Translated by Jesús Ronquillo / Circuito Frontera
In Ciudad Juarez, domestic violence represents one of the main problems in society, since from 2016 to 2022, it had an increase of 14 percent, going from 6,513 to 7,426 annual investigation files, according to data from the State Attorney General’s Office.
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However, one of the most affected neighborhoodswas Riveras del Bravo, which led in the number of emergency calls made to 911, from 2019 to 2023, according to information from the Municipal Public Safety Secretariat.
“This started very strongly in Juarez since thepandemic. We thought that this was going to decrease, but it did not decrease (…) One of them (the most affected sectors) is the Southeast and weare working the entire Southeast of the city,” said César Omar Muñoz Morales, head of the Municipal Police in Ciudad Juárez.
During 2019 alone, the Municipal Police reported 5 thousand 819 incidents in the Riveras del Bravo neighborhood, according to the request 080155923000269 delivered via Transparency.
Likewise, the Riveras del Bravo area is one of theareas with the highest number of incidences of domestic and sexual violence in the city, accordingto the latest Socioeconomic Radiography of the Municipality of Juarez for 2021, conducted by theMunicipal Institute of Research and Planning(IMIP).
Domestic violence is a crime that has a greaterimpact on women, children and adolescents, and during the past year, up to 1,000 calls were received per month for this cause, according to the director of the Municipal Institute for Women (IMM).
She also said that the incidence of this crime surpassed the reports of robbery and that every month there are at least a thousand emergency calls to the 911 number, in which people who are victims report these facts, according to newspaper archives.
In this sense, Muñoz Morales pointed out that the number of reports for this cause is expected to increase in the next months, due to the technological advances and the coordination between the police corporations in the locality.
However, the official emphasized that the increasein the number of complaints does not necessarilyimply an increase in violence, but a greateraccessibility and trust in the authorities to reportthese crimes.
He added that, although they expect an increase, this is necessary to work on a solution.
Psychological violence: a silent reality
There are five types of violence recognized in the General Law on Women’s Access to a Life Free of Violence. In Mexico, the most common is one thatis not seen, but has a major impact on women’slives: psychological violence.
“I am struck by the fact that when it does notinvolve blows and bruises, it is said that it does not go that far. I would say no. I would say that when itcomes to blows and bruises and, worse, death, thatis a type of violence, but I would not dare to say that they have already reached the worst (…) Butthere are also those who say that it is worse to live in painful, vulnerable situations,” said Dr. Alicia Moreno Cedillos, director of the Master’s in Interdisciplinary Gender Studies at the UACJ.
In this sense, the specialist pointed out that psychological violence is one of the most frequent, but not the most reported, emphasizing thisperception that if there are no physical blows, it is not so important.
She commented that gender equity and equal opportunities should be fundamental pillars in today’s society, for which she highlighted the role of education and social awareness in changingparadigms and eliminating stereotypes.
According to information from the National Surveyon the Dynamics of Household Relationships(ENDIREH, 2021), 51.6 percent of the populationof women surveyed, aged 15 years or older, reported having suffered psychological violencethroughout their lives.
The law specifies that psychological violence isconsidered: “any act or omission that damagespsychological stability, which may consist of: negligence, abandonment, repeated neglect, jealousy, insults, humiliation, devaluation, marginalization, indifference, infidelity, destructivecomparisons, rejection, restriction of self-determination and threats, which lead the victim to depression, isolation, devaluation of self-esteem and even suicide”.
The en refore, the coordinator of the Master’s programin gender studies pointed out that education is important for the transformation of ideas, as well as the need to continue working on awareness and education on gender issues, in order to achieve a more just and equal society for all people.
