According to the Gender Observatory of the Judicial Power between 2007 and 2016 there were a total of 287 women murdered by men with which they had a romantic relationship; in 2017 there were a total of 26 femicides, and so far in 2018 there’s been 6 confirmed femicides, while 5 other cases remain in investigation and could make this number grow.

“I express the solidarity of the Government with the families of the women that have been brutally murdered this last week in the country (…) the country mourns these deaths and they remind us of the terrible reality of the wave of violence against women”, stated President of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solis.

“Women must be attended to by specific institutions that defend them of these and other acts of violence that don’t always end up in death but do end up with impoverished women, discriminated and excluded”, concluded the President.

Just last week three Costa Rican women were killed by their romantic partners, one woman was stabbed and burnt, another one stabbed and the third one was hit over her head with a metallic pipe.

President Solis reaffirmed the government’s commitment in protecting and guaranteeing women’s rights against all forms of violence.

Ana Hidalgo, coordinator of the violence department for the Women’s Institute in Costa Rica, made emphasis in the fact that people close to the victim play an important role in the fight against violence, family members, friends, coworkers, have the responsibility of interceding when they notice signs of violence, “A femicide is the chronicle of an announced death, there’s always history behind it”.

Today and 18 year old woman was killed in what apparently is the latest femicide case in the country. The woman was shot several times in front of her daughter of under 2 years of age. According to the mother of the victim, she was pregnant, and she suspects this was a crime of passion.