Dominican Protesters Call Attention to Femicide, Urge New Yorkers to Take Action

Ex-pats from the Dominican Republic marched the streets of Washington Heights Thursday evening, denouncing a rash of gender-based killings in their home country.

"I want you alive, I want you free," and "Femicide, Enough Already," demonstrators chanted in Spanish. 

The Dominican Republic's government cited 83 femicides in 2016, according to local media reports, the highest number since 2012. Other media tallied an average of 200 a year. 

"We're afraid," said Belgica Gonzalez, 49, in Spanish. "We have friends, we have sisters, we have aunts, we have cousins, we're afraid for those who are there, because no one is safe."

One of the protesters, Rossy Garcia, 50, said in New York City, men are kept in check because of stricter laws. But not so in the DR.

"Men know very well that here there's law," said Garcia in Spanish. "There, the laws are a mess, everyone does what they want."

Latin American and Caribbean countries have some of the highest rates of gender-based killing in the world, according to UN Women.