Andrea Sanchez
12 Nov 2004
Calama, El Loa (Chile)
Beaten
Andrea was beaten to death in her apartment by Víctor Vicencio Marín, who had just bought her sexual services for 2,000 pesos (less than $4).
He repeatedly hit her, smashed her head against a wall, and then mercilessly kicked her. He was arrested at the scene of the crime and spent the next three days in jail, before going free after paying $1,000 in bail.
"Turns out it's cheap to kill a faggot," he was quoted as telling reporters upon his release. At no time since the Nov. 12, 2004, attack has Vicencio ever denied what he did.
Despite the killer's admitted guilt, the case dragged on for nearly two-and-a-half years. Vicencio was able to hire a private lawyer. Ana Sanchez, the victim's mother, was not.
Then, late last month, the Calama criminal court finally reached a decision: Vicencio successfully plea-bargained for a four year suspended sentence. Unless he decides to commit another crime, the confessed murderer will not spend a single additional day in prison.
For [her mother] Mrs. Sanchez, a resident of Santiago's impoverished La Granja district, the suspended sentence is simply unacceptable.
"I hope Chilean authorities put their hands on their hearts because, unfortunately sir, the justice system in this country is … I just find it to be horribly bad," she said. "This is a life that was taken. How can it be that a rapist or a common criminal is condemned to jail, while someone who takes the life of another person ends up practically absolved?"
Flipping through a photo album she rescued from among Andrea's belongings, Mrs. Sanchez remembers her daughter with a mix of smiles and tears. She loved animals, she recalls. She loved to travel.
"This picture, I love this picture. This one you can scan," she said, showing me a snapshot of her daughter posing on a bed, her hair done just so, makeup perfectly applied. "She looks beautiful in that one. In this one she looks hot, hot, hot," she added, breaking into laughter.
Andrea's murder was not recorded on the official TDoR list.
https://www.worldpress.org/Americas/2770.cfm
