Ana Orantes

Ana Orantes Ruiz (Granada, Spain, February 6, 1937- Cúllar Vega, December 17, 1997) was a Spanish woman who was a victim of gender violence. After her testimony was shown on a television program, she was killed by her ex-husband, José Parejo Avivar, on December 17, 1997 [1] at age 60.[2] Her death provoked a national reckoning about gender violence, and as a consequence, legal protections against gender and domestic violence were added to the Criminal Code of Spain.[3]

Ana Orantes
Born
Ana Orantes Ruiz

(1937-02-06)February 6, 1937
Spain Granada, Spain
DiedDecember 17, 1997(1997-12-17) (aged 60)
Cúllar Vega, Spain
Cause of deathFeminicide
NationalitySpanish
OccupationHousewife
SpouseJosé Parejo Avivar
Children
7 children
  • Jesús Parejo Orantes
  • Ana Parejo Orantes
  • Raquel Parejo Orantes
  • Rosario Charo Parejo Orantes
  • Rafael Parejo Orantes
  • Alberto Parejo Orantes
  • Francisco Parejo Orantes

Parejo began abusing Orantes soon after they married, and the behavior intensified over the course of the next 40 years.[4] Although she tried to escape and report her husband to the police, there were no laws to protect victims of domestic violence in Spain, nor in much of the rest of Europe.[4] After years of trying, a divorce was finally granted in 1996.[4]

Garden of Ana Orantes in Madrid

On December 4, 1997, a year after the divorce, she appeared on the television program "De Tarde en Tarde" and described the violence and sexual abuse she and her children suffered over the course of her 40-year marriage.[5] Instances of his physical and emotional abuse included punishing her if another man looked at her, isolating her from her family, forbidding her from attending the weddings of her siblings, inappropriately touching their young daughters and countless near-death beatings.[4] She described how she went to the police dozens of times and attempted to obtain a divorce when it became legal in 1981, with no success. When one was finally granted in 1996, she was forced to continue occupying the same house as her husband.

13 days after her interview, Orantes was found dead, murdered by her ex-husband, who had beaten her, tied her to a chair, and burned her alive.[4] The gruesome nature of her murder, especially in such close proximity to her emotionally powerful interview, outraged the country and led to rallies across Spain to call for the protection of domestic violence victims. The conservative government dismissed these rallies, describing what happened to Orantes as an "isolated" event.[4] To challenge this assertion, associations began documenting evidence and statistics about the prevalence of domestic violence. It was only in 2004 that Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero introduced Spain's first laws addressing domestic and gender violence. The far-right Vox party has since increasingly pushed for the elimination of these laws.[6]

Parejo was sentenced to 17 years in prison for the murder of his ex-wife. However, seven years after the murder, on November 17, 2004, José Parejo died at the Hospital Ruiz de Alda, in Granada, after suffering a myocardial infarction in prison.[7]

Orantes was the fifty-ninth victim of domestic abuse-related murder in Spain in 1997.[8]

Orantes's sons also claimed to have been abused by Parejo.[9]

References
  1. Sánchez Hidalgo, Emilio (September 30, 2017). "Recordando a Ana Orantes, cuyo testimonio cambió la visión de la violencia machista". El País (in Spanish). Verne. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
  2. El Khattat, Mohamed (November 18, 1997). "Un hombre mata a su ex mujer prendiéndole fuego tras atarla". ABC (in Spanish). Granada. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
  3. E. Ramírez, Carlota (November 17, 2017). "El asesinato de Ana Orantes: un antes y un después en la violencia machista en España". Huffington Post (in Spanish). Retrieved November 27, 2017.
  4. Minder, Raphael (2020-01-15). "Overlooked No More: Ana Orantes, Whose Gruesome Murder Brought Change to Spain". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  5. "El testimonio de Ana Orantes en Canal Sur que cambió la historia sobre la violencia de género". El Plural (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  6. Minder, Raphael (25 November 2019). "On Day to End Violence Against Women, Spain's Far Right Champions Men". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  7. "Muere en la cárcel el asesino de Ana Orantes, a quien quemó viva". ABC (in Spanish). November 17, 2004. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
  8. Arias, Juan; V. García, Alejandro (December 19, 1997). "Un centenar de personas despide entre aplausos el ataúd de la mujer quemada viva por su ex marido". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved November 27, 2017. Ana Orantes había denunciado los maltratos de su esposo, José Parejo, de 61 años, en 15 ocasiones. Bajo el aguacero, el féretro de la víctima número 59 de la violencia doméstica en 1997 recibió un largo aplauso.
  9. Montero, Mai (November 27, 2017). Bassets, Lluis (ed.). "Crecer después de que asesinen a tu madre". El País (in Spanish). Madrid: Ediciones El País, S.L. ISSN 0213-4608. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
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