Protest Against Sexual Abuse

Curacao Chronicle
July 17, 2017

http://curacaochronicle.com/politics/protest-against-sexual-abuse/

WILLEMSTAD - Last weekend, care givers in the center of Willemstad protested against the punishment of pastor Orlando Balentina. Balentina, who is a pastor at the Rains of Blessing Church in Groot Kwartier, was sentenced to nine years in prison because he sexually abused teenage girls and young women in his church. The Public Prosecution (OM) demanded 18 years in prison.

During the event, signatures were collected and merged with 17,000 other signatures that had been already collected by youth workers this year. With this, they want to force the politicians to increase the punishment for sexual abuse. Normally, there is no talk about sexual abuse and sexual violence against children in Curaçao, but after the case against Balentina, it seems as if the taboo is finally being broken. And that is a milestone in Curaçao.