Salta: flaws reported in trial for sexual abuse of a Wichí girl
It was reported that a Wichí girl suffered sexual abuse at the student boarding school in 2020. The victim received no support or assistance. The trial was conducted without respecting her right to access justice, and the accused was acquitted. There are indications of more cases.
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The president of the Autonomous Union of Indigenous Communities of the Pilcomayo (UACOP), Abel Mendoza—known as Lutsej in the Wichí language—denounced irregularities in a judicial process concerning the sexual abuse of a girl from the Wichí community. This refers to the trial in which a teacher and coordinator of the student dormitory in Santa Victoria Este , in the far northeast of the province of Salta, was acquitted.
Lutsej stated that there were “shortcomings” in the legal process because “the girl did not receive psychological support. Notifications have not been delivered to her home, and neither she nor her mother, who is the complainant, were accompanied by an intercultural Indigenous facilitator.”
Professor Javier Luis Gómez, who until 2020 served as coordinator of the student dormitory of the 5061 School, San Ignacio de Loyola, in Santa Victoria Este, was denounced in 2020 for sexual abuse, to the detriment of a girl belonging to the indigenous community located in the La Merced area.
There are more cases, but little trust in the justice system.
Although this is the only formal complaint, Lutsej and other Indigenous people assert that there are more cases of sexual abuse within the shelter . However, the mothers are afraid and do not file complaints with the justice system. They believe that the outcome of this trial will discourage them even further.
On August 26, Judge Azucena Margarita Vázquez, a member of the Second Chamber of the Trial Court of that city, ordered the teacher's acquittal. The outcome of the ruling is only known unofficially, because neither the Public Prosecutor's Office nor the Judiciary of Salta has yet released any information about the legal proceedings . The Judiciary only confirmed that the sentence was handed down on the 26th.
The trial took place more than 160 kilometers from Santa Victoria Este, whose population is predominantly indigenous. A group of people, including members of the Indigenous Women's Movement for Good Living, accompanied the mother on the 26th. Lutsej told Presentes that they left "quite hurt" because an official (apparently the court secretary) told them there wasn't enough evidence to convict the accused. "That it was only an attempted groping and that the girl had no witnesses."
According to Lutsej, this is what the mother reported: her daughter told her that “Gómez tried to kidnap her and she escaped.” The woman filed a police report “and took her daughter out of the shelter for her safety, because she saw there was no immediate intervention from the justice system.”
The right to justice was not respected
The spokesperson questioned why the complainant testified without a translator during the oral trial, and why there was never a facilitator to help them understand the intricacies of the provincial judicial process. He added that the coordinator had previously threatened “his victims” and that last June, when the first hearing was postponed, “he mocked and threatened the mother, saying she wouldn't do anything because he has political backing, and he had previously threatened to kill her.” “This is serious,” he stated before emphasizing that “the mothers of the other victims didn't dare to report the crimes because of this persecution or these threats.”
To the further distress of the complainant and those accompanying her, the teacher and his family celebrated his acquittal on social media, and received expressions of jubilation, some laden with racism, from other Creole residents of the area.
On August 31, Lutsej arrived in the city of Salta, 517 kilometers from Santa Victoria Este, to try to prevent the teacher from continuing to work at the boarding school, as they fear for the safety of the teenagers who live there to attend classes. He brought records from the student boarding school detailing other incidents of abuse or attempted sexual abuse, including one involving a pregnant girl. On the same day, he met with Itatí Carrique, the Secretary of Women, Gender, and Diversity of Salta, and asked her to forward the documentation to the provincial Ministry of Education.
“Continue practicing as if nothing has happened”
Lutsej said that they believe the judicial process was carried out “entirely in favor of the abuser,” and maintained that the Ministry of Education also failed to remove the teacher from the shelter, who continued working there, albeit in other roles, and now they fear he will return to his position as coordinator .
“There has been no ministerial sanction from the Ministry of Education; this person continues to perform their duties as if nothing happened,” she asserted. She recalled that after the complaint was filed, they waited patiently for “two years” for the courts to rule, confident that they would find in favor of the complainant and her supporters.
“We have complaints recorded in the school's general minutes book. There was also no reprimand from the Minister of Education (Matías Cánepa). And now we are afraid” that he will continue “doing his job while the girls remain there. What security does that offer the girls with the abuser present? What measures will the justice system take? That is our fear. What guarantees are they not providing? It's unacceptable,” she lamented.
