By Jorge Petinaud Martinez
Chief correspondent of Prensa Latina in Bolivia
“I know we haven’t transformed everything that needs to be transformed, but we’ve taken a very important step that not only breaks the concept of de-patriarchalization, but it’s also starting to shift the foundations of that patriarchal wall, and that’s what we have achieved it together, united,” affirmed the Minister of the Presidency, María Nela Prada, in an assessment of this state policy in 2022.
Prada reiterated that this task depended, in one way or another, more or less on the commitment of all branches of the state: the executive, the legislature, the judiciary and the electoral branch, in addition to the public ministry, the police, the armed forces and the social organizations.
Among other things, she described the economic empowerment of women and social programs to support victims of violence and their families.
In this context, he mentioned the Viviana Mallque program, named after this 28-year-old girl who remained in a vegetative state for almost seven months before dying in La Paz from attacks by Rubén C., the father of her two children .
She left a diary in which she wrote down all the suffering she endured at the side of her children’s father.
“I read it and I cried out because of the way I was suffering,” Prada confessed during the event attended by María Quispe, Viviana’s mother and beneficiary of a home of the initiative that bears her daughter’s name.
She explained that this project will enable families broken by femicide crimes, as in the case of Viviana’s infants, who are now in the care of their grandmother, to receive a state-funded home.
The headline highlighted the development of the Protocol on Informative Treatment of Gender-Based Violence by the Vice Ministry of Communications.
He also praised the current curriculum framework used in the national education system as it includes the approach of de-patriarchalisation, harmonious coexistence, respect for rights and prevention of violence.
INTERESTING DATA
“In 2022, there was a 12 percent drop in femicides, that’s not enough — said Prada, based on data from the government department’s Citizen Security Observatory — of course we want that to reach zero (…) we still have I still have a long way to go.”
In his report on work since February 2022, when the Cultural Revolution year for depatriarchalization was proclaimed, he emphasized that in the elapsed time, about 90 percent effectiveness has been achieved in prioritizing cases of femicide.
He commented that the areas of education, health, economy as well as cultural change and prevention were defined for the implementation of the evaluation.
He stressed that one of the first elements was the formation of the Commission to Review Femicide Cases, headed by President Luis Arce, on February 1, 2022, in light of the behavior of judicial officials who have voluntarily favored femicide despite 30 years in prison.
In 120 working days, the team intervened in all correctional courts, making the process accessible to 15 out of 18 judges who favored house arrest femicide for medical or other reasons.
10 judges were dismissed and 21 convicts arrested and imprisoned again.
As a result of the work of this commission, the promulgation of the Law on the Protection of Victims of Femicide, Infanticide and Rape of Infants, Girls, Boys or Adolescents was also made possible.
Six laws were amended on aspects of precaution, the statute of limitations, subterfuge, consortia and house arrest.
Similarly, Bolivia closed the first sentence with a gendered and depatriarchal approach issued by the Plurinational Constitutional Court, stipulating that house arrest will only come in cases of terminal illness.
In terms of prevention, Prada highlighted the merger of the first comprehensive office of the Special Unit to Combat Violence (Felcv) in the municipality of Sacaba, Cochabamba, where all the facilities linked to the care of female victims are concentrated.
He expected the government to guarantee the construction and equipment of the integral felcv in the cities of La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz, as well as the rest of the country.
Another outstanding result was the economic autonomy of women with the aim of breaking the cycle of violence.
In this regard, the minister noted that the state-owned Banco Unión provided loans at preferential rates to 681 women, while another 3,459 were funded by the Productive Development Bank (BDP) and 20 families benefited from the municipal gardens in the city of LaPaz.
Meanwhile, the Special Projects Department (UPRE) enabled the hiring of 828 women in the work it funded. The proposed target for the coming months is to guarantee a source of employment for 7,393.
Regarding land ownership, Prada pointed out that 45 percent of property titles are now held by women, up from 10 in 100 in the 1990s.
All these indicators undoubtedly represent a powerful blow to the very foundations of the old patriarchal system in Bolivian society.
arc/jpm