Newly appointed governor of Puerto Rico Pedro Pierluisi
Pedro Rafael PierluisiPuerto Rico votes in favor of Puerto Rican US voters are key in Democratic leader of Sunshine State Puerto Rico: Party “cannot support” AOC / Velazquez status bill MORE declared a state of emergency in Puerto Rico in response to crimes involving transgender women and individuals in recent years.
Pierluisi signed an executive order declaring urgency for gender-based violence on Sunday. It is scheduled to last until June 30, 2022.
Activists have been pushing for government action to fight crime and violence for years, which they say has worsened since Hurricane Maria in 2017 and a coronavirus pandemic has hit the island, CNN reported.
Puerto Rican police report that at least 5,517 women were victims of domestic violence in 2020 and Gender equality observer have documented at least 60 direct and indirect femicides, six transfemicides and 26 cases still under investigation or without information.
“Gender-based violence is a social evil, based on ignorance and attitudes that cannot have the space or tolerance in Puerto Rico that we aspire to,” Pierluisi said in a statement translated by CNN. “For too long, vulnerable victims have suffered the consequences of systematic machismo, inequity, discrimination, lack of education, lack of guidance and, above all, lack of action.”
The governor’s order establishes various programs to combat violence, including the establishment of a committee focused on education, support and rescue.
The 17-member committee, which will include three representatives of organizations focusing on gender-based violence, will provide an initial progress report 45 days from the start and then every 30 days until the end of the statement.
Pierluisi also called for the creation of a mobile app to allow victims to report violence without drawing attention to it.
Advocacy organizations celebrated the governor’s order as a breakthrough.
“Today, our anger has some hope,” the organization Feminist Construction in Construction published on Facebook. “Today, as always, our hope is radical. We will not take a step back.”