Belmopan. January 15, 2021. 6:45 p.m.
On Thursday, January 14, 2021, the nation was made aware of the extreme act of violence against a woman allegedly at the hands of her husband, Joel Bardalez. While we cannot respond in a statement to every report of violence against women, this report is so heinous that we feel compelled to speak out and once more decry in the strongest terms the intimate partner violence which occurred.
We absolutely need to remind everyone that the struggle against this terrible evil of domestic violence never ceases. In these difficult times of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are seeing more reports of violence in the home, affecting not only women, but also children and the elderly.
We make a public commitment to continue to do our best with our initiatives and responses. We salute the programs such as the Spotlight Initiative and thank all our contributing partners with whom we will work to advance the cause of protecting our women and families and all survivors of gender-based violence.
We call on the public to please join us and all our partners in combatting all forms of domestic violence. If you see something, say something, and do something before it is too late. There must be zero tolerance!
