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News > Latin America

Salvadoran Doctor Dies After 'Fall', Police Suspect Femicide

  • The medical report stated their were leisures around the victim's neck, consistent with strangulation.

    The medical report stated their were leisures around the victim's neck, consistent with strangulation. | Photo: Facebook

Published 24 January 2018
Opinion

According to the doctor's partner, her injuries and death were a result of a terrible fall down a flight of stairs.

Salvadoran police are investigating the suspicious demise of Dr. Rosa Maria Bonilla Vega, head of the state health ministry, who was reported dead Tuesday night.

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The former health director of the Salvadoran Social Security Institute (ISSS) in Santa Ana reportedly was severely beaten, suffering multiple bruises to her face, neck and chest and rendering her almost unrecognizable. Bonilla died in the hospital while undergoing an emergency operation.

She had been transported to the local hospital by her partner, Daniel Suarez, a physical trainer, who was later taken into custody by police authorities for questioning. According to the nurses, the man was flustered and nervously recounted several conflicting versions of what allegedly transpired in their home. Suarez said her numerous injuries were a result of a terrible fall down a flight of stairs from the second floor.

However, the medical report stated there were leisures around the victim's neck, consistent with strangulation.

Together with The Legal Woman Foundation, a national women's rights organization, Lawyer Silvia de Bonilla demanded justice for the state health worker.

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Bonilla called on the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) and the Procurator for Human Rights Defense, Raquel de Caballero to thoroughly investigate the incident and the suspect who reportedly “left the hospital without warning.”

"It seems that there's another dead woman murdered, beaten, it's just an insignificant number," Attorney Bonilla wrote in a statement.

The head of Santa Ana police department, Hugo Bonilla confirmed Suarez's arrest, adding that they expect to press charges of fraud and femicide soon.

According to crime reports, since last October there have been at least five registered cases of femicides, although only one alleged perpetrator has been arrested so far. Almost 300 claims of femicides were filed with the Attorney General's Office between January 2015 and June 2017, a recent report published by the Salvadoran Institute for the Development of Women (Isdemu) last month states. Of those reported 1,519 women murdered during this period, 846 were classified as simple or aggravated femicide.

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