Peru: Vizcarra Condemned After Death Of Woman Burned On Bus

Peru has reacted with indignation at President Martin Vizcarra's apathetic response to the death of a young woman set alight on a bus last month who finally succumbed to her injuries on Friday after undergoing 15 surgeries.  

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Woman, Victim of Machismo, Set on Fire in Peruvian Bus

Eyvi Liset Agreda Marchena, 22, was doused in gasoline and set on fire by a former colleague, Carlos Huallpa, on a bus in Miraflores on the night of April 24.

She died late Friday as a result of infections from the second- and third-degree burns that covered 60 percent of her body. "It is very painful, both for my parents and for my brothers," Charles Agreda, the victim's uncle, told RPP.

On receiving news of her death, President Vizcarra tweeted: "This type of aggression should lead to the criminal being detained and put in jail for life." Vizcarra offered his sympathies, but then said: "Sometimes that's how life is and we have to accept it."

The response from women's rights groups was immediate and fierce: Veronika Mendoza, president of political party New Peru, tweeted: "No, Mr. Martin Vizcarra, this is not 'how life is.'"

Mendoza continued: "Eyvi was killed by Carlos Huallpa but also machismo in the state and in society. Promote policies with a gender focus to prevent and eradicate violence, don't let them keep killing us; it's in your hands."

Women's Minister Ana Maria Mendieta offered her condolences to the Agreda family and denounced the rise in gender violence, which has surged by 55 percent over the past year.

"Femicide is not an isolated event, it is the result of a chain of acts of violence that can start with harassment, insult, with a slap," Mendieta said

"These cases cannot continue, and here I want to demand the maximum sanction. This is a case of an attempted femicide which became a femicide and... it cannot go unpunished. They cannot continue killing us."

A memorial organized by Ni Una Menos - Peru, an anti-violence organization for women's rights, was held Friday night outside the Palace of Justice in Lima.

Flowers, candles and banners surrounded portraits of Marchena as friends and family called for an end to impunity and violence.

Huallpa was arrested the day after the attack and told police he only wanted to maim Marchena and cripple the 22-year-old's "ego." He was sentenced to preventive prison for nine months, but if convicted of Agreda's murder he faces a sentence of up to 35 years.