Bishop Escobar Ayala launched his appeal during Sunday Mass when he commented on the case of a 14 year old native girl of Tomaraho ethnicity. At dawn on 25 June she wandered in shock through the streets of the San Blas neighbourhood of Fuerte Olimpo after being the victim of a brutal assault on a public road. The violence of the attackers was such that they left her disfigured, because she tried to resist the rape.
Following this episode the Apostolic Vicar once again denounced the climate of abuse and violence that reigns in the region, due to the lack of intervention by the local authorities.
He says that neither the prosecutor nor the police acted immediately following this serious incident. They waited until the mother and sister of the victim lodged a complaint.
He also criticized the doctors of the regional hospital for not compiling a clear report on the incident: "I refuse to believe that this neglect by the authorities is related to the fact that the victim is a humble person and especially that she is indigenous" the Bishop said. He went on to point out that the mother and sisters of the victim of violence were themselves publicly attacked in the hospital by relatives of the alleged perpetrators to get them to withdraw the complaint.
Bishop Escobar Ayala denounced repeatedly the neglect by the state and local authorities in the region of Paraguay, where the people are deprived of basic services and exposed to violence and abuse, even by those who should enforce the rights of population.
