Impunity and multisided violence in the lives of Latin American women: El Salvador in comparative perspective

Walsh, Shannon; Menjívar, Cecilia

doi:10.1177/0011392116640474

Cited by 34 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…In a previous study, we inductively identified mechanisms that create conditions for extreme violence in the lives of women in Guatemala and El Salvador (Menjívar 2011;Walsh and Menjívar 2016) and we adapt this lens to examine the Honduran case. We use the "extreme-case" method, which focuses on case studies with extreme outcomes, like notable successes or failures (Gerring 2007, 101).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Architecture of Feminicide: The State, Inequalities, and Everyday Gender Violence in Honduras

Menjívar

Walsh

2022

Lat. American Res. Rev.

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Increasing exclusion and inequality in Honduras have posed escalating security risks for women in their homes and on the streets. In this article, we examine gender-based violence against women, including gender-motivated murders (feminicides), the everyday acts that can result in their deaths, and impunity for these crimes. Rather than analyzing these murders as interpersonal acts or linking them to economic deprivation, we examine the actions and inactions of the state that have amplified violence in the lives of Honduran women. We distinguish between the state's acts of omission and acts of commission in order to identify the political responsibility and failures that create a fertile ground for these killings. A context of multisided violence that facilitates extreme violence in the lives of women is present in Honduras, especially considering the diminishing power of civil society groups and increased political repression after the 2009 coup. We identify root causes of the wide (and widening) gap between laws on the books-which have been passed mostly to satisfy international and domestic organizations pushing for change-and laws in action, that is, implementation on the ground. Although we focus on Honduras, we note similar experiences of extreme violence in Guatemala, El Salvador, and in other countries in the Latin American region. IntroductionWe cannot go back to Honduras. . . . They will kill us. With gangs it is very difficult. . . . The gang members wear the same vests and use the same guns that the police do. How do they get hold of these guns and vests? From the police.-A woman who has fled Honduras (UNHCR 2015, 24) For years, Honduras stayed under the radar of international attention, particularly of the US public. This is despite the fact that Honduras has served US interests in Central America in various forms and degrees, playing a key role during the 1980s when it was the staging ground for military operations and training that sustained the wars in that region. However, in recent years, a series of events have thrust Honduras into the limelight, starting with the 2009 coup that ousted the democratically elected president Manuel Zelaya. This event accelerated and exacerbated a security crisis in Honduras and the northern countries of Central America that has resulted in the destabilization of families, worsening of the economy, and increasing violence. 1 The woman quoted above is one among thousands of women fleeing such conditions and seeking refuge in the United States. Thus, while the Latin American region as a whole seems to have entered a new era of openness,1 The Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH) has observed that in post-coup Honduras grave violations of human rights take place, such as killings, arbitrary calls for state of exception, repression of protest through excessive use of force, criminalization of social protest, increased arbitrary detentions, degrading and inhumane treatment of detainees, militarization of the national territory, increase in racial discri...

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Architecture of Feminicide: The State, Inequalities, and Everyday Gender Violence in Honduras

Menjívar

Walsh

2022

Lat. American Res. Rev.

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“…“Gendered violence” are acts of violence (physical, psychological, or sexual) committed against women due to their gender, while the structural conditions that disadvantage women constitute “gender violence” (Walsh and Menjívar : 7).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…As an analytical framework, multisided violence integrates structural violence, political violence, everyday violence, symbolic violence, and gender and gendered violence (Walsh and Menjívar ).…”

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confidence: 99%

The Making and Unmaking of Feminicidio/Femicidio Laws in Mexico and Nicaragua

Moral¹,

Neumann²

2019

Law Soc Rev

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This article examines the contested process of law‐making related to the killing of women which resulted in the criminalization of feminicide (feminicidio) and femicide (femicidio) in Mexico and Nicaragua, two countries in which feminists engaged in legal activism to increase state accountability for gendered violence. Through comparative analysis, we demonstrate the importance of (1) the interaction between shifting local political conditions and supranational opportunities and (2) the position of feminist actors vis‐à‐vis the state and its gender regime in shaping regional variation in the making of laws concerning gendered violence. In Mexico, the criminalization of feminicidio resulted from a successful naming and shaming campaign by local feminist actors linked to litigation in various supranational arenas, and the intervention of feminist federal legislators. In Nicaragua, the codification of femicidio resulted from the state's selective responsiveness to feminist demands in a moment of narrow political opportunity within an otherwise highly consolidated regime. We also examine the unmaking of these laws through their perversion in practice (Mexico) and their intentional undermining (Nicaragua) at the hands of the state. Our analysis demonstrates how states' decisions to enact legislation against gendered violence does not occur solely because they are invested in international legitimacy, but also in response to states' shifting acceptance of the legitimacy of supranational authority itself.

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“…In the context of such deeply rooted inequalities-the very same inequalities that were set in motion and maintained through US military and economic intervention-these ideals are out of reach for most Salvadoran women and men, both in El Salvador and in the US. It is in a search for a dignified life, then, that Salvadorans-victims of multiple forms of violence (Walsh and Menjívar 2016)-must find ways to make meaning of life beyond unfulfilled expectations.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Such descriptions minimize and justify these murders, as they explain why there were a record 954 homicides during the first forty days of 2016 alone. 10 Fleeing multisided forms of gendered violence in El Salvador and throughout the region (Walsh and Menjívar 2016), women are then likely to experience further victimization during their long trek north to the US. Along with the risk of losing their limbs and lives by clandestinely riding the freight train that runs through much of the length of the Mexican territory, women migrants are also highly vulnerable to rape and sex trafficking rings run by gangs and drug cartels (Izcara Palacios 2016;Martínez 2010Martínez , 2016.…”

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confidence: 99%

On silences: Salvadoran refugees then and now

Abrego

2017

Lat Stud

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US military and economic intervention in El Salvador has set the conditions for mass migration since the 1980s. Both then and now, despite well-documented human rights abuses, the US government refuses to categorize Salvadorans as refugees. Weaving in personal and political narratives, this essay examines the parallels of violence against refugees in the 1980s and the present. It also analyzes the silences created through the denial of state terror and the political and collective consequences of these silences for Salvadorans in the US.In a recent conversation during a visit to my grandmother's house, my mother mentioned that one of her Facebook friends who lives in San Martín, our hometown in El Salvador, had posted alarming information the night before. Her friend, Amanda, updated her status to relay that gunshots were being fired nearby as opposing gangs were attacking each other. The drama unfolded on Facebook as Amanda continued to post on this thread, asking for prayers and describing how she and her kids hid under the bed to wait out the shooting.Like many people who fled war in a previous era, my mom rarely shared stories with her kids about the state terror she had witnessed. Her Facebook friend's posts, however, got her to reminisce out loud about having been in a very similar situation over thirty years earlier. Upon hearing bombs nearby, like Amanda, she hid in the bedroom with her children; my sister was a newborn and I was almost five years old. Still recovering from giving birth days earlier, my mother recounted, she stood up and felt warm globs of blood sliding down her leg. Amid the surrounding explosions, her & Leisy J. Abrego

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Impunity and multisided violence in the lives of Latin American women: El Salvador in comparative perspective

Cited by 34 publications

References 25 publications

The Architecture of Feminicide: The State, Inequalities, and Everyday Gender Violence in Honduras

The Architecture of Feminicide: The State, Inequalities, and Everyday Gender Violence in Honduras

The Making and Unmaking of Feminicidio/Femicidio Laws in Mexico and Nicaragua

On silences: Salvadoran refugees then and now

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