Bolivia closed 2024 with an increase in femicides and infanticides compared to the previous year. According to the State Attorney General, Róger Mariaca, at the national level there were 84 femicides and 38 infanticideswith the department of La Paz being the one with the highest incidence in both cases.
Although there has been a decrease in femicides in recent years, in 2024 there were three more cases than in 2023. According to the institutional report, 89% of feminicides are held in prisons serving sentences or preventive detention.
“He department with the highest incidence of femicides was La Paz with 23 victimsfollowed by Cochabamba with 18, Santa Cruz with 15, Tarija and Oruro recorded 8 victims each, Potosí 7, Chuquisaca 3 and Beni 2,” explained Mariaca and said that the main cause of death was asphyxiation followed by the use of knives or blows.
One of the cases that caused the greatest shock in Bolivia occurred in mid-October in the town of Caranavi, in the subtropical area of Los Yungas of La Paz. The 23-year-old girl, identified as Kamila P., was attending classes at a teacher training institute when her ex-partner, Edwin Marcos Calle Huancaattacked her with a knife until she died, in front of her companions.
As a result of this case and another that occurred in a prison in Cochabamba, the Gender Rights Committee of the Chamber of Deputies published a manifesto in which he pointed out that “these episodes are not isolated cases; They are the manifestation of a system that is insensitive to the acts of violence against women reported daily; of a judicial system that expels them, leaving them defenseless and a society that still does not understand the urgency of stopping gender violence”.
When presenting the year’s report, prosecutor Mariaca expressed his concern about the violence against women and announced that this year “the criminal prosecution against those responsible for these acts of extreme violence will be strengthened, as an exemplary measure and a sign of zero tolerance for impunity.”
In the last decade there were an average of 107 femicides per yeardespite the existence of a law (2013) that protects women from acts of violence and establishes the maximum sentence in cases of feminicide, many of which are the last link in a chain of acts of violence that are not promptly addressed by justice.
The data of the State Attorney General’s Office shows that infanticides increased in 13 cases compared to 2023. The majority of cases occurred in La Paz, where there are 18 records; nine in Santa Cruz, three in Cochabamba, three in Beni, two in Potosí, two in Oruro and one in Chuquisaca.
Of the 38 victims, 22 died at the hands of their parents and their partners. The most recent case occurred on Christmas night, when a 19-year-old woman put her one-month-old baby into a pot of boiling water in the municipality of Yamparáez, in the department of Chuquisaca. The woman was arrested and, according to police authorities, she has a history of suffering from epileptic attacks, so it is being investigated whether this situation influenced the death of the minor.
Mariaca urged to protect the best of age and said that the prevention must be a joint effort between institutions and families.
