The Ghost Rapes of Bolivia

Six days ago a most disturbing article was posted on the website VICE, written by Jean Friedman-Rudovsky entitled "The Ghost Rapes of Bolivia".


From Jean's article:
"For a while, the residents of Manitoba Colony thought demons were raping the town’s women. There was no other explanation. No way of explaining how a woman could wake up with blood and semen stains smeared across her sheets and no memory of the previous night. No way of explaining how another went to sleep clothed, only to wake up naked and covered by dirty fingerprints all over her body. No way to understand how another could dream of a man forcing himself onto her in a field – and then wake up the next morning with grass in her hair.

Then, one night in June 2009, two men were caught trying to enter a neighbour’s home. The two ratted out a few friends and, falling like a house of cards, a group of nine Manitoba men, ages 19 to 43, eventually confessed that they had been raping Colony families since 2005."

Menno Simons, a 16th century Protestant Reformer from 

whom the Mennonites get their name

Jean's article goes on to report a disturbing case of mass rape and other violence against the women (and in some cases, men and boys) of the small Bolivian community, dating back (from today's date) over eight years. It is a disturbing indictment against the masculine views of this community towards this horrid situation - and one which in this day and age seem almost medieval.

For Jean's article on VICE, please use this link: The Ghost Rapes of Bolivia


For items posted on this blog that also focused on this tragedy, please see:
Victims of Mennonite “Old Colonies” in Bolivia posted 27th August 2011
Bolivia - Violence Against Women and Girls posted 28th June 2009


See also:
History of the Mennonite Church
Mennonites on wikipedia

Victims of Mennonite “Old Colonies” in Bolivia

From Mennonite Weekly Review:

In a trial that ended with eight convictions Aug. 25 in a Bolivian court, prosecutors said that in 2005 a veterinarian in the isolated community altered a substance that sedates cows for use on humans. He and a gang of eight, the suit claimed, spent the next four years terrorizing the community by spraying the concoction through bedroom windows at night, drugging entire families and raping any females inside.

It would be a shocking accusation for any community to handle, but it has threatened to divide one of the world’s few remaining Mennonite “Old Colonies”: 130 women and girls from ages 8 to 60 have come forward as victims, affecting about one third of the community’s families. And the crime, the way the community has responded to it, and the trial itself point to much deeper troubles for women in such reclusive sects.

An Old Colony woman’s place is in the home. Her schooling ends at age 12, and while many of the men eventually learn Spanish through their inevitable contact with the outside world, few women learn to speak anything but Low German.

Deeply entrenched patriarchy pervades this scandal. The victims told their husbands or fathers of foggy memories and pains, but the men didn’t believe them, and no investigations were ordered, allowing crimes to flourish for years. The scandal did not finally blow open until June 2009, when one woman caught two of the defendants entering her house.

Bolivia: Women In Politics

From Momento 24:

The new Bolivian cabinet, in which half of the ministerial posts went to women, took office on Saturday in a showcase of the country’s efforts to achieve gender equality.

“My great dream has been fulfilled, half of my cabinet are women, the other half men,” said President Evo Morales, speaking at a ceremony at the Quemado presidential palace.

A day before, Morales, a leftist and Bolivia’s first indigenous president, was sworn in for a second term. He won more than 64-percent of the vote in December’s election.

The President swore in each one of the ministers, urging them to work to strengthen democracy and fight corruption. Female members of his cabinet include Labor Minister Carmen Trujillo; Justice Minister Nilda Copa; Transparency and Anti-Corruption Minister Nardy Suxo; and folk singer and activist Zulma Yugar as minister of culture.

The only precedent in Latin America for a similar split was under President Michelle Bachelet in Chile, who after her 2006 election divided her cabinet of 26 ministers equally among men and women.

See also: People's Daily Online

Bolivia - Violence Against Women and Girls

From BBC News:

Seven members of Bolivia's Mennonite Christian community have been detained over the alleged rape of 60 women or girls from their own community.

Alleged victims in the Manitoba colony, which is in Bolivia's eastern lowlands, include girls as young as 14, a prosecutor said.

The allegations emerged after the suspicious behaviour of one of the men alerted community elders.

All of those accused deny the allegations against them.

Some 30-40,000 Mennonites live as farmers in Paraguay and Bolivia.

While many Mennonites, particularly in North America, are indistinguishable from their neighbours and have religious beliefs very similar to mainline Protestant and Evangelical groups, others reject modern life and live in isolated communities.

Women in Bolivia

From RHReality Check Org - excerpt from the Blog of Teresa Lanza:

Early this year, the new Bolivian Constitution entered into force, after a process that lasted more than two years. At a referendum held on January 25th, 61% of Bolivans approved the new Constitution, which for the first time dedicates a chapter to women's rights. The new Constitution contains several clauses that upTold the health and rights of women including:

• a clear separation between State and Church


• the entitlement to sexual and reproductive rights for men and women


• the right to life not limited by the expression "starting at conception," which was proposed by conservative groups and would outlaw abortion in the country


• the right to physical, psychological and sexual integrity


• the right of women to live free from discrimination, violence, sexual coercion and emotional abuse


• a provision that guarantees pay equality for women and women


• the economic value of women's work in the home as a source of wealth


• the right of women, married or unmarried, to land ownership.
  

Government and Congress will now start issuing norms regulating the implementation of the Constitution. Catholics for the Right to Decide Bolivia will continue working in collaboration with other women's organizations to ensure that these norms respond to the interests of women and girls.