A 17-year-old boy was the victim of a brutal sexual assault near Caaguazú. There are strong suspicions that it was an attempted "corrective rape." The young man had been receiving threats and facing discrimination because of his sexual orientation. By María Sanz, from Asunción. Illustration: Florencia Capella. The 17-year-old was found unconscious in a sugarcane field in the rural area of ​​Segunda Línea Balanza, near the city of Caaguazú, about 180 kilometers east of Asunción. He had a head injury and a fractured jaw. He had been sexually assaulted. He was taken to the Trauma Hospital in Asunción, from where he has already been discharged. The teenager is receiving psychological support. For his safety, he has not returned to his original home and is currently staying with relatives in another city. Two men were arrested as the alleged perpetrators of the assault, which took place on July 9. They are being held in pretrial detention at the Coronel Oviedo penitentiary, 60 kilometers from the city of Caaguazú. The case is currently under investigation, prosecutor Alfredo Mieres told Presentes today. He also confirmed that the two detainees have already been charged with sexual coercion, rape, and aggravated assault, crimes that carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. The Prosecutor's Office is within the six-month timeframe to present its final report. Mieres declined to provide further details about the case, as it is an ongoing investigation involving a minor. The prosecutor had previously told the online news outlet Hoy.com that relatives of the minor stated the attack was motivated by his sexual orientation, and he affirmed that he would continue gathering information about the incident.

Victim of ignorance and prejudice

Ana Laura Rojas, head of the Caaguazú office of the Ombudsman's Office, told Presents It was the minor's aunt who filed the complaint regarding these events with the institution. Rojas received the complaint and arranged for the Public Defender's Office to accompany the adolescent to ensure due process in order to clarify the facts. Rojas stated that the adolescent may have been a "victim of ignorance" and the prejudices that persist in rural areas. She also asserted that the Public Defender's Office had no record of previous complaints of mistreatment, violence, or discrimination against the young man. However, the minor's aunt maintained to the SNT television channel The woman stated that the young man suffered repeated verbal abuse from his alleged attackers. When questioned by the interviewer, she admitted that the teenager received threats because of his sexual orientation and suffered discrimination, and acknowledged that homosexuality is still frowned upon in the interior of the country.

“He faced significant discrimination because of his orientation.

Zusana Cáceres, director of the Municipal Coordinator for the Rights of the Child and Adolescent (Codeni) of Caaguazúhe explained Presents This agency, which reports to the municipal government, had intervened in the case of this teenager about a year ago. They did so due to the repeated absences of the young man and his younger siblings from school, Cáceres said. When they went to interview the family, they discovered that the boys lacked family support. The mother suffered from alcohol addiction. The father worked in the area's sugarcane fields and spent most of the day away from home. In that interview with Codeni staff, the teenager expressed that he didn't want to continue attending school because he felt highly discriminated against. “He said he felt a lot of rejection. He lived in a rural community, where many cultural factors, a lot of machismo, still persist. And his sexual orientation was very frowned upon. The boy was heavily discriminated against because of the way he dressed and interacted,” Cáceres added. The institution has no data on whether this type of homophobic aggression is common in rural areas of Paraguay. But Cáceres asserted that prejudice against sexual diversity persists in many of these contexts. This same sentiment was reflected in the statements made to the press by the relatives of the alleged perpetrators of the attack, who went even further. “They referred to the boy with derogatory terms, and even said that ‘he brought it on himself.’ It was as if they were defending the attack; it was very painful to hear that,” Cáceres said.

Corrective rape: “punishing” sexual orientation

Cáceres denied that the attack was perpetrated by the teenager's uncles or cousins, as several media outlets initially reported. The head of the Children and Adolescents' Rights Commission (Codeni) believes that those who attacked the young man intended to "punish" him for his sexual orientation. "In the minds of some people who live in rural areas, the belief that 'this is how he'll learn to be a man' still persists, and they justify the violence," she said. Sergio López, an activist with the Paraguayan LGBTI organization Somosgay, agrees that the attack against the teenager from Caaguazú was a homophobic crime. The NGO is assisting with the case at the request of the state agency. National Secretariat for Children and Adolescents (SNNA)López said that he has an agreement with them. In Paraguay there are still cases of "corrective" rapes against homosexual people, especially against lesbian women."In these cases, the act of rape cannot be separated from the fact that the rape occurred because the victim is homosexual," he added.

Without specific legislation or data

However, he admitted that Paraguay lacks legislation specifically condemning crimes motivated by the victim's sexual orientation or gender identity. Paraguayan law does not recognize physical, verbal, or sexual assaults against LGBTQ+ individuals as hate crimes. Nor does it establish the concept of discrimination—of any kind—in its legal code. A bill against all forms of discrimination It was rejected at the end of 2014 in the Paraguayan Parliament. During the parliamentary debate, several legislators expressed their fear that the law would legalize same-sex marriage, and there was no shortage of [unclear/unclear] homophobic expressions to oppose the project.

LGBT children and adolescents: the most vulnerable

In relation to this case, Somosgay issued a statement The statement laments the human rights violations suffered by LGBT people in Paraguay and warns of the particularly vulnerable situation of LGBT children and adolescents. “Every day, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans people suffer at the hands of a State that not only fails to fulfill its obligations to guarantee the rights of everyone without distinction, but also fosters all kinds of abuse against our community, often with devastating and irreversible consequences. LGBT children and adolescents suffer the most because they are the most vulnerable; the case of Caaguazú is one of countless others in our country,” the Somosgay statement said. The document also urged the State to guarantee the rights of LGBT children and adolescents. And it warned that Hate speech against LGBT people promoted by people in public office “is not harmless,” but rather incites violence. and expose lesbians, gays, trans and bisexuals to becoming victims of barbarity. Six minors abused daily Somosgay warns in another document that there is insufficient statistical or scientific data available to reflect the impact of LGBT-phobic discrimination in Paraguay. However, they point to the family and the educational sphere, “the two emblematic institutions of socialization,” as the main settings for verbal, physical, or sexual abuse against LGBT people. They also state that the LGBT population suffers this type of abuse at a higher rate than their heterosexual peers. Nationwide, between January 2016 and April 2017, the Paraguayan Public Prosecutor's Office recorded a total of 2,595 cases of sexual abuse against children and adolescents. This figure equates to an average of six minors who are victims of sexual abuse every day in Paraguay, according to [report/source missing]. Movement against sexual violence towards children and adolescents in Paraguay, a platform of organizations that fights against sexual crimes against minors.]]>