 525; 138 are still under investigation, 20 in the investigation stage, 160 in trial, 36 are in the sentence execution stage and only 3 convictions for acceptance of charges.
Why are women murdered?
The figures of femicides differ and in what way. On the one hand, the Colombian Observatory of Femicides, has a record of 217 caseswhile organizations like the Attorney General’s Office realize 89 cases so far in 2024. They both agree that they are the departments of Antioquia, Valle and Santander, where this crime occurs most. Of course, although they are distant from each other, they are figures and not because they do not converse, they cease to be serious, tragic and painful.
They were the lives of women, most of them heads of households, who sought survival, clinging to a copy of a complaint against their abuser or a worn-out restraining order, without real saving effects.
read more: Lawyer for Stefanny Barranco’s murderer said that the man was drunk when he committed the crime
“Femicide and violence against women is a form of absolute contempt for women’s lives. “Femicides are mostly committed by a partner or ex-partner, but it should not be limited because the crime is when someone kills or murders a woman because she is a woman,” he said. María Vega, director of the foundation, Justice for Allwho also clarified that, according to the Rosa Elvira Cely Law and directive 004 of the Prosecutor’s Office, Every violent death of a woman must begin under the hypothesis of feminicide.
The clarification is not surprising, since according to the Constitutional court Not all murders of women are femicides. Instead, he warns that the crime will be classified as feminicide when the death of the woman is motivated by her condition of being a woman or for reasons of their gender identity.
Without detracting from the scenario in which it will be classified as feminicide, the truth is that women in Colombia feel increasingly vulnerable and susceptible to being attacked, violated, abused and murdered, in the face of a scenario in which violence is normalized and even more serious, it multiplies.
Finally, the authorities remember that the national line #155, for assistance to women victims of gender violence that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There they can receive immediate attention and support in different processes.
