At the age of 15, a young woman from Esmeraldas was raped, today her baby is five months old and she passes between diapers and books because she has not left her studies.
377 kilometers away from Guayaquil, on a street without pavement or cobblestones in the new Quinindé (Esmeraldas) is Andrea’s house. In her arms, a little boy – who turned five months old on November 25 – clings to the slim body of the 16-year-old girl who cannot hold back tears when she talks about the way her son came into the world. Yes, your son, She is a girl turned into a mother by force, by the cruel indolence of a man who until now has not been punished.
On June 25, 2021, very early in the morning, Andrea complained of severe pain and her brother ran to find his mother. “Mommy, I’m going to die, I’m going to die,” she repeated, Diana, the mother recounted.
On a motorcycle they took her to the Padre Alberto Buffoni hospital. It’s difficult to get a car around Andrea’s house, and Diana’s husband’s motorcycle was the best option. “I’m going to die, I’m going to die,” the adolescent insisted on the 10-minute journey from the house to the health home.
Diana, 35, says that her daughter entered a bathroom at the hospital and Álvaro was born right there. Immediately the baby and the young woman were transferred to an operating room to the astonishment of the mother, who assures that it was not until the moment when the doctors rebuked her that she learned that the third of her children was pregnant.
Nine months earlier, at approximately 8:00 p.m., Andrea went out to the store. He had to walk two blocks on a street without lights. Along the dusty street there are four vacant lots, without enclosure, in one you can see a couple of green bushes, the others are full of mountains and garbage.
Tears roll down Andrea’s thin face, who makes a long silence, her voice choking. “That they find him and punish him,” he pleads, his eyes covered by the shine of tears.
They put something in my mouth, he says, but tears win. That night she went to the store, they raped her mercilessly and as a result of that violation, Álvaro was born.
When he got home he had a bath, his mother was at work. Andrea didn’t say anything. She confesses that she was afraid that they would blame her, that they would scold her and she preferred to remain silent. She also did not know that she was pregnant, she assures that her belly did not grow, that sometimes she woke up with a swollen belly, but she did not even suspect that she could be expecting a child: “If I knew I would have told my mother.”
The Prosecutor’s Office registers 2,241 cases of rape of minors from January 2017 to last September
On April 28, 2021, the Constitutional Court of Ecuador ruled the unconstitutionality of articles 149 and 150 of the Comprehensive Organic Penal Code (COIP) that allowed abortion only in case of danger to the mother or rape of a woman with a disability and punished with prison the termination of pregnancy in all other cases.
The resolution ordered the deletion of the phrase “person with mental disabilities” from point 2 of article 150 of the COIP. With this, the possibility of abortion due to rape was left open.
“I wouldn’t kill him,” says Andrea, full of a courage that she herself does not recognize, when asked what she would have done if she had had someone to talk to her about this legal framework and aware of her state of pregnancy.
At school the young woman had been explained what a pregnancy is. “They had also told us that no one could touch our body and that we should tell people if that happened, that we should not remain silent.”
And why didn’t Andrea speak ?: “Because they hurt me and I was afraid that people would judge me.”
According to a publication of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), it is estimated that 58% of girls and boys in Latin America suffered physical, sexual or emotional abuse in the last year. Data from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for 2017 show that more than one million girls and adolescents are victims of sexual violence in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Sitting in the dining room of the one-story cement house, Andrea’s mother talks about her daughter’s “destroyed youth”, but she picks up the broken pieces of her dreams and transforms them into projects despite her young age, she wants to be an agronomist and has not dropped out, although no one at school knows that she is a mother. Again she says that she is afraid of being singled out, being judged for something she is not responsible for.
“I would like them to catch those bad people and not harm anyone else like me,” insists the young woman while squeezing her fingers.
The Organic Penal Code (COIP) establishes penalties of up to 26 years for sexual offenses, in article 171 a custodial penalty of nineteen to twenty-two years in prison is imposed in cases of rape when the victim is deprived of reason. or sense, or when due to illness or disability could not resist; when violence, threat or intimidation is used; when the victim is under fourteen years of age. There are aggravating factors due to family ties (incestuous rape), age of the victim and others.
In all cases, if the death of the rape victim occurs, the aggressor will be punished with a prison term of twenty-two to twenty-six years, points out the COIP.
But Andrea does not know who raped her, she assures that she has not seen that evil face of her executioner again and neither does she remember it well because “they put something in my mouth”, there is no complaint, no one is looking for the person responsible for the damage of which she speaks the slim young woman, with a dark complexion, who measures 1.55, approximately.
The young woman has not received psychological help. In solitude, he maintains, sometimes he cries and thinks: “they hurt me a lot and I look at the baby and I think he is to blame – his tears roll again and he pauses for a long time – but I love the baby”.
As driving away bad thoughts change the subject. In his words, he wants to get ahead studying with his son, who one day he would like to see become a doctor.
In the province of Esmeraldas, where Andrea lives, in 2018 there were 18 complaints of rape of minors, in 2019 there were 9, in 2020 the same number and so far in 2021 there are 5, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.
Diana, Álvaro’s grandmother, affirms that she and her husband, who raised Andrea and another of her fatherless daughters from the age of 2, support her in whatever is within their power. Nevertheless, advocates that the minor, who recognized the child with her surname, be considered as a beneficiary of a State bond, that State that according to the Constitution and the laws must guarantee the fundamental rights of minors like Andrea.
In Quinindé the newspaper The Liberator made a crusade to equip the minor with the basics for the baby, shortly after his birth. Its director, Patricio Aguilar, says, however, that the aid must be sustained and agrees with the demand to the Ministry of Social Inclusion (MIES) to consider the young mother for a program in favor of victims of gender violence.
* The names of the victim and her parents have been protected, but we have their contacts in the province of Esmeraldas for institutions interested in helping this minor and her son.
It is important to preserve evidence in cases of rape
Anyone who has been a victim of rape must not only be clear that they are not guilty and report it, but it is also necessary to preserve the evidence. The National Council for Gender Equality on its website explains how to do it.
The victim should avoid bathing until after the legal medical examination, nor should they change the clothes they were wearing.
The entity recommends going to a nearby health unit or aid station (Police, Firefighters, UVC, political lieutenant). He adds that whoever was raped at home should seek a safe haven and seek help from a trusted person.
If the victim was forced to have oral sex, they should avoid drinking liquids or food before the samples are collected.
If you go to a medical home, you must report that you were raped and allow the doctor to examine you to record evidence, heal wounds and apply treatment to prevent sexually transmitted infections. A victim of rape can demand the emergency contraception pill, its effectiveness is within 72 hours. The Health House must notify the Prosecutor’s Office for the complaint to be received.
A victim can also report directly to the Public Prosecutor’s Office (Police, Women’s Police Station, Police Station, Political Tenure, Prosecutor’s Office). You do not need a lawyer or any identity document to file a rape complaint. The procedures are free.
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
