Panama witnessed a hate crime Wednesday, August 16, when a video circulated of an irate man savingly beating a woman in the middle of the street, while shouting insults reports La Prensa.

The victim is Estrella, a 27-year-old trans woman, who recently moved to the capital, is now in the intensive care room of the Santo Tomás Hospital, while her family, friends,  human rights defenders, and members of the LGTB+ community demand, once again, that the authorities put a stop to the growing phenomenon of violence in the country.

Day by day more acts of violence are seen in the streets recorded by citizens with their cell phones or by surveillance cameras.

On Friday, the same day that hundreds of citizens marched to Santo Tomás to hold a vigil and demand justice for Estrella, a court in Chiriquí sentenced a former priest to 30 years in prison for aggravated rape, obscene exhibitionism and acts libidinous to the detriment of a 5-year-old child.

In Panama, the most common cases of violence are domestic.

So far in 2023, the Public Ministry has registered 13,910 cases of domestic violence. In five years, between 2018 and 2022, the cases went from 18,611 to 22,602. The figure includes cases against minors and older adults.

These cases are those that are presented before the Public Ministry. There are many others that do not reach the judicial spheres, especially those that occur in the intra-family sphere.

cases went from 439 in 2018 to 501 last year. In the first six months of 2023, 323 homicides have been registered.

According to a recent report by the World Health Organization (WHO), States do not always have a clear definition of this problem, which is public health. the agency, rules change over time and not everyone agrees on what is acceptable behavior or what can be considered harmful.

Drug trafficking  
Public Security Minister of Public Security, Juan Pino, has insisted in repeated interviews that the phenomenon of violence, particularly in relation to homicides and the perception of insecurity, is related to drug trafficking.

“There is no insecurity in the country, but there is a problem with rival gangs that fight over drugs. Since they have fractured, the fight is over the territory and the sale of illicit substances, ”he says. He insists that 80% of the crimes registered in the country are related to drug trafficking.

The University of Panama, sociologist  Briseida Barrantes, says that violence in Panama is related to the structure of power within society: there is "a patriarchal vision of male dominance." She adds that as society advances, more security and justice are required to avoid discrimination, and this also creates contradictions.

Misinformation
She says that although social networks can help make the problem visible by raising awareness they also cause a lot of misinformation, promoted especially by groups that refuse to recognize some realities.

She recalled that the authorities, who are obliged to prevent and curb violence by the Constitution and the law, have ratified various agreements against violence. In 2019 the International Labor Organization addressed harassment in the workplace as a form of violence.

 “Violence is a vicious triangle. It can be visible or invisible, reflected in the social and cultural structure,” added Barrantes.