Maria had just over 7 years of marriage.

Their relationship began in an idyllic way and full of details on the part of Juan, a man older than her by eight years and who little by little was surrounding his life partner until he left her in a situation of vulnerability and dependence.

Maria at first was carried away by the comments of family and friends who told her “how lucky you are, you got a man who doesn't want you to work and treats you like a princess”. Inside doors history was not so rosy. Juan went from being the seducer in love to the abusive abuser. He began to prohibit outings and friendships and began to resound a phrase that increasingly impacted the delicate figure of his wife. "You're mine". He had ceased to be a person to become an object whose owner was the one who had sworn eternal love to him.

This reality gave a bit of respite when Juan went out to work and María could talk with some neighbors or friends who secretly visited her, but it changed when the Covid pandemic became present and Juan had to stay home after the staff cut in the company where he worked as a supervisor. The debts contracted previously could not be paid and they accumulated, like Juan's frustrations. It was when Maria knew fear.

And it is that according to the regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean of UN Women, María-Noel Vaeza, in the sexist violence inheritance and cultural habits are glimpsed and, at the same time, a socioeconomic context that deteriorated more with the circulation of the covid -19 and social confinement. It is estimated that 118 million women are in poverty in the region.

A reality that was validated in November 2020, when the continental movement Planeta Ella and the Latin American Network against gender violence, which brings together 35 organizations from 21 countries in the region, declared the “feminist emergency” in Latin America.

Loading full article...