Ana Orantes
Murdered on Wednesday, December 17, 1997
She was 60 years old
Ana's story is very well known in Spain because her name was associated with the reform regarding femicide which had been promoted at that time in the Penal Code.
As a young girl, Ana had to help her family economically. She got married at a young age and gave birth to 11 children, 3 of whom are not alive anymore today.
During her life, Ana suffered 40 years of beatings, threats, torture, rape, and insults from her partner. Unfortunately, her children were also victims of his violence.
Ana bore her pain in silence. No one around her intervened, nor could she get a divorce because the law in Spain forbade it until 1981. When she tried to complain, she was told that "these are normal fights in the family”.
Ana shared her terrible personal story on television to encourage other women to complain, and to break the bond of silence and to help promote awareness of domestic violence.
Only 13 days after she appeared on television, Ana was brutally murdered by her ex-husband, he beat her up and burned her to death in her apartment after following her when she returned from shopping.
The murder shocked Spain.
Thanks to her courageous testimony, violence against women ceased to be a private matter in Spain, and thousands of women who experienced violence at home, broke the silence.
The streets were flooded with demonstrations that influenced reports in the media and in the judicial system, and caused a change in policy that was reflected in longer imprisonments and increase of the number of indictments for domestic violence.
Following her death, books were written about femicides, studies were distributed, etc. Also, laws were enacted in Spain to protect and assist women in the cycle of violence.
Ana's name has been immortalized by giving it to several streets in different cities throughout Spain.
The murderer was sentenced to 17 years in prison and died of a heart attack while jailed in 2004.
Ana Orantes in the program 'From afternoon to afternoon' on Canal Sur. / EPC
Courtesy of the family of Ana Orantes