“We ask for justice for the children,” yelled in one voice the parents of Yapacaní, who this Friday took to the streets in a massive protest march to demand harsh sanctions against rapists. The march was also to support the family of the 11-year-old boy who was sexually abused in said municipality and who is now fighting for his life in a hospital in the Santa Cruz capital.
The march started from the 25 de Mayo Educational Unit and traveled through several central streets of the city of Yapacaní. “We want justice”, “Children are not sex toys and their innocence is not for sale”, “No to child sexual abuse”, “No to rape”, were some of the phrases written on banners displayed during the march.
The feeling of the residents of Yapacaní is one of impotence, they all agree that it was an atrocious act that four brothers from the Salazar Téllez family committed against the little boy.
The vice president of the school board, Miguel Limón, indicated that in an assembly, unanimously, the parents who have children in the school where the outraged child was studying, decided to take to the streets to protest, not only repudiating the harassment, but also demanding that local authorities be part of the fight against violence.
“We ask that the violation not go unpunished, that a sentence be passed soon. Parents are outraged that’s why we protest and call on our authorities to join,” Limón declaimed.
One of the mothers stated that the punishment for rapists should not be 30 years in prison, but life imprisonment. “We have no authority to put a heavy hand on criminals. What they have done has no name, a day it could be your son neighbor, or my son; Where are we getting to, where are the authorities?” the woman said.
“We ask for justice andsecurity for our children, enough of abuseanother woman protested as she marched.
The director of the Educational Unit May 25, Erick C.opened, indicated that the case shocked not only the students, parents and teachers, but the entire country, for which he considers that it is time to rethink the laws to protect children. “We cannot be isolated from what happened, we ask for protection for children and security for all,” he said.
He pointed out that for a year both the family and the teachers thought that the child suffered from anemia or from another disease, they never imagined all the ordeal that he was going through. He added that if they had known about his situation, they would have found a way to help him.
Although the child’s health is currently critical, the residents of Yapacaní hope that the child will recover and return to school, place where he competed with his peers and forged his education.
ABOUT THE CASE
At the beginning of the week, the rape case became public after the family of the little boy found one of the perpetrators of the rape. Currently, two of the Salazar Téllez brothers are in detention, one in Chonchocoro and another in Cenvicruz, for being a minor. A third person involved died last year in the Palmasola prison, while another (also a minor) is a fugitive.
On Tuesday, June 6, the first suspect underwent a precautionary hearing. A juvenile court issued preventive detention for aggravated rape, referring the accused to the Nueva Vida Santa Cruz Rehabilitation Center (Cenvicruz), while the second defendant, Miguel Ángel Salazar Téllez, 24, was processed on Wednesday and transferred to the Palmasola prison for 180 days.
The determination of this last defendant inflamed the residents, who came protesting to the Judicial House of Yapacaní and they caused excesses in the desire to remove him by force. They took him out of the judicial premises, took him to the square, beat him for about five hours and then handed him over to the police. Miguel Ángel Salazar, the accused, was taken to Palmasola, but later the prison authorities decided to transfer him to Chonchocoro. Peace.
A third accused of being a participant in the rape was already imprisoned in Palmasola, charged with a previous rape of another 10-year-old boy. The subject died in prison, had HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. The fourth implicated is a fugitive in Chile, and the Bolivian authorities manage his extradition.
“We ask for justice for the children,” yelled in one voice the parents of Yapacaní, who this Friday took to the streets in a massive protest march to demand harsh sanctions against rapists. The march was also to support the family of the 11-year-old boy who was sexually abused in said municipality and who is now fighting for his life in a hospital in the Santa Cruz capital.
The march started from the 25 de Mayo Educational Unit and traveled through several central streets of the city of Yapacaní. “We want justice”, “Children are not sex toys and their innocence is not for sale”, “No to child sexual abuse”, “No to rape”, were some of the phrases written on banners displayed during the march.
The feeling of the residents of Yapacaní is one of impotence, they all agree that it was an atrocious act that four brothers from the Salazar Téllez family committed against the little boy.
The vice president of the school board, Miguel Limón, indicated that in an assembly, unanimously, the parents who have children in the school where the outraged child was studying, decided to take to the streets to protest, not only repudiating the harassment, but also demanding that local authorities be part of the fight against violence.
“We ask that the violation not go unpunished, that a sentence be passed soon. Parents are outraged that’s why we protest and call on our authorities to join,” Limón declaimed.
One of the mothers stated that the punishment for rapists should not be 30 years in prison, but life imprisonment. “We have no authority to put a heavy hand on criminals. What they have done has no name, a day it could be your son neighbor, or my son; Where are we getting to, where are the authorities?” the woman said.
“We ask for justice andsecurity for our children, enough of abuseanother woman protested as she marched.
The director of the Educational Unit May 25, Erick C.opened, indicated that the case shocked not only the students, parents and teachers, but the entire country, for which he considers that it is time to rethink the laws to protect children. “We cannot be isolated from what happened, we ask for protection for children and security for all,” he said.
He pointed out that for a year both the family and the teachers thought that the child suffered from anemia or from another disease, they never imagined all the ordeal that he was going through. He added that if they had known about his situation, they would have found a way to help him.
Although the child’s health is currently critical, the residents of Yapacaní hope that the child will recover and return to school, place where he competed with his peers and forged his education.
ABOUT THE CASE
At the beginning of the week, the rape case became public after the family of the little boy found one of the perpetrators of the rape. Currently, two of the Salazar Téllez brothers are in detention, one in Chonchocoro and another in Cenvicruz, for being a minor. A third person involved died last year in the Palmasola prison, while another (also a minor) is a fugitive.
On Tuesday, June 6, the first suspect underwent a precautionary hearing. A juvenile court issued preventive detention for aggravated rape, referring the accused to the Nueva Vida Santa Cruz Rehabilitation Center (Cenvicruz), while the second defendant, Miguel Ángel Salazar Téllez, 24, was processed on Wednesday and transferred to the Palmasola prison for 180 days.
The determination of this last defendant inflamed the residents, who came protesting to the Judicial House of Yapacaní and they caused excesses in the desire to remove him by force. They took him out of the judicial premises, took him to the square, beat him for about five hours and then handed him over to the police. Miguel Ángel Salazar, the accused, was taken to Palmasola, but later the prison authorities decided to transfer him to Chonchocoro. Peace.
A third accused of being a participant in the rape was already imprisoned in Palmasola, charged with a previous rape of another 10-year-old boy. The subject died in prison, had HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. The fourth implicated is a fugitive in Chile, and the Bolivian authorities manage his extradition.
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