ABSTRACT
The history of Latin America is inseparable from a history of violence against women, a history that shows this violence’s ever-present, pervasive and perverse character. Significant institutions in the region have also played a major rule in the perpetuation and naturalization of violence towards women. In modern times, with a diminished Roman Catholic Church, the socio-economic situation for women in Latin America has been uneven. Impunity runs at 77 percent in some places, meaning that men, literally, get away with murder, as long as the victim is a Latin American woman. The luridness of murders against Latin America’s women has been captured, in literature. Probably the best-known work of fiction dealing with this tragedy was published in 2004 by the Chilean Roberto Bolano. Homicide rates against men and women are too high in Latin America, especially in El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico and other places, but violence against women has been prevalent and often ignored.
