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MAKING CONTACT Transcript: #10-00 En La Casa: Domestic Violence in Latin America Dalya Massachi: This week on Making Contact... Carmen Merlo Narvaez: This is our approach: It's society-wide education on many different fronts. Breaking the silence about domestic violence and redefining it so that when people hear people shouting or hear blows in the house between partners, that they no longer see this as something to shut their ears and their eyes to, and see as a private problem. Oswaldo Montoya: If some men are involved in this struggle against men's violence and for gender equality, it's because of women's insistence that we should be part of this struggle. Dalya Massachi: Around the world, when women discuss serious issues in their lives, they often mention violence against them in their homes. On this program, the National Radio Project's Women's Desk discusses domestic violence in Latin America. We also take a look at ways women and men are successfully addressing it. I'm Dalya Massachi, your host this week on Making Contact, an international radio program seeking to create connections between people, vital ideas and important information. A recent report by health researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that one out of three women worldwide suffers from a serious long-term health problem caused by violence. Researcher Lori Heise said that "In every country surveyed, the victim is still being blamed." Rodi Alvarado Pena is one of those victims. Her case has attracted national media attention. Alvarado is a Guatemalan woman who endured 10 years of brutal abuse at the hands of her husband. None of Alvarado's repeated pleas for protection from the Guatemalan government succeeded. The authorities refused to intervene, saying the abuse was a "domestic" matter. With no other options, she left her children behind and fled to the U.S. to seek asylum. Unfortunately Alvarado's abuse is not unique. So, what is the context of domestic violence against Latin American women? Carmen Merlo Narvaez is one of the Latin American activists we spoke with to find out. She's with the Women's Network Against Violence in Nicaragua, which unites 120 diverse women's groups across that country. A domestic violence survivor herself, she helped found the network in 1992. Carmen Merlo Narvaez: It's really important to understand that domestic violence is the same, wherever it occurs. That there's no difference. That it's really the same experience regardless of country or language or culture. Dalya Massachi: Her colleague, Irma Orellana, is from the Salvadoran Women's Organization known as MAM. She says the traditional Latin American socialization of women encourages them to be quiet and submissive, as well as economically and psychologically dependent on men. Irma Orellana: One of the main things is the education that we have, the way that we are raised and also another point that we reflect as the cause of this problem is the church and the religious ideas that we grew up with. We reflect about our grandfathers or our grandparents and our grandmother and our mother and our parents. And they kept silence particularly in this problem. And we don't wanna keep silence; we wanna talk about it, and we wanna reflect about it. Domestic violence has always existed. But now it's deeper, and it's along with the social violence. We know that one of the reasons is that people don't have that much information and don't have that much education about this point. And also there are deep economical problems that affect domestic violence and also there is violence in TV and the media that enforces this violence that we're living. Dalya Massachi: Both Irma Orellana and Carmen Narvaez come from Central American countries that have seen the horrors of war in recent decades. Those countries continue to suffer from ongoing economic instability. The social conflict and violence have taken their toll on individual lives. Orellana, from El Salvador. Irma Orellana: We cannot forget that we're coming from a twelve-year civil war inside of the country, and the problems that are still there are the same problems that we had before, during and after the war. And that increased the violence level in the country. Who suffers more or who are the victims are usually women. Generally speaking, women and children are the most affected by the violence. And families are getting separated and that affects also the kids. And the government doesn't have any youth or kid programs or after school programs. We daily see more kids on the street, kids that have to work or they are exposed to different kind of violence in the street. There has been an increase in the violence and rape against kids. Dalya Massachi: Carmen Narvaez. Carmen Narvaez: Nicaragua is actually a violent country. First it lived fifty years of a violent military dictatorship. Then we had the violent revolution. Then we lived ten years of time during which we made the revolution that was also full of internal struggle between different Nicaraguans. And then we have the natural violence that's occurred to our people: the hurricanes, the rains, the earthquakes, the mudslides. All of that. And there's been no time whatsoever in all of this time for emotional reconstruction, for people to reorder their emotional lives. So men who suffer anger and frustration are very likely to just lash out at the women who are close to them, as the easy, on-hand, ready-made