Jimena, on the court of the missing - Factum Magazine

The 21 -year -old footballer Jimena Ramírez disappeared on October 24 in the Quezaltepec neighborhood, in Santa Tecla, when he went to the store in the middle of a football match.Your teammates lead your search.

Photos: Gerson Nájera and Natalia Alberto/ Illustration: Victoria Delgado

The Salvador del Mundo Square is a contrast junction.While a young man photographed his girlfriend in front of a 35 -meter Christmas tree, a group of women cried out for the search for a missing footballer."For Jimena, for all, their lives are important", "I hope you return alive, Jimena", "We love you back, no more violence," read on Saturday, October 30 at the banners with which playersFrom the Salvadoran Women.

Jimena is a midfielder who doesn't lose any ball.His endurance and perseverance when containing his team have allowed him to win the respect of his rivals.He has been in three teams: Sonsonate, Atlético Marte and Alliance.He hit the ball strong, defines goals and defends very well on the half court, according to his companions.The young woman disappeared at 8:00 at night, in the Quezaltepec neighborhood, in Santa Tecla, after separating from the group to go to a store that is close to the court where she played.It did not return.

"The players also disappear.We emphasize that it is not the clothes we wear, it is not the time, it is not a place, it is because we are women, ”said one of the spokesmen of the players and feminist who gathered at the foot of the Savior of the World last Saturday.

Jimena wore purple blouse and red sports shoes.The court where it was last seen is synthetic grass, is surrounded by cyclone mesh and has a network to prevent the balls from being lost in the ravine that crosses the area.

“We realized that she had not arrived at her home on social networks.It was very hard for all the players that we have lived with her in all the teams, because she is friendly, respectful, she went everywhere where they invited her to play.It is a great insecurity, we no longer know if we are going to return to our homes, ”said a Women F alliance player.C., who asked that his name in this publication was not placed.She is afraid after her friend's disappearance.

He was not the only player with that feeling in concentration.Five more young people who were interviewed by this magazine in the Savior del Mundo square also did not want to identify for fear.

But they are not paralyzed.They look for Jimena by all possible means.They share information on social networks and speak continuously of the personal measures they have implemented to protect themselves.

“We do not travel in Uber alone, by bus also scares, we look for a transport that takes us together and we always warn where we are going to move;We also investigate the area where we are going to play.We try to make it a good person who leads us to play to go well, that is not a tragedy, ”explained a young woman who plays at Atlético Mars, a team where Jimena played.

A young man holds a poster in the concentration to demand the search for Jimena, on October 30.

Between January and June 2021, the Attorney General of the Republic reported 610 missing people, as detailed last October human rights organizations at a hearing before the Inter -American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).Only in the municipality of Santa Tecla six young people have been reported as disappeared in the last two months, according to a publication of El Diario de Hoy.Among those cases is Jimena's.

Social organizations indicate that the absence of a national registry of missing persons, that is public access and differentiates the victims, prevents the magnitude of the phenomenon from being clearly known.

There are currently data collected by different state institutions and non -governmental organizations that capture complaints from relatives of victims of disappearance.To address the phenomenon in all its dimension, civil society points out, the State must refrain from stigmatizing people looking for their disappeared and organizations that accompany them.

“It must be emphasized that in the case of women, above all, they face different gender stigmatizations.For example, it alleges many times that women have fled with a couple or ex -partner;who have left the country irregularly.This minimizes the impact that other people can also activate search mechanisms, ”said Zaira Navas, a lawyer for Crystosal, at the Audience to the IACHR.

Arely Ramos (on the left) is a player of Atlético Marte and says she doesn't feel safe.It also requires the government for more security for women athletes.

Given the lack of attention of the State, social networks also house the desperate search for families and friends from missing.A compilation of the graphic press published this November 1 indicates that there are currently 150 active searches for missing throughout the country.

The relatives of the disappeared live an early duel.They still suffer without confirming a death, explains the psychologist Estuardo Valdez Bonilla, a specialist in Tanatology, the discipline that addresses losses and human suffering.He compares the pain of the family and friends of the disappeared with that lived by loved ones of terminal disease patients.

“For example, a person who diagnoses cancer, from that momentary the whole family begins to think that sooner or later he will die.People begin to live the pain, because they anticipate that they will lose someone, ”explains the founding partner and educational director in Guatemalan Association of Tanatology and Care at the end of life.

The players made some pirouettes in the concentration of October 30 to demand the search for Jimena.

On October 30, players played pirouettes with football balls to get the attention of passersby and Salvadoran authorities.Impacts not being able to play football, or have fun calmly.The first women's soccer division was born in 2016.It is made up of twelve teams and is regulated by the Salvadoran Football Federation (FESFUT).Parallel to the Professional League, players play friendly matches in different colonies and in lightning tournaments.Those games, almost always, are at night and on weekends.After the disappearance of Jimena, the players analyze to turn in that dynamic.

“Just as the situation is we are no longer going to any place of those, because we are afraid.We are women and we are vulnerable to the insecurity of our country.What happens is that you can't just enter, you know, now make us ask ourselves if it is dangerous, ”said an alliance player.