Thursday, January 13, 2011

$150 to Murder a Woman

While homicides were down last year, 2011 is not starting off so well. The bodies of three women were discovered in a ditch in Zone 8 of Mixco, outside Guatemala City on Wednesday. Authorities had found another woman's body in the same area the day before.  The bodies were in such bad condition that authorities could not establish the physical characteristics of the women.

Last year, an average of two women were killed each day in Guatemala.  The 838 women killed in 2010 is double the total from 2003 (416).  

While we don't know who killed these women, the public prosecutor's office has determined that that former husbands, former colleagues and even boyfriends need only pay a sum of $150 for having a woman murdered.

It should come as no surprise that violence and insecurity are at the top of Guatemalan concerns.

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