target. Dalya Massachi: Oswaldo Montoya, from the Nicaraguan domestic violence organization Puntos de Encuentro, or "meeting points," agrees. Oswaldo Montoya: Many men had to take arms, take a weapon. Well, that affects interpersonal conflict at homes. Many men even have arms in their homes - weapons, pistols, rifles in their homes. They use them to threaten, to intimidate their partners or in some cases, even to use it against their partners. It is a culture of settling conflict through violence. And that's the situation: a lot of tension in the society, a lot of polarization. And that is not a healthy context to overcome all the violence that is going on in our homes. Quite the contrary, it complicates the issue. Also the other problem, the connection with political violence and domestic violence is that in some way, the domestic violence becomes invisible, because only the political, the armed conflicts, are the ones which are visible or important issues or life and death issues. And people forget that within our homes, there is also a war going on, which is the war of men against women, of parents--mothers and fathers-- against their children in many cases. That is so important, and so necessary to address. Dalya Massachi: The wounds Montoya speaks of run deep in the psyches of many domestic violence survivors, as Carmen Narvaez explains. Carmen Narvaez: To accept that one is a victim of domestic violence is very difficult. First of all, because you have to accept that that's what it is, that it's domestic violence that's occurring. And then second is to accept your role as victim, to realize and acknowledge that you're a victim, which is very hard to do. And the second step is you have to figure out how to recover your self-esteem, and create values that say that you are worthwhile, and that you're not "just a victim." Dalya Massachi: In Latin America, as in the US, women are leading the way in addressing gender violence. Since 1987, November 25th has been commemorated as the annual Latin American Day Against Violence Toward Women. The event is in memory of three activist sisters who were raped and murdered by the military of the Dominican Republic in 1960. Women in many countries plan tribunals, marches and educational forums. All year round, they work to enforce local, national and international agreements. Their visionary movement goes beyond seeing gender violence as a "women's issue," and more as a basic human rights issue. Carmen Narvaez. Carmen Narvaez: If you are somebody who has suffered domestic violence or are suffering domestic violence, especially if the woman listening lives here in the U.S., there are lots of groups of women here working to support you and working to help you to end this--so, take advantage of it. If you are from another Latin American country, it's important to realize that in El Salvador and other countries in Latin America, there are also women who are working on these issues, and there is somebody you can go to for help. And if you come to Nicaragua, you will see that in Nicaragua we are women there working very hard to break the silence and to end this cycle of violence. Dalya Massachi: Jacqueline Pitanguy is from the Brazilian organization Citizenship Studies, Information and Action. She explains how work against domestic violence has been important in the mobilization of the Brazilian women's movement since the 1970s: Jacqueline Pitanguy: I would say that women's movements in the 70's came to the political arena. And among the issues raised then, I would say that, gender violence, domestic violence was one of the key issues and was instrumental also to organizing women and to making women's agendas visible. But today a number of other issues, some of them even more difficult which is everything that is related to reproductive rights and to sexuality and abortion, are also part of the political agenda. Dalya Massachi: Latin American women's groups have formed to set up domestic violence shelters and support groups. Women in some countries also have succeeded in passing laws outlawing domestic violence. Hanne Holst from the organization in Ecuador called the Center for the Promotion and Action of Women: Hanne Holst: The woman's movement, as an organized movement, we have been...first of all, denouncing to the society that violence against women is a problem. In 1995, we fight to have a law, which is called the Law Against Women's Violence. And one of the things that this law [does] is that a woman can denounce in a commissary or a judge that she is maltreated. Dalya Massachi: In Nicaragua, women have been organized since their involvement in the Nicaraguan Revolution, during the 1970s. They now have thirteen district offices for women where they can file reports of domestic violence. Carmen Narvaez: In these offices the main orientation, of course, is how the woman can change her life, but it's not just limited to the legal portion. We actually try and provide a lot of orientation on how to change herself, so that she's no longer able to be a victim of violence, but also how to avoid being a victim of violence all over through the society, not just in the home. We also work with children through these offices. It's not limited to women. It's for women and children. So we provide psychological support. We also provide legal support. We also do home visits, when the women ask for a home visit, where we actually help them to figure out how to reconstruct the relationship, if