Justice turned upside down

Women's Center

December 1, 2020

Some years ago, Eduardo Galeano, a writer of Latin American liberationist thought, wrote the book "Upside Down, the World Upside Down" to refer to the situation we have reached with consumer society, where inequalities have their own products: injustice, machismo, misogyny, homophobia, racism, hatred and impunity as manifestations of a destructive power that seeks to disregard the rights won by social movements, in struggles that involved the loss of human lives.

It turns out that while the courts are releasing Claudio Américo Caiguara, accused of sexual crimes (serial sexual abuse and rape), who, taking advantage of his position as guardian of dozens of children in the Father Alfredo Children's Villages, abused and raped girls who, after growing up, decided to break their silence and report their attacker, this individual was set free. Consider the contradiction: a man accused of raping orphaned girls is freed from responsibility, while a witch hunt is launched against activists defending sexual and reproductive rights, rights that all people possess without discrimination of any kind.

Colleagues who publicly defend women's right to decide about their own bodies and provide legitimate and legal information about the scope and content of Constitutional Ruling 206-2014, regarding women's right to legally terminate their pregnancies (abortion), are harassed, persecuted, and accused. The established powers are uncomfortable with these acts of rebellion and the threats to dismantle the entire framework of lies and hatred they have constructed to intimidate and silence the voices of freedom and sovereignty, empowering people to govern themselves without outside interference.

Another pearl of injustice: a young pastor, protected by his pastor parents, raped a minor, and the justice system decided he should defend himself while free. In the same case, an oil worker raped a young woman, causing a hip injury, and the justice system decided the perpetrator should defend himself while free, while the young woman loses mobility in her hip every day.

To the anti-rights activists who hide behind the Bible, we demand accountability for the dozens of reports of pedophilia, sexual violence, forced pregnancies, and unsafe abortions they have facilitated. Erwin Bazán, spokesperson for the Catholic Church, must explain the prevailing impunity in cases involving Bible-believing advocates, as well as the release of these criminals who violate the rights of girls, adolescents, and young women. An individual holding a seat in the Plurinational Legislative Assembly is a public servant and is obligated to uphold the Political Constitution of the State and all national legal frameworks.

Assemblyman Bazán needs a lesson in constitutional law to learn what his duties and responsibilities are.

We condemn injustices.

We condemn the selective persecution against our colleagues.

We reject the control and manipulation of our bodies and the bodies of others.

We warn you to be alert and ready to go out at any moment to defend the right to decide.

Solidarity and struggle with our comrades.