Brazilian Women Suffer Bodily Mutilation at Hands of Former Partners

11/03/2015 - 09h52

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JULIANA COISSI

SPECIAL ENVOY TO HORTOLÂNDIA (SP)

Maria de Fátima, 49, from Santa Catarina, cannot breathe through her nose, see or smile. Kelly, 20, from Pará, has difficulty hearing. Gisele, 22, from Rio Grande do Sul, cannot walk, while Jane, 31, from Alagoas, can barely manage to eat or brush her teeth without assistance.

These Brazilian women are all victims of a common tragedy: they had hands, feet, fingers, breasts or ears cut off, their skin lacerated by machetes or their faces disfigured at the hands of their former boyfriends or husbands.

This extreme violence, which recalls similar attacks recorded in India, Afghanistan and some Middle Eastern countries, are symbolic attempts to punish women who stand up to men, according to specialists.

Camila Cabral, 24, has no doubt that it was his rage at being left alone and his jealousy that led her stepfather Lauri Nery to throw acid in her mother's face in Joinville (SC), in January.

The acid closed Maria de Fátima Coelho's nostrils, meaning today she breathes through an opening in her neck. She speaks little and with great difficulty, as her lips were disfigured. She also lost an eye and is waiting for a cornea transplant for her other one.

Jealousy was a constant in the life of Jane Palmeira de Lima, 31, who lives in Hortolândia, 109km from São Paulo. "At the beginning we had some fights, there were some slaps, the usual kind of stuff."

José da Silva Filho has schizophrenia. A year ago, to Jane's displeasure, he decided to stop taking his medication and started drinking again.

In December 2014, he unexpectedly attacked her with a machete, cutting off her fingers and slashing her arm. "I'm not angry, but I want him far from me. We'll never live together again," says Lima. José da Silva Filho is currently in custody awaiting trial.

Translated by TOM GATEHOUSE

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