it seems like it's possible to do so with the former abuser. Dalya Massachi: Latin American women's groups have often redefined violence against women as a problem that needs urgent attention by health care providers. Hanne Holst from Ecuador: Hanne Holst: We are also trying to denounce the violence...also it's against our health and is a public health problem. So violence has to be attended also in the health services. We are trying to train the doctors and the health providers to also receive the women that are victims of violence?because sometimes they don't denounce the thing, they have to be very open to not to judge the woman, to be very sensitive. Dalya Massachi: Jacqueline Pitanguy's organization in Brazil also advocates for this view. Jacqueline Pitanguy: I participate at a working group at the ministry of health. And we are proposing and designing a normative frame for the public health system to attend women victims of violence, which is frequently not seen not perceived and not even regulated within the public health system. Dalya Massachi: Another dimension to this health problem is that it's not simply a matter of physical abuse, but of psychological abuse as well. In 1997 Nicaraguan women lobbied for and won a law unique in the Americas that treats psychological and emotional violence as equivalent to physical violence. Carmen Narvaez from Nicaragua. Carmen Narvaez: It's codified in the law that even if the woman has only suffered emotional violence or psychological violence, it still could be considered a crime and the perpetrator can still be charged with domestic violence. It's not limited to physical violence only. So the women arriving for care get the psychological evaluation from both the psychologist and from a forensic medical doctor as well. And they have their methods of doing complete interviews and evaluations of the women. And if they find psychological problems that they can document that are a result of the violence perpetrated against the woman--violence physical or emotional-- then that information is written up in the form of a report and sent to the judge. Dalya Massachi: Latin American women often find it crucial to offer special training for these judges and police units to help sensitize them to the particular problems of domestic violence survivors. Jacqueline Pitanguy from Brazil. Jacqueline Pitanguy: The first special police station was started in 1985, and we have now over 200 police stations throughout the country where a woman victim of domestic violence or sexual abuse will go. Some of them work very well; others don't work so well. It depends on a number of facts, including educating the police who serve and work in these police stations. So, I think the big challenge now in terms of gender violence is reaching the judiciary because many times you do have the special police stations where a woman's complaint will be taken into account; a process will be initiated. But then, when you get to the judiciary, it is so impregnated by prejudices that the processes don't go along or the sentences are very friendly to the aggressor. So I think the big challenge now, in terms of the gender violence, is sensitizing the judiciary. Stephanie Welch: Your listening to Making Contact, a production of the National Radio Project. If you'd like to get in touch with us, we'll be giving out our toll free number at the end of this broadcast. Dalya Massachi: Defining domestic violence in all it's forms as a public problem is another important strategy for Latin American women. As in the case of the Guatemalan asylum-seeker Rodi Alvarado Pena, many people in Latin America - and in the U.S. - continue to see domestic violence strictly as a private matter that cannot be prevented. Carmen Narvaez from Nicaragua. Carmen Narvaez: This is our approach-- it's society-wide education on many different fronts. Breaking the silence about domestic violence and redefining it so that when people hear people shouting or hear blows in the house between partners, that they no longer see this as something to shut their ears and their eyes to, and see as a private problem. Dalya Massachi: In El Salvador, Irma Orellana is involved with one many efforts to educate the public about domestic violence and related issues. Irma Orellana: We use the theater also as a way to educate the population, especially women. We do reflect about this theme and we take this theme about domestic violence to reflect that in our theater. In the group we are four --two founders members-- we've been working since 1993, and two more people. And we work especially on themes about alcoholism, sexual education and family planning. Dalya Massachi: Efforts to end the cycle of violence have also involved the male abusers themselves. Irma Orellana from El Salvador. Irma Orellana: We have initiated a mixed process--mixed with women and men--because women ask to educate their partners or their husbands, because they are in the process to learn how to deal with conflicts and how to deal with problems. But women want men to be educated about that too and in that way they can face the problem together as partners. Dalya Massachi: Oswaldo Montoya is one of those men working to eradicate domestic violence in Nicaragua. He counts himself among the fortunate men to have learned first-hand from the feminist movement in his country. Oswaldo Montoya: We try to define ourselves as allies of women's movements. In many cases, there are organizations who are male