The body of 22-year-old Génesis Medina has been discovered in a shallow grave on a private farm in the Carbonero sector of the Veroes municipality of Yaracuy, Venezuela.
The young woman went missing on Saturday, the 2nd of August, at approximately 4:30 PM, when CCTV appeared to show Medina getting into a white Chevrolet pick-up truck on La Patria Avenue in San Felipe.
The driver of the vehicle was later identified as George Kelvin Rangel Padilla, who is an administrative officer of the Scientific, Penal, and Criminal Investigations Corps (CICPC) and was in a romantic relationship with the victim.
Yaracuy State Governor Leonardo Intoci, accompanied by the Secretary of Citizen Security, Rogelio Vázquez, and senior police and military officials from the region, confirmed this Tuesday the arrest of two suspects involved in the murder, which occurred last Saturday afternoon. Rangel eventually confessed to the murder, while a complete investigation into the motive is being conducted.
Governor Intoci also added that the brother of Rangel was also taken into custody for his collaboration with George Kelvin Rangel, in aiding his brother in an attempt to make the victim’s body disappear.
Intoci cautioned the public in assuming that the actions of one single employee of the CICPC agency should cast aspersions against the whole lot and represent the conduct of the entire law enforcement agency.
The governor also noted that the CICPC is coordinating with local officials on the matter and will be involved in its investigation. Intoci assured the public by saying, “I will be in charge of the case, and once the facts are clarified, the community will be informed.”
The communities of Yaracuy and greater Venezuela have been on edge since the weekend when the young woman disappeared. This is a population that is already distrustful of state institutions and law enforcement agencies, which are rife with public corruption, engaging in nefarious and often criminal activities themselves, the National Police and its law enforcement affiliates are viewed extremely negatively by the residents of this country, and are castigated as nothing more than an arm of the brutal regime of Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro.
There is also an element of resentment on the part of the more feminine segments of the population, who feel that women are all too often abused and mistreated by their partners in this country, an issue that the Venezuelan Popular Feminist Movement has been trying to shed light on for years.
Venezuela has one of the highest rates of domestic abuse against women and femicide in the entire Western Hemisphere.
Gabriela Barrada, a member of the organization, and an official of the Ministry of Women, led a “public demonstration in Teófilo Domínguez Square in San Felipe with a group of women, against the crime and in favor of a prompt resolution of the case and the full application of justice to those involved”, according to Noticias Barquisimeto, a local Venezuelan news outlet reporting on the murder.
“Enough with the violence. It’s time to change those gender patterns and stereotypes that place women in a position of subordination and make us more susceptible to psychological, sexual, and physical violence, and even femicide. We demand justice for the murder of Génesis Medina and call on the authorities to ensure this crime does not go unpunished,” Barrada said.
