“May this serve us to hold the mayor of Lima and the local and regional governments to account so that they review their law and the progress of their efforts to reduce femicides and we must be aware that machismo kills… Nobody is born a male chauvinist, but male chauvinism kills ”, reflected the former minister of women Diana Miloslavich Túpac about the alarming figures of femicide and analyzed the painful femicide of Katherine Gómno
Politician, activist and writer, Diana Miloslavich spoke with ElBúho.pe: “There are several unfortunate errors in Katherine’s case. It cannot be that an arrest warrant has not been issued within 24 or 48 hours. That seems to me an irresponsibility of the Public Ministry and the National Police “.
Katherine Gómez, the young woman burned alive by her ex-partner, Sergio Tarache Parra, died yesterday after six days of agony with 60% of her body burned. On Saturday, March 18, the victim was attacked by the subject of Venezuelan nationality in full public thoroughfare in the center of Lima.
“It has been seen and recorded by people around and cameras in Plaza dos de Mayo. They helped the young woman, the solidarity of these people saved Katherine, but unfortunately she could not survive, ”said Diana Miloslavich.
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The video surveillance cameras recorded the moment in which the attacker fled, however, an alarming inertia and slowness of different public institutions caused the the femicide is on the run so farsince the Prosecutor’s Office recently requested his arrest on Wednesday, March 22.
The Judiciary ordered the capture of Tarache Parra on Thursday the 23rd. On Friday the 24th, yesterday, the Ministry of the Interior included him in the Reward Program that offers 50,000 soles for information for his discovery. Until now, a week after the attack, the Peruvian National Police cannot find the person responsible for the death of Katherine Gomez.
“The late reaction of the Ministry of the Interior and the recent search for 50,000 soles is very strange… The young woman was burned in Plaza Dos de Mayo, in a place close to several institutions, and the mayor of Lima has not spoken either” Miloslavich stressed.
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Regarding the always terrifying number of femicides in Peru, in which many times the judicial processes last several years for the relatives to find some justice, Diana Miloslavich Tupac shared that in her experience as a feminist and as Minister of Women, that in the majority of emblematic sanctions they are achieved thanks to the struggle of the bereaved and organized citizenship:
“If it weren’t for the work of social organizations, the feminicides who are would not be detained, they would not have the sanctions that correspond to them. Advances in human and women’s rights have not been made thanks to bureaucratic technicians, but thanks to the families that are looking for their disappeared or seeking justice for the victims of femicide.”
premeditated femicide
The 18-year-old planned to study in the Peruvian Navy. Sergio Tarache Parra destroyed her life simply because she decided to end her relationship with him.
The assailant doused Katherine with gasoline and set her on fire on Saturday, March 18. The people who were near her at Plaza Dos de Mayo came to help her. Unfortunately, the efforts of those who helped Katherine, her family and her doctors, could not prevent her from dying on the morning of Friday the 24th, at the Arzobispo Loayza Hospital, due to the severity of the burns.
Among the videos that are available about this crime, Tarache intentionally burned Katherine, since the aggressor is evidenced buying gasoline to perpetrate the attack, that is, the premeditation of the femicide is evidenced.
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“We need to demand that the governments on duty comply with the provisions that already exist, but we also need the education and health systems to no longer turn their backs on this reality. There are no specializations in violence against women in many universities… The patriarchy has a political function of putting women in a place that they have decided. If you escape the mandates of this patriarchal system, as Katherine did, who no longer wanted to be with this femicide, you run the risk of being burned and killed. Up to now, there have been 37 femicides this year in Peru that we must review on a case-by-case basis, but they share the same micro pattern: that these women were not allowed to live their own lives, their own destinies,” analyzed Miloslavich, who also served as coordinator of the Flora Tristán Peruvian Women’s Center.
Inertia and slowness in local institutions and governments
The current Minister for Women, Nancy Tolentino, said in an interview with RPP that “we would like young women to choose well who to be with.” When she was rebuked by the interviewer, she clarified that the victim is not to blame.
When asked about this statement, Diana Miloslavich commented that in this case citizens must participate from their localities and reflect on all the structural and political responsibilities in the face of femicides:
“There are already 37 femicides so far in 2023. The Ministry of Women, the Ministry of the Interior, the Prosecutor’s Office, the Judiciary and also local governments have responsibility. That is why it drew the attention of the current mayor of Lima. According to the law, local governments have to install prevention tables against violence against women and members of the family group, many times regional governments have installed them but do not comply with their agenda. Almost three months after the new administrations, many regional and local governments do not know that they also have powers and responsibilities towards the girls, adolescents and women of the country”.
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Finally, Daiana Miloslavich added to her reflections that the fight against violence against women must be with a gender and intersectionality approach and constantly debated since we are in one of the worst political moments where the human rights of citizens are violated and above all of women: “A concept that Argentinean anthropologist Rita Segato has shared with us is how patriarchy creates this type of masculinity like that of Tarache Parra who does not accept that women want to lead their lives differently. In this case, the femicide carries a bag of gasoline to burn it, in a premeditated way and murders her in public. These feminicides think that they own the lives and bodies of women, this would be avoided with prevention efforts but also by becoming aware of this problem, which is part of the patriarchal system.”
Where to report violence against women?
Among the services provided by the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations (MIMP) to report gender violence are:
– Calling Line 100
– In the Women’s Emergency Centers (CEM).
– Chat 100
– Urgent Care Service (SAU)
– Home for Temporary Refuge (HRT)
– MIMP Rural Strategy, a care service in remote areas of the country.
The Women’s Emergency Centers (CEM) are care and protection channels for women. In accordance with Decree No. 008-2021-PCM, from January 31, 2021, they must attend 24 hours a day, every day of the year (including holidays).
If you have information about Sergio Tarache Gómez call 0800 40 007.
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