Rash of acid attacks stir calls for change in Colombia

[Judi Lynn]

12 April 2014| last updated at 12:10AM

Rash of acid attacks stir calls for change in Colombia

BOGOTA: A rash of acid attacks in recent weeks have horrified Colombians, provoking calls for special laws to deter a particularly fearsome form of aggression in an already violent society.

For reasons as various as a lovers’ quarrel or an argument among neighbors, five people have been attacked in the past two weeks with corrosive chemicals causing serious burns. In the latest case, which occurred Wednesday in the northwestern city of Medellin, the victim, a 22-year-old youth, died.

The phenomenon is not new by any means. Since 2004, nearly a thousand attacks involving acid have been reported in Colombia, according to statistics kept by medical examiners. But a media frenzy erupted after an attack at the end of March on Natalia Ponce, a 33-year-old woman from a well-off Bogota family.

“Regrettably the issue only became a subject of discussion once it impacted a family with resources and contacts. Before it was an anonymous crime affecting poor people,” said Gloria Stella Diaz, a lawmaker who has fought for years against this sad Colombian reality.

More:
Rash of acid attacks stir calls for change in Colombia - Latest - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/latest/rash-of-acid-attacks-stir-calls-for-change-in-colombia-1.562398#ixzz2yfEtW0Wi

[Judi Lynn]

1. Bogotá acid attacks

Bogotá acid attacks
on Apr 8, 2014 • by Hannah Matthews

Colombians woke up Monday to the tragic news that yet another woman had been attacked in Bogotá by acid, resulting in severe burns to her face, legs and chest. Luz Adriana Jurado, 43, was admitted to the Simón Bolívar Hospital and became the most recent victim of an acid attack during two weeks in which 3 other women were severely burned.

Sorleny Pulgarín, 23, Natalia Ponce de León, 33, and Ines Aminta Carrillo, 47, remain in intensive care in various hospitals across the city as lawyers and politicians deal with an unprecedented fallout and public outrage over these attacks; and mounting fear that streets in the capital are becoming a dangerous stomping ground for sadists.

Elected representatives, from municipal to state legislatures, are also holding public debates as to determine tough legislation and punishment for a crime which leaves women disfigured and scarred for life.

From information released by the Colombian National Police, the motive behind each case has been different; ranging from the “tormented” neighbor of Ms. Ponce de León, to apparently senseless and random attacks which have resulted in severe burns affecting up to 60 percent of the victims’ bodies.

More:
http://thecitypaperbogota.com/news/bogota-acid-attacks/#sthash.d6YEaadB.dpuf