Femicide, an unresolved social issue

In ecuador, the police stations for women and families registered nationally, only  in 2012,  75.024 allegations for domestic violence, in 86% of the cases (64.427)  the allegations were made by women, some of them ended up being victims of femicide. Currently, the country has no official numbers, although there have been some studies on the subject.

In 2010, the Commission’s transition to the Council of women and gender equality carried out a research in four cities of Ecuador: Quito, Guayaquil, Portoviejo and Esmeraldas, where 170 registered homicides were analyzed.

Of the 170 crimes, 77% were femicides, according to research called The Routes of Impunity, implemented and disseminated by the center of attention and assistance for women, CEPAM-Guayaquil.

Currently, several organizations fighting for women’s rights have been raised as an important step the typification of femicide within the new Integral Criminal Code, however, so far they have not received a response, so  several crimes remain unpunished.

Karen Flores, mother of  the five children who died suffocated in the fire of the  citadel La Floresta II South of Guayaquil, is among life and death in a critical state of health, but the investigations into the case are still standing.

Her former partner, Roberto Rodríguez, will be called to testify, according to the Prosecutor’s Office of Guayas, he would have been talking, the afternoon prior to the incident, with Flores, and her  current partner, Gabriel Murillo, main suspect of the crime.