Government lobbied to stop crimes against women in Esteli

Trinidad Vásquez, MANAGUA, Nicaragua, June 28, 2006

The Women’s Network Against Violence in the city of Esteli, 154 kilometers north of this Taxi Heathrow Airport capital, where in less than two months four women have been murdered, called on the government to stop this crime wave against women and to recognize the dramatic situation as a public health problem.

The women announced a protest march for the events and demanded that the government place priority on their demands after calling on private business to support control and security actions in the area.

The last four victims of this criminal wave were professor Lucinda Rosa Videa, sister of Catholic priest Julio César Videa; Brenda Noelia García, strangled by her partner Carlos Alberto Maradiaga Andino; Marjurie Sara Zeledón,  strangled by her partner Edwin Antonio Aguilar, and Adilcia  Peralta, shot by her husband José Miguel Talavera.

The person responsible for Videa’s death, Oscar Danilo Ramírez, who pretended to be a Catholic missionary, was slated to go before the courts at the end of June. 

Students from the Nuevo Pueblo Institute, where the victim was the director held a homage and a march of protest, demanding punishment for the murderer.

The Bishop of the diocese of Esteli, Juan Abelardo Mata held a mass in memory of the teacher. “While Christians opt for forgiveness in this horrendous crime, mercy demands all the weight of the law.”

The religious recalled how the murdered managed to trick the Church and lamented the fatal events.

While Esteli demands support to eradicate domestic violence and called for support the victims, in the North Atlantic three criminals raped an 11-year-old girl.

The murders of four women in Esteli are reminiscent of the crime wave against women in Ciudad Juárez, México, where dozens of women have been murdered in recent years and many of the cases have not been resolved.