Activists carry photos of slain women to protest gender violence in Peru

Lima, Nov 27 (EFE).- Activists marched through the center of the Peruvian capital on Saturday carrying blown-up photographs of victims of gender violence as part of the 2021 observance of International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Behind a banner reading “Our Voices Against Machismo and Fascism,” hundreds of people, most of them clad in the purple of the Not One Less Woman movement, filled Lima’s historic district with the images of slain women and girls.

Displayed on one placard was the face of Jhoely Capcha, a 28-year-old bookkeeper murdered on June 12, allegedly by boyfriend Jhon Juliote.

“He stabbed her seven times and not content with that, he set fire to the apartment, burning my cousin,” a member of Capcha’s family told reporters covering the march. “We ask the judiciary for a speedy trial and to impose life in prison. We have evidence, the images from the security cameras.

Marchers also displayed photos of women whose cases captured headlines, such as Solsiret Rodriguez, who was murdered in 2016, but whose body was only found at the start of 2020.

Posters carried by Amnesty International activists noted that 36 women are reported missing in Peru every day.

The 132 killings of women and girls so far this year represent an increase of 4 percent over the same period in 2020, according to the National Ombud’s office.

Responses to the latest Survey of Family Health indicate that 54.8 percent of Peruvian women experience abusive behavior or violence at the hands of their husbands or boyfriends.

Around half of those women complained of psychological or verbal abuse, while 27.1 percent said they suffered physical violence and 6 percent identified themselves as victims of sexual assault. EFE

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