Braulio Arias, Security, Public Order and Peace Superintendent of the Maracaibo Municipality, said that 40% of the complaints they receive daily are related to gender violence. He stressed that the rise in cases in the city is caused by the political crisis that triggered a humanitarian crisis.
By La Patilla
Sep 13, 2022
Mr. Arias explained to La Patilla that the economic crisis has unleashed desperation, hopelessness and hunger in Venezuelan families, and Zulian women cannot escape this reality.
“The father of a family goes out to the street to seek sustenance for his family, when he arrives home on many occasions he may only bring a kilo of rice, or flour or eggs and they have to make a thin meal for the day, the woman as a mother asks for more and better quality of food for their children and this starts up a cycle of violence of the spouse against spouse and in many cases even the children are involved,” he said.
Arias, who is also a nutritionist, said that the phenomenon experienced by “Marabino” (from Maracaibo) households is a fictitious diet based almost only on carbohydrates, because it is the most accessible to buy and what yields the most.
The superintendent pointed out that when gender violence occurs in families from man towards a woman, several scenarios play out, the man may leave the house, he might abandon the family, commit suicide, fall into the world of alcoholism and narcotics, or resort to violence and hit the woman.
He said that in Maracaibo, the capital of Zulia State, the largest number of complaints are grouped in the following parishes: Francisco Eugenio Bustamante; Antonio Borjas Romero; and Venancio Pulgar. The last two suffer low to extreme poverty in 70% of households.
The process after the wife (female partner) denounces the violence is to receive advice from a lawyer, social worker and a psychologist to inform her about her rights when she is attacked.
Likewise, Mr. Arias reported that some women after they file a complaint, and are visibly beaten, in a short period of 24 hours come back to withdraw the complaint claiming that they love their partner.
“When the withdrawal of the complaint occurs is usually when the woman is totally dependent on their partner (man) and do not want to lose the sustenance or benefits he may provide.”
The second place in reports of abuse or crimes is related to children and adolescents, which are recorded daily, this reaches 30% of cases.
In relation to child prostitution, Arias reported that this is caused in most cases by extreme poverty, lack of money, orphaned children or parents immersed in vices.
He said that the cases of child prostitution are concentrated in four hot spots in Maracaibo. La Curva de Molina, Downtown, Km4 and Santa Rosa de Agua.
The modus operandi of these criminal gangs is that the pimp contacts females between 12 and 17 years old, offers them a better job where they will have better income without mentioning what this is, as well as better clothes, hair dos and nails and good pay.
”After they are granted this, they take them to a restaurant to talk about what they will work on, possibly the clients are there, they offer them money. The lack of strong values and extreme need often forces girls to give in,” he said.
He also highlighted that currently in the city there is a new phenomenon, child prostitution for tourists. In Santa Rosa de Agua, where tourists of German, British and American nationality arrive to discover the natural attractions of this area also pay very well for prostitution services.
The superintendent reported that they have carried out several operations achieving the capture of pimps. He also said that this is a criminal chain made up of owners of restaurants, hotels, liquor stores, pimps and even police officers.
The Maracaibo Mayor’s deputy made clear that within the institution they have several departments oriented to the community: children and adolescents, public services and inspection, psychology, gender and family violence and User Service that are ready to help alleviate this situation.
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