The phone rang at six in the morning on January 1. “Mom, they killed Martha,” Marlyng Aragón heard when answering the call from one of her daughters who lives in León. Trembling and unable to digest that news, she decided to go to the Santa Rosa neighborhood of Bluefields in search of her daughter Martha Alicia Robinson.
Upon arriving at the place, he confirmed the misfortune. Yellow ribbons encircled the entrance to her daughter’s home. Police were guarding the property and, still hoping to find her alive, she decided to ask if Martha had died, and with a nod of the head she was confirmed dead.
“I felt like I was smashed into a thousand pieces. I got out of control and started screaming when I saw how he left her, how he was cruel to my daughter, “Aragón said in an interview with CONFIDENTIAL.
Martha Alicia Robinson, 35, was murdered by her ex-partner Bernardo Melecio Ruiz Chow. She was a lawyer, teacher, and accountant. She left three minors aged twelve, seven and three years orphaned and was recognized for being friendly, respectful and professional in the jobs she performed.
According to the police version, released until January 3, the cause of death was mechanical asphyxia by hanging. “ANDl subject Bernardo Melecio Ruiz Chow, motivated by discord, argued with his spouse Martha Alicia Robinson Aragón, physically assaulted her, strangled her, causing her death, “says the police report.
Although the Police version indicates that Ruiz Chow was Martha’s spouse, the family assures that they had been separated for fifteen days, as the man physically and psychologically violated her.
Police ignored emergency call
The relatives of Martha Alicia indicate that the murder occurred between one and two in the morning and affirm that if the National Police had answered the emergency call, made by family and friends who found out about the aggression she was suffering, “perhaps the murder would have been prevented ”.
“Martha asked one of our relatives for help. In a video call he asked for help, he showed him that Bernardo had broken into the house without his authorization, then, friends and family ran towards his house, they heard my daughter’s screams from outside and since they could not enter they went to the Police “Aragón recounted.
He explained that those who tried to help Martha Alicia arrived at around two in the morning at the police station, located a few blocks from the house, and “the person on duty said there was no vehicle, that they were attending another diligence, that he was going to speak with his boss and then he said that his superior said that this was a couple’s lawsuit ”.
“If the police had run, whatever, because the house is a few blocks away, perhaps they would not have killed my daughter,” he claimed.
The version issued publicly by the Police states that they learned of Martha’s murder through a telephone call, received at five in the morning on January 1st.
Martha Alicia’s mother points out that, despite what the institution publicly disclosed, a Bluefields police chief came to her home to apologize because they did not respond to the call, although he justified himself by claiming that they were attending an emergency of a shooting.
Lack of access to justice
Maricé Mejía, from the Network of Women Against Violence, affirms that from the testimony of Martha’s family it is “evident the violence that preceded the femicide, the psychological violence, the physical and patrimonial violence, the control and surveillance of the aggressor, who practically did not leave her alone until he killed her ”.
He stressed that femicide “does not happen overnight, it is the tip of the iceberg violence against women and many times, for the most part, they are planned by the aggressors ”.
The feminist Perla Wilson, from Catholics for the Right to Decide of Bluefields, indicated that as an organization – through one of its members – they had knowledge that Martha was suffering violence and even after ending the relationship she was harassed and watched by his attacker, although he decided not to file a complaint.
She explained that hours before she was killed, on the morning of December 31, Martha was seriously harassed by an ex-partner through more than 200 calls, which, although she did not respond, filled her with great fear.
Mejía stressed that in cases of violence against women it is “important the protection, the security measures, the protection measures that the institutions must guarantee to women, because when a man threatens death, he persecutes in an extreme way, as this man persecuted Martha, because obviously there is no protection they achieve their mission ”.
Wilson also stated that it is important that officials “who do not attend to situations of violence, who do not fulfill their function as authorities guaranteeing protection are punished “, as he stressed that by law they are obliged to respond to the emergency call of all citizens.
In 2021, according to Catholics for the Right to Decide, a total of 71 women were murdered, the same as happened in 2020. Mejía says that these figures demonstrate the lack of protection in which women find themselves and the urgency of a comprehensive strategy to eradicate violence against women.
Vice President Rosario Murillo, through the official media, announced after the death of Martha Alicia that “en the work agenda of our National Police includes the relaunch of the Women’s Police Stations, but also the development of a new protection strategy, promoting values that allow us to stop femicides ”.
He also acknowledged that not much is being done, although there are more than “one hundred and something” of Women’s Police Stations, “if a role of promotion is not played, of care for the right to life, the right to respect, the right to harmony, and respect for the dignity of women ”.
They demand life imprisonment
This January 5, at the facilities of the Bluefields Judicial Complex, the taxi driver and ex-police officer Bernardo Melecio Ruiz Chow was accused of the crime of femicide and was referred to the initial hearing, scheduled for next January 18.
During the preliminary hearing against Ruiz Chow, on the outskirts of the Judicial Complex of Bluefields, relatives, former classmates of Martha Alicia and community members of that city, with banners demanded “justice” and “life imprisonment” for the murderer.
Martha Alicia’s mother demanded the full weight of the Law and that there be no favoritism because the murderer was a former police officer. “I don’t know what they are going to do because he was a police officer for a while, I don’t know if they are going to give him consideration, but what I demand is that they punish him, that they give him the maximum penalty, that they do justice for the murder of my daughter” , he indicated.
A strong police force surrounded the group demanding justice and besieged independent journalists from Radio La Costeñísima who were providing coverage.
The journalist Kalúa Salazar denounced that, after the coverage, a group of police officers stationed themselves outside her home, tried to enter and left her mother and daughters nervous, who at that time were alone on the property.