and female. So we work together as a team. There are feminist organizations in which men and women work together in different programs and themes. That's one way. Other ways, we as a men's group, we try to establish alliances, collaboration with women's groups, in specific things. For instance, the passing of the law that penalized intra-family violence, we were supportive of that. The Network of Women Against Violence, who was the network who really pushed the issue, we tried to collaborate with that, trying to collect supporters, seeing that there answers to their demands,to their loving efforts. And also we have been trying to, for instance, collaborate in the organizational activities of worship with men and women together. So we try to build methodologies in which men and women can work together, can have a educational opportunity to work on these issues, to communicate on these issues without leaving the room angry or with more hostility, but the opposite. That inspires them. We're trying to build methodologies together, men and women. Dalya Massachi: Montoya says his group is not unique in Central America. He's facilitated workshops in Honduras, Panama and Costa Rica. His group also has made presentations to U.S. audiences. Oswaldo Montoya: We try to expand the definition of masculinity; try to get rid of all the negative parts of masculinity, which has to do with authoritarianism, control over others, aggressions and a very compulsory heterosexuality, very possessiveness in the heterosexual relationship. We want men to be more free to choose their life, to regain, reclaim all these things related to men like being protectors, providers, but in a different way. Not in a patriarchal way. We want men to keep doing good things for society, giving for society, but not defining ourselves as superior to women. So it's a whole division. At some points, we would like to just forget about this issue of masculinity and think that we are human beings. Dalya Massachi: Like many efforts in the United States to end domestic violence, much of this work in Latin America lacks the resources to make it as effective as possible. Irma Orellana. Irma Orellana: We worry that while a lot of organizations and international groups and institutions are signing laws and international trades and things like that...that they say to protect kids and women's rights. Finally we ended that?it's like a small group of people who are working like in the actual work protecting and fighting to respect women's rights. And we in this small group of people who really work to protect women's rights, we don't have the resources and we don't have the money. Because all the money and resources that are coming to the country are kept for the government or official institutions, which don't work really with the people or don't do any human rights or women's rights protections as deeply as these organizations are doing. We work especially with the children and women secretary or office which is from the government, but they don't support efforts of education or capacitation for women. We have the people and we're willing to work in those areas, but they have the money. Dalya Massachi: Resource issues are among the many items on the agenda for the Beijing Plus 5 conference to be held in June 2000. The conference will assess progress made by governments to implement the Platform for Action from the 1995 Conference on Women in Beijing, China. One of those key issues is violence against women. Irma Orellana sums it up. Irma Orellana: We have to be integrated and we have to collaborate each other, especially with the efforts that women are doing to organize women and not only in El Salvador but in other countries. We are all committed to create a better world to live - not only women but also men. Within this world full of ignorance and discrimination, women are responding and they're demanding and we're not in silence. We're talking about it and we're denouncing the domestic violence. Dalya Massachi: Orellana is part of the large and growing Latin American movement against domestic violence. These women and men are succeeding in their efforts to get domestic violence issues on the public agenda. That's it for this edition of Making Contact, a look at domestic violence in Latin America. Thanks for listening. This show was produced by the National Radio Project's Women's Desk and written by myself, Dalya Massachi. Special thanks to Krissy Clark, Victoria Fernandez and Theya Kanagaratnam for sound recording and editing. Rosi Reyes and Paola Zuniga for production assistance. And Nora Roman and Carmen Guzman for translation. Phillip Babich is our managing producer; Laura Livoti is managing director. Peggy Law, executive director. Associate producer, Stephanie Welch. Senior advisor, Norman Solomon. National producer, David Barsamian. Women's desk coordinator, Lisa Rudman. Prison desk coordinator, Eli Rosenblatt. Production assistant, Shereen Meraji. Archivist, Din Abdullah. And I'm your host Dalya Massachi. If you want more information about the subject of this week's program. Call the National Radio Project, at 800-529-5736. Call that same phone number for tapes and transcripts. That's 800-529-5736. Making Contact is an independent production. We're committed to providing a forum for voices and opinions not often heard in the mass media. If you have suggestions for future programs, we'd like to hear from you. Our theme music is by the Charlie Hunter trio. Bye for now. |