'Not just a number': Vigil planned to honor domestic violence victims in Latina community

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Representatives from the Latino community are holding a vigil, Not One More Latina, to remember victims of domestic violence.
Three Latina immigrants have died at the hands of their domestic partners since last July, according to police.
Friday's event aims to raise awareness and support for those who have faced domestic violence.

WEST JORDAN — The issue of domestic violence hits close to home for Rocio Sifuentes — her sister Gaby Sifuentes Castilla died in 2021 at the hands of her ex-boyfriend, according to police.

"Every woman murdered is part of a family and part of a community," she said. "If you hurt any woman, you're also hurting our community."

But Sifuentes Castilla is hardly the only woman to have suffered from domestic violence, her sister is quick to note, and to draw attention to the issue, representatives from Utah's Latino community are holding a vigil on Friday, dubbed Not One More Latina. It's set to start at 8 p.m. and will be held at Veterans Memorial Park, 1985 W. 7800 South, in West Jordan.

Police say three Latina immigrants have died at the hands of their domestic partners since last July, most recently Lindha Zerpa Lara on April 17 and Jeusselem Elieth Genes Vitola late last February or early March. Sifuentes and other organizers want to honor them and others and make sure they aren't forgotten.

"They're not just a number. They have families, mothers, sisters, friends," Sifuentes said. And while Friday's vigil puts a focus on domestic violence in the Latino community, she said the issue cuts across racial and ethnic lines and stressed the need for unity on the issue.

Garna Mejia, KSL

In the Sifuentes Castilla case, Manuel Omar Burciaga-Perea, charged with murdering the woman, had been scheduled to go on trial beginning on May 4, but that has been rescheduled to October due to an attorney's conflict. Sifuentes Castilla, known to the public as Gaby Ramos, was a Hispanic radio host well known in the community.

Brandy Farmer, president of the Mexican Civic Center in Salt Lake City, which holds events geared to the Mexican community, will speak at Friday's vigil. She led efforts to prevent domestic violence under former Utah Attorney General Jan Graham, who served in the post from 1993-2001 and still advocates on the issue.

Remembering the victims and commemorating their lives will be a key element of the vigil, she said, along with promoting education about where to seek help to contend with domestic violence. Free "healing and prevention workshops" are planned for Saturday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at 3441 S. 2200 West in West Valley City in conjunction with the vigil, according to Sifuentes.

The focus is on Latina victims and survivors of domestic violence, Farmer said, in part to counter the excessive media coverage and attention she thinks victims in the non-Hispanic white population sometimes get. Organizations that work with the Colombian, Ecuadorian and Venezuelan communities in Utah back the vigil.

"We're doing this for the Latino community because we don't want to be forgotten, and we want to make sure that justice is served," she said.

The issue of awareness is particularly germane now, Farmer said, because some Latina immigrants are leery of seeking help from police when they face domestic violence due to worries they may draw attention from immigration authorities.

"Right now, they're terrorized by what's happening. They're afraid to get deported," Farmer said. Offenders sometimes use such worries "as a weapon" to silence those they victimize, telling them they'll face deportation if they go to the police and, if they have children, potentially lose custody.

Contributing: Emily Ashcraft

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.