“In a culture of incest, it is the women themselves who are responsible for silencing the victims”: the case of Brisa de Angolo, who was raped by her cousin when she was a teenager

“I didn’t know that what was happening to me was a crime misconception – which is what most people think – that rape takes place by a stranger in a dark alley.

“The abuser, like the others, was very good at keeping the victim silent. He was an adult in my family. He was supposed to guide and protect me. He was supposed to show me, and I was supposed to see the world through his eyes. And though he hated (the sexual act) However, he could not determine that it was a crime.”

DeAngolo said that although her cousin did not practice physical violence during the rape, on other occasions he hit her or threw her to the ground and kicked her.

Fear filled her. He knew what he could do to her if she didn’t act as he wanted.

Legislation differs in each country regarding what constitutes a crime or how it is defined.

Sexual assault, sexual assault, rape, incest, and rape of minors Are some of the criminal classifications found in many Latin American countries, although some are not considered the latter two.

Rape, that is, the establishment of sexual relations between an adult and a minor “by deception”, is what de Angolo’s cousin was prosecuted for in Cochabamba (Bolivia), where he lived.

He was not convicted of rape because he did not use physical violence during sexual intercourse.

But at the same time, the Bolivian judicial authorities blamed her, claiming that she was actually a girl looking for a guy and had fallen in love.

It didn’t fit his head. I was just afraid. Very afraid.

In these twenty years, de Angolo went through three trials in Bolivia. The case is now under consideration by the Inter-American Court, and another trial is pending in Bolivia.

Your cousin is at large. Fast evaporation.

She is waiting. expected. Keep waiting.

The case reached a continental level because de Angolo took it to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the auxiliary legal body of the Organization of American States that had studied it and decided it had enough merit to take it to the Costa-based court. Rica.

The Bolivian state is at the seat of the accused in this area, because both the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and itself and its defense realize that Bolivia failed to deal with its case because, they say, it did not give it adequate access to justice, and it was abused. Her down and there was “institutional violence”.

“The consequences that I still suffer are more due to the treatment the state received to me than the rape itselfD’Angolo said in an interview with BBC Mundo.

During the hearing before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, representatives of the Bolivian Prosecutor’s Office asked de Angolo’s questions which, she said, was trying to get her to take the wrong step. Of the four on the other side, three were women.

He said, “If Bolivia could exercise such aggression against me, as an adult, on an international level, imagine how they would do it in court with a girl. The position that Bolivia takes with victims of sexual violence was clear.”

“I felt powerless because of the incest culture we live inThat culture where things that happen in the family should stay in the family.”

During the court hearing, which was virtual and can be watched live on YouTube, De Angulo’s aunt and cousin were heard writing letters in a chat room that she described as “threatening.” They also claimed that it was a liar that was destroying the family.

“In a culture of incest, it is the women themselves who have the responsibility to silence the victims to maintain the patriarchal hierarchy.”

“What happens in the family happens to society. (…) It is disgusting to see how, affected by this hierarchy, they seek to silence, shame, defame and intimidate other women who fought in blood to break the silence,” said Angle.

The incest It has different definitions according to each country and in some chaotic countries Even On Fourth degree of kinshipeven first-degree cousins.

De Angolo is aware that this behavior on the part of the Bolivian state has violated his human rights since the first time he denounced his cousin, and he continues to do so.

One of his lawyers, Barbara Jimenez Santiago, told BBC Mundo: “The state’s thesis for 20 years has been to normalize rape on the basis of pretending that what happened was ‘falling in love’ between first cousins.”

Bolivia says, “Sexual assault is not synonymous with rape And that the determination of the offense attributed to this case is solely up to the Bolivian justice workers,” according to the State Prosecutor, Wilfredo Chavez, before the Inter-American Court.

He also indicated that “The country finds it surprising the way certain facts have been misrepresented on developing investigations and the process as such.”

“For the state, it is indisputable that all the evidence establishes the existence of facts relating to an alleged injury to bodily integrity or impact on private life or intimacy,” but that does not mean that it has engaged in “institutional violence.” .

BBC Mundo has attempted to interview the Attorney General, the only person authorized to speak on this in the Attorney General’s office, but at the time this article was published we had not received a response from him.

try pCurrently Don’t let that happen again

Brisa de Angolo is not seeking financial compensation. What you want is To create new legal standards within the inter-American system of human rights, to serve as a model for legislators in Bolivia and other countries.

He hopes that they will consider his case not as sexual assault but as a case of rape that was also incest, which exacerbates the crime, he says, because an adult family member abuses a minor’s trust.

It in turn tries to consider rape when sexual intercourse occurs without consent or when consent is assumed to be invalid, regardless of whether physical violence is involved or not, to remove the concept of legal rape from the Criminal Code, to a statute of limitations sexual offenses are adopted and sexual abuses are categorized Incest as a different crime when the victims are under the age of 18.

“I look for the things I’ve been through in these 20 years so that they don’t keep happening,” says de Angolo.

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