Hundreds of women walked the main streets of Guatemala this Saturday to demand justice for thousands of victims of violence. Also for freedom for those who are under political persecution, within the framework of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
“We take to the streets to denounce all the atrocities we experience in Guatemala. But this year we strongly highlight political and structural violence.” This is what Juana Sales, leader of the Tz’ununija’ Indigenous Women’s Movement.
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The women marched through the center of the Guatemalan capital with banners. They also showed portraits of judges, journalists, prosecutors and activists who are persecuted for denouncing corruption in their country.
In Sales’ opinion, the State of Guatemala has been ignoring women’s constitutional rights for many years. And, “reports of abuse are not filed and some are addressed up to five years later,” she highlighted.
Women criminalized in recent years of authoritarian regression in Guatemala, such as Dulce Archila and former magistrate Gloria Porras, have a space in the march for #NoViolence It is #25N. pic.twitter.com/qKmV5HOnJI
— Eve (@ebochegt) November 25, 2023
Between 2019 and 2023, at least 30 women, who worked as justice operators or journalists, have gone into exile and reported being victims of “political persecution” by the Public Ministry (Prosecutor’s Office).
The march, which started from the Supreme Court of Justice, was led by a group of girls on bicycles and indigenous women with flowers, who raised slogans against the more than 32,000 cases of rape and 290 violent deaths recorded this year in Guatemala.
From the vision of Juana Sales, the State’s neglect is even more critical in the public health services of indigenous communities, where there is no adequate medical care for pregnant women.
“It is worrying that pregnancies in girls and adolescents continue to increase without any type of measure to stop them,” Sales concluded.
Between January and August 2023, Guatemala registered 43,331 births in children under 18 years of age, according to data from the Sexual and Reproductive Health Observatory (Osar).
