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BY SARAH BRICAULT

In print | October 4, 2007

Rape. Torture. Mutilation. Bodies dumped in empty lots. These are the words and phrases Professor Raquel Aldana uses to describe femicide in Guatemala.

Aldana is a professor of law at the University of Nevada. A devoted human rights activist, Aldana gave a lecture at Swarthmore on Monday, Oct. 1, as part of the Latino Heritage Month events. Her lecture focused on femicide, or the killing of women, in Guatemala, a phenomenon that has come to the political forefront in the last five years.

Since 2001, about 2,500 women have been murdered in Guatemala. Two cases of femicide occur every day, and the women killed are usually between the ages of 13 and 36. Aldana began her lecture with a stream of statistics like these, driving home to her audience the depth and horrific nature of the femicide issue. “no idea it was that serious,” Andrea Cornejo ’10 said, vocalizing the reaction of the audience to the stark reality depicted by these statistics.

Aldana continued her lecture with a discussion of the causes of the situation, honing in on why femicide is an extremely difficult problem to address, and proposing potential solutions.

In each area, Aldana discussed both the generally accepted theories and her own opinions. This was, in my opinion, what made the lecture powerful. Aldana was not giving a lecture based merely on research. Instead, she was speaking from personal experience. She drew her own conclusions on the issue of femicide after having visited Guatemala and having spoken to those involved, both the prosecutors and the victims.

Determining the cause of femicide in Guatemala is extremely difficult as it stems from so many different sources. Historically, Guatemala has been in a civil war for the past few decades. This culture of violence has created a generation “that does not know peace,” Aldana said, and therefore, this generation is more likely to commit violent crimes.

In addition, there is an “extreme wealth inequality” that exists in Guatemala. Although, overall, the country is relatively wealthy, about 75 percent of its citizens are living below the poverty level. The women who are typically targeted are among this segment of the population, and are often housewives, students or unskilled workers.

There are also many gangs in Guatemala, and thus gang violence is also viewed as a cause of the femicide issue. The Guatemalan government has tried to address the problem, but in an extremely limited way. Another disturbing aspect of this issue is the feminoscide, or state sanction of femicide, in Guatemala. In fact, the capital of Guatemala has been referred to as a “killer’s paradise.” Since the targeted women are often in gangs or of the lower class, there exists a perception of them as “bad women,” as though the victims themselves are to blame.

Also, there are extremely limited resources devoted to this issue. The few police and prosecutors assigned to combat femicide have heavy caseloads and often the families of the victims end up doing much of the (often dangerous) work. The police have no “DNA or ballistic capabilities,” Aldana said, and thus 95 percent of cases have no forensic evidence of any kind. Consequently, there is a reliance on witnesses for convictions, but “the fear of retaliation is deep” and few witnesses are willing to testify. Less than 10 percent of cases are even investigated, and “since 2001, only 14 have ever been convicted” of committing femicide.

Countries like the United States and several non-profit organizations have attempted to help solve this issue. However, money given to Guatemala for this purpose has been mostly funneled to the police and other governmental agencies which are extremely ineffective because “the [political] system itself is very, very flawed.” Aldana said that countries like the US compound the problem of femicide with “trade agreements that leave workers unprotected.”

Aldana believes that a good way to address this problem would be to give money to create social programs for women. Such programs could help women “find a place they can turn to when facing violence,” Aldana said, pointing to statistics from the U.S. that show social programs have indeed helped decrease violence against women.

Aldana concluded her lecture by calling femicide an “understudied issue” and urging students to learn more about it and to be active in trying to prevent femicide.

Rita Kamani ‘08 said that she especially appreciated how Aldana’s lecture brought a “specific issue to the forefront.” This was important for those aware of the poverty and violence in countries like Guatemala, but only in a vague sense.

Aldana’s lecture brought to light a very specific issue – femicide – and personalized it. Gender-motivated violence is a deep and complicated problem in Guatemala, but the more people who are aware of femicide and active against it, the more visible it becomes. For those who attended Aldana’s leture, femicide is no longer an “invisible story.”

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