A recent report by Amnesty International points out that the Guatemalan authorities put the lives of women in danger, by not protecting them nor guaranteeing that those responsible for homicides are brought to trial.
Femicide continues being a constant with almost 1,000 women murdered in 2011, and 6,000 over the last five years.
According to the report published on ladob.com, 560 women were murdered in Guatemala in 2012, with less than 4 pecent of the cases ending with sentences for those responsible, even though the Guatemalan congress had approved a law in 2008 that specifies crimes of violence against women.
The law also created special courts and laid down guidelines for the imposing of punishment, but it has not brought about the awaited results as a mechanism to stop violence against women.
For its part, the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), has affirmed that these murders are kept silent and hidden in the daily violence of the country, where 98% of crimes remain unpunished, while mutilated and tortured bodies of women and girls are exhibited, murdered by men or organized men's groups to demonstrate their gender supremacy.
Sebastián Elgueta, a researcher for Amnesty International, stated that the number of femicide homicides has not lowered, in spite of how shameful this scourge is for Guatemalan society.
Elgueta said that thousands of cases from the previous decade have yet to be solved or have been shelved because of a supposed lack of evidence or ineffective investigations.