Minister of Women Mayra Jimenez said Monday, 10 April 2023, when attending the wake of 25-year old communicator and influencer Chantal Jimenez, that violence is a multidimensional scourge and part of a macho culture that will cost a lot to eradicate in the Dominican Republic. She said machismo is an issue that must be addressed in schools and within the family.
Upon leaving the funeral home where the remains of the communicator Chantal Jimenez, who died at the hands of her former spouse on Saturday, 8 April 2023, Minister Jimenez said that “the problem of violence that affects the country is part of a scourge and a macho culture that assumes that when a woman starts a relationship she is his property, a culture that will take time to change,” as reported in N Digital.
The minister said that an investigation is ongoing to determine if this case of violence could have been prevented with better handling and fulfilment of protocols in cases such as this by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
“It is essential that the competent authority, in this case, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, clarify the veracity of the information in the sense that there was a previous complaint for attempted murder, and why the pertinent measures for the protection of the victim established in the norms and protocols were not taken,” said Jiménez.
Chantal Jimenez is the 20th femicide victim in the Dominican Republic in 2023, according to statistics of the Ministry of Women.
Chantal Jimenez was shot in the head on the night of Saturday, 8 April 2023 by her ex-partner 35-year old Jensy Graciano Cepeda, who later committed suicide. The incident took place in the Urbanización Fernandez in the National District.
According to preliminary information, Graciano Cepeda had a restraining order and had been arrested because he had shot her days before. However, he was released because Chantal Jimenez’s father, Roque Jimenez, arranged for his release after the killer promised him “that he would leave his daughter alone and would not look for her anymore.” In gender violence, agreements are banned and the decision by the prosecutor would have violated the rules, as reported in Hoy.
Meanwhile, feminist organizations highlighted that this is another case of negligence on behalf of the Attorney General Office. The Coalition for Life, Health and Women’s Rights, the Feminist Forum, the Institute for Research and Gender and Family Studies of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo and the Research Center for Feminist Action (CIPAF) are calling on the Attorney General of the Republic, Miriam Germán, to carry out a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the femicide of the young communicator.
In a press release, the organizations called for an immediate intervention by the Inspector General’s Office of the Attorney General of the Republic to the Unit for the Prevention and Prosecution of Domestic Violence and Sexual Crimes of Santo Domingo West and to place under investigation prosecutor Altagracia Brache Gomez.
Read more in Spanish:
N Digital
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N Digital
Noticias SIN
Noticias SIN
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Hoy
Hoy
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Hoy
Hoy
11 April 2023