Rape of Young Venezuelan Woman Sparks Protests in Argentina

The rape of a young Venezuelan woman in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, has sparked outrage and protest among citizens and feminist organizations in that city this week, and the protest has reached Caracas.

The facts that are at the origin of the protests is the rape of a young woman, 18 years old, at the hands of her boss in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Once, famous for the sale of textiles, a case which was discovered by the local police.

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According to the local media story, the young woman had started working shortly before, next to the alleged rapist. She began to feel dizzy after drinking a glass of water that her boss, Humberto Garzón, offered her, and managed to call her sister to alert her before she fell asleep.

After the news broke, the hashtag "Garzón rapist" became popular on Twitter, and a demonstration was called in front of the store where the events occurred, which was attended, among others, by Thays Campos, mother of the young woman, who said that her daughter "is devastated."

At the same time, another demonstration was called at the Palace of Justice. The attendees, many members of the sizeable Venezuelan community in Argentina, demanded that the judge in charge of the case, Karina Zucconi, order the arrest of Garzón, who for now remains at liberty.

"#VenezuelanMigrants: Patricia Ramos, a friend of the family of the young Venezuelan woman who was raped: "My friend was drugged, abused in her unconscious state. She could not even scream. We want justice and for the rapists to be in jail."

The state prosecutor, Silvana Russi, has already appealed the judge's decision to grant Garzón Martínez release under oath on the charge of "sexual abuse with carnal access," considering that the man, who has no criminal record, "will not try to evade the action of Justice" or hinder the process.

However, Pablo Baqué, the young woman's lawyer, stated that "the prosecutor's office agrees with us [the defense] that the release from prison should be revoked. We have verified [the victim's] injuries, and it is abuse with carnal access."

The case crossed the Argentine borders and reached Venezuela, where the vice-president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (Psuv), Diosdado Cabello, referred to the rape in his TV program: "I hope that the Argentine government and the Argentine justice system can fulfill the role that corresponds to them," he said. 

Likewise, in front of the Argentine embassy in Caracas, representatives of the local "Me too" movement came to demand justice for their compatriots.