Three femicides occurred in Cauca during the last week

The indigenous authorities of Jambaló (Cauca) reported that on the afternoon of April 4, the lifeless body of Flor Nohemy Quiguanás, a 14-year-old indigenous minor and a community member of the La Marqueza village, was found.

According to the community, the case of femicide was reportedly executed by José Oliverio Tenorio Chocue, a community member of the San Francisco Indigenous Reserve, who had stabbed the young woman in various parts of her body. The events took place in the Indigenous Territory of Playón Naya.

The Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (Cric), through a statement, rejected this act and demanded prompt justice for the life of this victim, and also held that:

“Cutting the life cycle of an indigenous woman and more than one adolescent girl is a violent act of extreme violation of the rights of women, adolescents and indigenous peoples. Because she is a woman, she represents for our culture a source of life and survival. It is a disharmony that harms mother earth and nature. It is a community affection, to the life plan and to our organizational process,” said the authority.

Members of the Cric pointed out that during this year there have been seven murders of communal women in Cauca, including leaders and ancestral authorities, “they were trained to defend their community and thus preserve the ancient tradition of their people of resisting”, the document reads.

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But the younger Flor Nohemy Quiguanás is not the only victim of femicide in this department for the past week. The other two cases occurred in the municipalities of Guapi and Miranda. Because of these facts, organizations that defend women's rights and feminists in this area of the country are on high alert.

On April 3, the femicide of Gloria Amparo Montoya Caicedo was recorded. According to merchants and residents of Miranda, the victim's body appeared on the side of the access road to the La Cristalina neighborhood.

For their part, the authorities reported that armed subjects arrived at the establishment where the citizen remained and then shot her. “The woman records a gunshot wound to the head, possibly being brought to this point and then finalized,” says the preliminary report of the case.

The other fatality that occurred in the last seven days in Cauca was Gloria Estefan Restrepo Benjumea, who was reportedly shot dead last Saturday, April 2 in the municipality of Guapi. Witnesses told local media that, “armed persons intercepted the victim while he was in a place in the sector”.

Subsequently, in the midst of the judicial proceedings, the authorities found that the victim, aged 30, was a sex worker from this locality. “The lady was shot in full view of everyone, in broad daylight, especially when the area where this homicide occurred is very popular because there are nightlife establishments,” explained the municipal police.

Meanwhile, the secretary for women in Cauca, Rosalbina Valdez, indicated that investigative processes are being worked on to capture those responsible for these deadly attacks, supported by other entities such as the Prosecutor's Office and the National Police.

It should be noted that on March 2, the sectional director of the Attorney General of Cauca, Gustavo Alfredo Montoya, stated that in 2022 there were 142 cases of violence against women in the department, of which “68 have advanced clarification and important investigative activities have been carried out”, he said in his quarterly accountability.

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