In the first eight months of 2022, the Catholic organization for the Right to Decide registered 42 femicides in Nicaragua and 110 frustrated femicides in this same period, warning that women continue to be unprotected from their aggressors.
According to the statistics handled by that feminist organization, 37 of the murders were in national territory and five abroad.
Of the total number of femicides, 18 have been on public roads and 24 in private. The organization reports that 12 women have been murdered by strangers, 9 by their partners, 8 by their ex-partners, four by relatives; four by acquaintances; two for boyfriends; two by neighbors and one by ex-boyfriend.
Related news: New victim of femicide: Man strangles his partner in Mateare
Of the authors of these 42 criminal acts, there are three cases under investigation, 12 cases in judicial proceedings, 15 unpunished cases, three in suspended judicial proceedings and four sentenced at the national level.
The feminists’ report also indicates that of the acts that have been committed against Nicaraguans abroad, two are in judicial proceedings and three are unpunished.
In addition, in the age range that more femicides have been registered is between 18 and 34 years old, in which sexist violence has taken the lives of 18 Nicaraguan women.
In the ages between 35 to 59 years the figure is 13 women, who have been murdered at the hands of men. Also the Statistics from the feminist organization register five adolescent victims of femicide between the ages of 13 and 17, two girls between 1 and 12 years old and three women over 60 years old.
Heyling García, the recent victim of sexist violence
Heyling Karina García Vásquez, 32, is the most recent victim of femicide. The crime occurred on August 31 in Bosques de Xiloá, in the municipality of Mateare. The woman died at the hands of her partner José Andrés Sandoval Gálvez, 41 years old. After murdering her, Sandoval stayed drinking liquor next to her body.
According to official information, the man entered the house late at night and, while drunk, began an argument in which Sandoval Gálvez began to attack his partner, causing severe injuries, then squeezed her neck until she died.
Subsequently, the subject continued to drink liquor next to the body of his victim, until dawn. People close to the young woman’s family went to the house where they both lived and when they saw what had happened they informed the Ciudad Sandino police station.
Heyling Vásquez became the 42nd victim of femicide in Nicaragua, according to the Catholic organization for the Right to Decide so far in 2022.