With cacerolazos (pots and pans protest), canvases, protest signs and panflets handed out by the subway exit Chile protested today against the the city of Temuco’s court, which only ruled house arrest for Martín Pradenas, who is indicted for sexual abuse and the rape of five women.
“It’s been years of struggle against gender violence, years of bringing to light the agressions we feel as women just for being women. We’re tired of seeing how this decadent patriarchal system tries to fight back to keep on existing, and how the State of Chile protects it, allowing for the reproduction of misogynistic behavior by “machitos” who feel powerful as they watch the Courts rule in favour of agressors, rather than the victims,” pointed out Marilén Cabrera, humanist-feminist, “. It can’t be possible that the women subject to violence and murder are the ones labeled as victimizers. And, worse, that a Court of Law allows for them to be exposed as culprits for their encounters with a rapist. After what happened yesterday, why should we encourage women who have been victims of sexual crimes to report to the authorities, if they’re the ones who’ll turn out guilty?
The Las Tesis performance resounds today, more than ever: Martín Pradenas is a rapist, and the patriarchy dresses as a judge.
As Humanist Feminists, we repudiate Judge’s Federico Gutiérrez’s decision to reject preemptive prison for Martín Pradenas, ruling only house arrest instead. We demand justice for Antonia Barra and all of this aggressor’s victims. Our loving hearts are with the victims and their families, who we know are having a terrible time not only because justice was not made, but because they were also taken as guilty for the rapist’s actions.
Due to the lack of real justice in our Judicial System, we feminists will keep on building a great network to ensure we’re no longer silenced, nor condemned for the crimes of others. You are the rapist, Martín”, she added.
Here, we post Claudia Aranda’s video, recorded at the exit of the Cumming subway station, in the center of Santiago, minutes after Carabineros had violently repressed the women’s pacific demonstration in the Brazil and Yungay neighborhoods, where demonstrators had been detained as other protested with pot and pans.
In a few more minutes -at 9PM- a national cacerolazo against this judicial ruling will take place, which was convoked in social media.
Translated by Octavio García Soto
