By Airam Fernández, from Santiago, Chile. Thirty cities in Chile joined in commemorating the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, observed today. Part of the family of Nicole Saavedra Bahamondes, the young lesbian woman murdered in June 2016, traveled from the town of Limache to Santiago to join yesterday's demonstrations in the capital and make public a new demand in their pursuit of justice: they want the case transferred to a different prosecutor. “The ineffectiveness and slowness of Juan Emilio Gatica (the prosecutor handling the case) in carrying out the necessary procedures has us distressed and sickened. That's why we want the prosecutor replaced, and someone who actually wants to do their job, because this man isn't doing anything,” María Bahamondes, the victim's cousin, told Presentes while marching with a photo of Nicole around her neck.

Hate crime

The gesture was accompanied by other protesters, who also marched along the capital's main thoroughfare, blocking traffic from Plaza Italia to Plaza Los Héroes, carrying photos and names of each of the 61 women murdered in Chile so far this year, according to the count by the Chilean Network Against Violence Against Women (RCVM), the organization that convened the march and legally represents Nicole's family. Silvana del Valle, the family's lawyer, reiterated her suspicions that Nicole's case was a hate crime, possibly due to her sexual orientation or "simply because she was a woman." She stated that they sent a letter to the Prosecutor's Office, outlining the demands of her clients. "It's unlikely they'll change the prosecutor, because that would be admitting that the current prosecutor hasn't done anything, as we've denounced. But we did it because we will exhaust all avenues to achieve the justice that Nicole's family deserves," she explained to Presentes. The questions that the Limache Prosecutor's Office still hasn't been able to answer in this case are the same as they were a year and five months ago: How did Nicole end up in Limache (a town 126 kilometers from Santiago), in a place so far removed from where she lived? Where was she and with whom in the hours before she died? What happened during the week she was missing? Was she tortured during that time or only before she was murdered? How was she transported to Los Aromos hill in Limache, where her body was found?

“Not one less woman, not one more dead woman”

In Santiago, the march drew over eight thousand people, according to organizers. The Ni Una Menos movement from Chile was represented, and groups such as the Lesbotransfeminist Self-Defense, Vegan Action, and the Action Table for Abortion in Chile also participated. In the city of Concepción, where approximately 1,000 people marched, the demonstration was repressed by police and resulted in the arrest of 18 protesters (13 women and 5 men), according to local media reports. During the march in the capital, the demonstrators called for an end to femicides globally, a fight against impunity, and the education of children from a feminist perspective. Slogans such as "He who loves you doesn't kill you, doesn't humiliate you, or mistreat you" and "Not one more woman, not one more death" adorned the banners and the voices of women with babies in their arms, young people, children, and families.   On the eve of demonstrations around the world to commemorate the assassination of the Mirabal sisters—Minerva, Patria, and María Teresa—which occurred on November 25, 1960, during the dictatorship of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, the La Moneda Palace raised an orange flag to remember the date. While the RCVM (National Registry of Victims of Violence Against Women) has recorded 61 femicides, the government reports a figure of 36. At the end of the event, lawyer Silvada del Valle read a statement summarizing the demands and purpose of the demonstration: “We condemn the violence and torture suffered by Lorenza Cayuhan—forced to give birth in shackles—who remains detained along with her daughter Sayen; we demand that perpetrators of violence against women be barred from holding public office; we reject legal technicalities, lies, and the discrediting of women who report abuse, used to downplay the acts of violence, as has occurred in the cases of Mario Gierke, mayor of Cabrero, and Martín Chuaqui, former dean and professor at the Catholic University; we reject the institutional violence perpetrated by state and private entities; we demand a thorough investigation into the murder of Mapuche anti-extractive activist Macarena Valdés and the anti-lesbian hate crime committed against Nicole Saavedra.” Bahamondes”.]]>