The magazine of the art-form of the photo-essay
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Mar 2016 back issue
by Walter Astrada
In Guatemala, violence against women goes from domestic abuse to rape and assassination.
Guatemala has the highest ‘femicide’ rate in the region, according to the Human Rights Prosecutor’s Office. From
January 2000, to December 2012, nearly 5,056 women were murdered.
Feminists and human rights organizations say impunity, negligence and corruption have played a leading role, together
with the inefficacy or shortage of protective measures contemplated by law for women subject to such violence.
Furthermore, Guatemala has only one official shelter for abused women in the entire country, but it struggles with
financial problems.
Guatemala City, November 21, 2006: Yoselin Sarai Perez Hidalgo, 15, poses after filing charges against her 27 year-
old boyfriend at the Public Ministry building in Guatemala City. Yoselin's mother and her aunt brought her to the Public
Ministry after her boyfriend beat her. Yoselin is seeking a restraining order against him.
Guatemala City, April 2, 2007: Filomena Sajche, 30, talks to a forensic doctor while filing charges against her husband
at the Public Ministry building in Guatemala City.
Guatemala City, April 3, 2007:
Luis, 6, looks his mother Alicia Barrera as she fills charges against her husband.
Guatemala City - March 30, 2007: Paula, 15, shows the scar on
her stomach where she was cut by her boyfriend in an attempt to
kill her.
Quetzaltenango, Guatemala - November 14, 2006: Nora Elisa Camacho, 29 years old, who suffered violence from her
husband over 11 years, cares for her daughter Evelyn, 2 years old, while her daughter, 11 and son Elmer, 9, sleep in
one of the 7 rooms of the shelter for battered women “Nuevos Horizontes” in Quetzaltenango.
Quetzaltenango, Guatemala - March 23, 2007: Brenda Medina, prepares herself to participate in the celebration of a
birthday party at the Nuevos Horizontes battered women’s shelter in Quetzaltenango City.
Puerto San Jose, Guatemala - April 5, 2007: A group of men shout from a car to a woman who is working on a stand in
Puerto San Jose.
Boca Del Monte, Guatemala - November 19, 2006: Maira Esperanza Gutiérrez, 42, lies dead after being assassinated
by 16 gun shots from an unidentified man, while personnel of the Public Ministry inspect her body.
Guatemala City - April 5, 2007: Personnel of the Public Ministry inspects the body of an unidentified woman who was
raped and then stoned to death, Guatemala.
Nueva Chinautla - March 3, 2007: The body of an unidentified woman, who was found in a precipice in Nueva
Chinautla Department of Guatemala, lies dead.
Guatemala City, November 23, 2006: Personnel of the general morgue bury the body of an unidentified woman in the
General cemetery in Guatemala. The unidentified bodies are buried as XX (unidentified) after 3 days on the morgue if
nobody claims them.
El Mezquital - November 19, 2006: Mourners touch the coffin. Noemi was shot 12 times in front of her own home.
Guatemala City, November 19, 2006: Relatives of Samalia Noemi Baten Hernandez, age 22, mourn during her funeral
in Guatemala City, Guatemala on Sunday. She was shot 12 times in her own home.
Nueva Chinautla, March 4, 2007: Mourners of Rosa Vazquez Marroquin, 69, who was found below a precipice in
Nueva Chinautla. Marroquin was found tortured and her hands were tied to her feet.
Boca Del Monte - November 21, 2006: The funeral procession for Maira Esperanza Gutierrez, age 42 who was shot 16
times, advances towards the cemetery in Boca del Monte.
Nueva Chinautla - March 4, 2007: A mourner of Rosa Vazquez Marroquin, 69, who was found in a precipice in Nueva
Chinautla, carries flowers.
Guatemala City - November 23, 2006: A newspaper from 2004 shows portraits of women who were murdered between
January and August of that year, is on display in the Guatemalan Women's Group's offices in Guatemala City.
Guatemala City - November 24, 2006: Women hold candles while shoouting slogans during a march to commemorate
the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, in Guatemala City.
