There should never have been room for indifference, much less to simply add one more number to the annual statistics or to the national balances of violence against women. Colombian society is exhausted by this type of incident, but more than anything else it is dissatisfied and upset by impunity. Impunity that, ironically, guarantees the opposite of what the State and its administration of justice exist for: to prevent and avoid the repetition of these tragedies.
I must clarify that it is not about blaming the judicial or police authorities. The infinite majority of its members do a job committed to justice and to protect citizens and we have to recognize that. They even do it day after day despite their limited resources, personnel, and tools. However, there are errors, not a few, that occur in all orbits of Colombian institutions and these errors are unleashed in tragedies. That is where things must change.
Today, in the face of the atrocities and barbarism reflected in recent events such as the feminicide of the young DJ Valentina Trespalacios, only 21 years old, the country once again cries out to its authorities for the long-awaited justice. Not to mention the aberrational case of sexual assault and subsequent stabbing of a defenseless 10-year-old girl, María Camila RIP, in the municipality of Pitalito, Huila. This tragedy happened after the little girl opposed a rape by an individual released from prison two days before, who -to make matters worse- only paid 16 months in jail for a violent sexual act.
Although I strongly support this cry for justice, I must emphasize that we cannot simply settle for a prison sentence, no matter how exemplary it may seem. If we think about it, this is not solving the underlying problem. The key, I believe, is in a harmonized system of tools that starts with prevention, through education, attention to early warnings, the support networks that already exist today to help women, to advise them, advise them, accompany them, protect them and -if necessary- rescue them before these events occur.
Are we going to let violence against women become a habit?
Unfortunately, I must say that what has become our habit is that society reacts only when these tragedies occur, but I am concerned that it reacts less and less sensitively. So in the midst of the pain caused by this news, we have a new opportunity to think about what kind of justice we want, what scope it should have, how to improve it in practice, what to emphasize and prioritize within the reforms and, ultimately, know, understand and act accordingly in the face of what we are failing as a society and that allows human beings capable of hurting a defenseless girl or murdering a woman to emerge.
On the other hand, the testimonies of women survivors of sexual assault or physical and psychological violence coincide, for the most part, in having themselves ignored the traits, behaviors or reactions that at first could be seen as insignificant. Of course, it will never be a matter of blaming the victims of psychological violence, physical assaults, and threatening events that, on many occasions, become increasingly repetitive and intense. On the contrary, it is about finding the way as a society to stop these violent behaviors in many men and creating an effective support network that gives women the tools to get out of these circles of violence on time, lose their fear and save their lives.
If we want to find formulas to prevent events of violence against women in current and future generations, we have to become aware of the importance of seeing, studying and referring to each of the feminicides that occurred with the face and name of each victim. They, like all of us, also had a past and, what is most unfortunate, they had a future for which there is no longer any room or opportunity.
Women, we must never allow violence against us to become a statistic. We ourselves are the calls to surround ourselves with strength, support each other to lose fear, join us in denouncing, prepare ourselves in defense and cry out with one voice that we will not let them continue to end the lives of our girls and women. No more!.