Another Argentine woman dies via incineration

A quick follow-up on a story we mentioned earlier this week on violence against women.

As we mentioned on Tuesday, an Argentine women’s’ rights group claimed that there were 260 femicides last year with eleven of them resulting from incineration. According to La Casa del Encuentro the women’s current or former partner does most of these attacks and a spokesperson for the organization urged the government to categorize femicides in an independent crime category.

Sadly the trend of burning women continued into this year with another woman dying yesterday and becoming the fourth lady to die via incineration over the past two weeks:

The most recent case…was that of 32-yrar-old Verónica Medina who died on Thursday due to injuries sustained three weeks ago when she was doused with alcohol and set on fire. (The incident) occurred during a quarrel with her husband and in the presence of her two children.

Medina ran out into the street engulfed in flames to seek help from her neighbors. She was able to accuse her husband, something that most victims are unable to do because they die before accusing their aggressor.

Medina’s husband is currently under police custody and accused with homicide.

According to Argentine daily Clarin, 54 women have been admitted since 2005 to the Hospital de Quemados (Burn Hospital) after being immolated. Yet the medical center’s director, Juan Carlos Ortega, admitted that some of the cases could have been attacks against women that went undetected at the time.

Image- tipete.com
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, EmpowHer, ABC.es, Clarin.com