OVV Mérida maintains training contacts with vulnerable sectors of society

From his seat in the Simón Bolívar Open Chair room, Leoneiber Vergara, a Social Communication student, struggled with his classmates to get the moderator’s attention. There were many questions and limited time to answer them. The topic that called them together encouraged participation: the impact of suicide in Mérida, so it was not surprising the avalanche of requests to take part in the press conference, in an academic space packed with 63 young university students who are studying at the Universidad de Los Andes (ULA), located, in addition, in the state with the highest rate of deaths by suicide in Venezuela.

In Mérida, talking regarding suicide has become a social urgency. To a large extent, this disturbing topic has managed to rise in the priorities of citizens’ concerns thanks to the sustained scientific work carried out by the team of researchers from the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence in Mérida (OVV Mérida). Among other figures, this non-governmental organization has revealed that between 2001 and 2020, 1,429 cases of suicide have occurred in this Andean entity. Even more, if certain probable cases of suicide deaths “hidden” within the so-called Deaths of Undetermined Intent (MIND) are added to that number, then the total number of deaths would rise to 2,064, that is, more than 100 cases per year and a disturbing average of up to two deaths per week, in that 20-year period.

This reality and more was discussed on June 10 by Professor Gustavo Páez, coordinator of the OVV Mérida, before an audience of 63 students of the Introduction to Journalism course, a course that is part of the curriculum of the Social Communication degree, in which future journalists are trained. The activity with the young people from the ULA sought to develop skills on coverage in a real press conference scenario, although it also sought to raise awareness among the participants regarding the need to give information priority to an issue as sensitive for the people of Mérida as the one derived from the high rate of deaths by suicide, which, in the case of this Andean entity, doubles that of all of Venezuela.

For the young students, it was not only a moment of learning regarding their future responsibilities in the field of journalism, but it was also a moment to confront a reality in which many of them have been involved, since, from the tone of the questions, it was clear that some of those present knew of cases of family members, friends or neighbors who had experienced situations such as suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts or death from this cause.

The Department of Social Communication of the Faculty of Humanities and Education of the ULA, through the Head of the Department, Professor Juan Manuel Fernández, recognized not only the support of the OVV Mérida for the training activities of the students but also highlighted the important contribution of this organization in raising awareness in Mérida society on issues involving violence, whether interpersonal or self-inflicted.

Women protagonists

Later, on Friday, June 21, the OVV Mérida received a new invitation, this time from the Don Bosco Foundation, a center that this year celebrated its 40th anniversary as a space dedicated to providing educational training to children and young people from dysfunctional families, in which violence is often a common practice in relationships. This organization functions as a boarding school (sometimes semi-boarding school), in which children and adolescents not only receive classes from the formal educational system, but also share training activities and emotional care.

Specifically, the coordinator of the OVV Mérida was invited to join an evening forum in which 32 people participated, the vast majority of them women, since the intention was to address gender violence, a problem that, according to Professor Páez’s own words, “in 2024 there has been a tendency towards increase.”

The OVV spokesperson stressed that the research carried out by this organization on gender violence usually uses several sources, with the intention of “triangulating the figures” so that a fairly close approximation to such a complex reality can be achieved. In this regard, he mentioned that the data usually comes from the linked public organizations that manage health and violence figures, from monitoring the news and events reported by the media, from contributions from key informants, among other sources.

Along with Professor Páez, who presented the paper “Violence once morest women in the state of Mérida”, the psychologist and journalist Magda Inés Uzcátegui also participated, who addressed the topic “Invisible scars: the psychological impact of gender violence”; and the lawyer Adrián Gelvez Osorio, who from the legal perspective presented his reflection entitled “From whisper to scream. Love and violence”.

The forum at the Don Bosco Foundation included the presence of several women who are mothers of some of the students who are trained in these educational spaces, attendees who, in some cases – according to one of the institution’s teachers – have experienced gender violence in its different forms firsthand. This circumstance made the contributions of the specialists more pertinent, who from their different perspectives shared information that can become an asset in favor of helping to reduce violence once morest women, which, only in the state of Mérida, already has 30 cases in the first 5 months of 2024.

As coordinator of the OVV Mérida, Gustavo Páez expressed his organization’s interest in continuing to support all initiatives that take place in this Andean entity, aimed at influencing not only the knowledge of interpersonal and self-inflicted violence scenarios, but also actions and policies that tend to reduce them. / AS / CNP: 8965 / OVV Mérida Press