Murder in Guatemala: 'I won't allow my daughter to become another statistic'

Murder in Guatemala: 'I won't allow my daughter to become another statistic'

Jorge Velásquez takes his fight for justice for the murder of his daughter, Claudina, to the Inter-American court of human rights

Nina Lakhani, Guatemala City
theguardian.com, Wednesday 18 June 2014 07.36 EDT

Since 2005, Jorge Velásquez has devoted his life to seeking justice for his daughter, Claudina Isabel Velásquez, a 19-year-old law student who was raped, shot in the head and dumped in an alley in Guatemala City.

Her murder, like those of thousands of other women in Guatemala, remains unsolved. The official investigation was marked by incompetence, inaccuracies and missed opportunities. It almost broke the Velásquez family.

Yet Jorge, 57, a retired accountant, refuses to let Claudina's murder gather dust among the mountain of unsolved cases. His persistence has paid off: the criminal investigation remains open, and the state's "multiple failures" are to be scrutinised by the Inter-American court of human rights, the highest civil court in the Americas, early next year – a decade after her death.

"I won't allow the authorities to let my daughter become another murder statistic, just another of the women massacred in Guatemala year after year," he said at his home in Guatemala City. "Every time I feel like giving up because of the pain, the frustration, the impotence, the scorn [from authorities], a little voice says to me, 'Dad, don't give up my cause, don't give up the struggle', so I will keep going until the end."

More:
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/jun/18/rape-murder-women-guatemala-crime-impunity