New sworn government in Puerto Rico Pedro Pierluisi
Pedro Rafael Pierluisi Puerto Rico votes in favor of US state creators Puerto Rico voters are key in Puerto Rico’s Sunshine state Democratic boss: Party ‘can’ not support ‘AOC / Velazquez status bill declared a state of emergency in Puerto Rico in response to murders of women and transgender people in recent years.
Pierluisi signed an executive order declare a state of emergency for gender-based violence on Sunday. It will run until June 30, 2022.
Activists have for years called for government action to address the killings and violence, which they say got worse after Hurricane Maria hit the island in 2017 and the coronavirus pandemic. CNN reported.
Puerto Rican police report it at least 5,517 women were victims of domestic violence in 2020, and the Gender Equality Observatory documented at least 60 direct and indirect murders of women, six transfemicides and 26 cases still under investigation or lacking information.
“Gender-based violence is a social evil, based on ignorance and attitudes that cannot have space or tolerance in Puerto Rico,” Pierluisi said in a statement translated by CNN. “For too long, vulnerable victims have suffered the consequences of systematic machismo, inequality, discrimination, lack of education, lack of guidance and, above all, lack of action.”
The governor’s order draws up various programs to address the violence, including the establishment of a committee focusing on education, support and rescue.
The 17-member committee, which will include three representatives from organizations focused on gender-based violence, will provide an initial progress report 45 days after commencement and thereafter every 30 days until the end of the declaration.
Pierluisi also requested that a mobile app be created to enable victims to report violence without paying attention to themselves.
Advocacy organizations have advanced the governor’s order as progress.
“Today our anger carries hope,” the organization Colectiva Feminista en Construcción posted on Facebook. “Today, as always, our hope is radical. We will not take a step back.”