A record from November 23, 2020, shows that, after receiving notification of the criminal proceedings against Gómez, the director of the San Ignacio de Loyola School, Rosa Ruiz, assigned him the duties of secretary for the afternoon shift. He was to fulfill this role "until the situation is resolved."
In another document, a report that the same director submitted to the Ministry of Education is transcribed. The reason given was that they could not find the internal document regarding the appointment of the accused teacher . The director adds further information: the student residence, which is an annex of the San Ignacio de Loyola Secondary School, “is an institution with many deficiencies and a lack of staff , especially regarding the care of the young women,” she explains. At that time, there were 30 girls and 30 boys residing there.
Evidence of further abuse at the shelter
In the minutes of a March 2020 meeting of parents of teenagers from remote areas who stayed overnight at the hostel from Monday to Friday, allegations of irregularities at the facility were exchanged. One mother said there was “poor organization,” while another maintained that the coordinator “was harassing them.”
The president of UACOP speaks of “lack of control.” Another man states that what is happening there is “a delicate situation.” And while he says he spoke with the coordinator and “everything was resolved,” he then adds that there is “a pregnant girl” who gave birth to a child. In this case, it is noted that the coordinator said she arrived at the shelter pregnant. However, other Indigenous residents assured Presentes that the girl was abused at the shelter. After further consideration, a chief concludes by stating that he fears for the safety of his children and will no longer send them to the shelter.
In a report from July 2021, it was recorded that a woman met with Principal Ruiz to report that in 2017 two young men had attempted to force her teenage daughters into having sex. The attempt was thwarted because the girls managed to escape and lock themselves in another room, where they remained awake all night, terrified.
The report states that one of the teenagers recounted that one of the young men told them, “I’m the one in charge, because I have the keys to the gates since Javier gave me permission.” The mother added that the next day her daughters left the shelter, very frightened; they came looking for her, and she herself came to report the incident to the director at the time, surnamed Avalos, and to the coordinator.
They are requesting intervention from the Ministry of Education
“We are requesting the intervention of the Minister of Education, because otherwise, there will be no protection for the minors, of which there are several. This person will continue to perform his duties as if nothing happened,” insisted Abel Mendoza. The Ministry of Education of Salta did not inform Presentes about the teacher's administrative status.
Institutional racism
In a statement denouncing the “rape, impunity, and racism against a Wichí student,” the Indigenous Women’s Movement for Good Living emphasized that in Salta, known in the tourism sector as “La Linda” (The Beautiful), “accounts of racism, neglect, and violations of all kinds of rights are reported daily. And it is there that the power of impunity, centuries old, prevails in the institutions of the Argentine State.” They stated that this is “yet another case of institutional racism.”
Together with the Salta Women's Forum for Equal Opportunities, the Indigenous Women and Diversity Movement for Good Living denounced that “from the very beginning of the process, from the very first moment, they were always addressed in Spanish (the girl and her mother). At no point was an intercultural facilitator called in, as required by law during the complaint process. International ILO law was never respected, since the girl and her mother speak little Spanish, their native language being Wichi .”
They added that there were “irregularities of all kinds, such as the lack of support and protection for the girl after she suffered this atrocity.” Currently, “the family is receiving death threats, but there is no protection provided by the agencies that should be intervening.”
They are calling for a meeting on September 6th.
The grounds for the ruling will be released on September 6. Abel Mendoza today issued a call for support on that day, addressed “to all communities, especially feminist women.” He emphasized that “just as there are girls, there are also boys born as a result of rape.” He also stated that they lack legal support.
“We are deeply concerned about the impunity with which the patriarchal, racist, and colonial power of the justice system . It is doubly worrying what might happen to the young woman, who is now 17 years old. We ask: Who will guarantee the safety of her and her family for deciding to end the impunity of abusive Creoles?” both organizations stated. They held Judge Azucena Vásquez responsible “for what might happen to other young people.” “Who will protect the other Indigenous students? This abuser remains free, unpunished in his job at the student residence,” they affirmed. The Movement and the Forum also called on organizations and “all people who no longer want impunity, nor racism from the judicial system, to speak out against this ruling and to gather on September 6, 2022, to bring this injustice to light ” in front of the courthouse.
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