Celso Vila and Luisa Ticona pose with a photo of their late daughter Mery Vila, one of 69 femicides reported in Bolivia since January, the highest in six years in the same period. Image: AP Photo/Juan Karita
LA PAZ, Bolivia 鈥� Grief-struck family members followed Mery Vila鈥檚 coffin outside the 鈥淪tairway to Heaven鈥� funeral home in the Bolivian capital and angrily shouted: 鈥淛ustice!鈥� over and over again.
Her mother, Luisa Ticona, said Vila鈥檚 partner killed the 26-year-old woman by striking her several times on the head with a hammer.
鈥淗e was drunk and destroyed her head,鈥� said Ticona, who will now help take care of the slain woman鈥檚 9-year-old son. Police said the partner has been detained.
The death of Vila this week is one of 73 femicides reported in Bolivia since January, the highest toll in six years for the same period.
The alarming number in a country of 11 million people that already had South America鈥檚 highest rate of femicides prompted Bolivia鈥檚 Women鈥檚 Affairs Commission to convene an emergency meeting Friday to demand officials allocate more resources for the fight against gender-based violence.
Waves of women have mobilized recently to fight gender violence across the world. In neighboring Argentina, a grassroots movement known as 鈥淣i Una Menos,鈥� or Not One Less, emerged in 2015 and drew thousands to massive demonstrations in support of women鈥檚 rights.
Movements in Bolivia have lacked the impact of Ni Una Menos or the #MeToo movement in the United States, but Bolivian women have staged demonstrations and organized theater productions to raise awareness.
Authorities have said that 65 women died in the January-June period. That鈥檚 the highest since 2013, when Bolivia declared the eradication of violence against women to be a government priority and included the crime of femicide into the penal code with prison terms.
鈥淎s of this week, 73 cases of femicides have been registered, most in vulnerable sector. This is lamentable,鈥� said Bolivian Attorney General Juan Lanchipa, including July deaths.
The level of impunity is also high, with only an estimated 15 percent of all cases get a conviction.
Tania S谩nchez, director of the Justice Ministry鈥檚 Plurinational Service for Women and De-Patriarchalization, said the rise in gender-based violence in Bolivia is a reflection of a country that continues to resist change and 鈥渁ccept that men and women can have the same rights.鈥�
Bolivia had two femicides for every 100,000 women, according to a 2018 report by the United Nations鈥� Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.
About half of all reports of gender-based violence in Bolivia take place in indigenous communities, according to 2017 figures from the National Statistics Institute. Those communities make up roughly a fifth of the Andean country鈥檚 population. About 40% of Bolivia鈥檚 police cases involve family violence and alcohol is involved in 90% of cases, according to a government report last year on gender-based violence.聽NVG
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