Linda Loaiza went to Caracas, Venezuela to study veterinary
medicine when she was 18 years old. Her dreams were destroyed when she was
abducted and tortured for four months. When she managed to finally escape, her
jaw was dislocated and her malnourished body was covered in scars from
cigarette burns along with other physical damages. She is no longer able to
bear children because of a ruptured spleen. This incident occurred 14 years
ago, Loaiza has had over 12 surgeries to repair the physical damages and still
continues to receive psychological treatment for her emotional trauma. She is
now trying to address the injustice she suffered not only from her attackers,
but also the Venezuelan court system. Loaiza’s attacker, Luis Carrera Almoina,
is the son of a powerful political figure and was acquitted of all the charges
due to lack of evidence in 2004. Eventually the ruling was overturned and
Almoina served six years in jail for “grievous bodily injuries and the illegal
deprivation of liberty”. Almoina was not charged with rape and attempted murder
and he is now a free man. Loaiza went on to study law and this gave her the
strength to challenge Venezuela before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Gender violence against women in Venezuela is
widespread and the numbers continue to grow. In 2013, there were over 70,000
reports of gender violence in Venezuela and less than 15% of the cases had
charges filed.
Reading about the abuse Linda Loaiza went through is
heartbreaking and infuriating. Her case was ignored because her
attacker is the son of someone who is in high political power. The statistics
about how prominent gender violence against women is in Venezuela and how many
charges are actually made is horrible. I hope Loaiza gets the justice she
deserves in this case and that it opens up new doors for women’s rights in
Venezuela.
Ashley Casmirri
3/26/15
3:22 PM
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