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On the brink of a diabetic coma, with shortness of breath, an intestinal infection and half of his paralyzed face was transferred by ambulance Edy Fonseca, from the Luz Marina de Maez building, located in the north of Bogotá, towards a clinic in the city. According to her, she had been ‘held’ for 28 days.
It all started on March 17, when the city went into mock isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic. Edy arrived at her workplace, where she worked as a warden, and found that her colleagues with whom she took turns had been fired. From that day on he started working 24 hours a day.
But on March 25, when – according to the lawsuit she filed against Óscar Osorio, the president of the building’s board of directors, and María Fernanda Vargas, the administrator – they called her from the building and asked her to bring a blanket and a mattress .
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I told them that I had a home, that I couldn’t work those shifts, and they replied that I had to submit to those decisions, because in quarantine nobody could leave …
“I told them that I had a home, that I couldn’t work those shifts, and they replied that I had to submit to those decisions, because in quarantine nobody could leave; They told me it was my job and that I would see if I lost it, ”says Fonseca, 51.
Faced with fear and helplessness, the warden arrived at the building on March 25 with a bedcover and, according to her, not knowing that she was waiting for almost a month of confinement. Her days began at 6 in the morning and ended at 9 at night, that is if at dawn she did not get a resident or a home that forced her to get up.
“Mr. Osorio brought me down a sofa, I slept in the basement, that place had been fumigated because there were rats, but I had to sleep there,” says the woman.
The days passed and while Edy worked from sunrise to sunset, her grandchildren asked her on WhatsApp when she would return home and told her that they missed her.
April 2 arrived, and the warden received the news that her nephew Brayan had passed away. So, he asked for permission to accompany the family, but his request was denied, according to the lawsuit.
A few days later, on April 13, he asked permission again to go see his family. “It was denied me arguing that it was not possible for me to go home,” you can read in the complaint filed by Edy, who had comorbidities before the facts. Four months ago she had undergone colon surgery and is also diabetic.
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A week went by and Edy had a relapse. She attributes that situation to poor nutrition. In the lawsuit, he says that he made him eat his lunch for the whole day, since they only gave him 15,000 pesos a day for his food. “Some co-owners brought me food, but when Osorio realized he scolded me, he said he couldn’t receive them”, it states.
On April 23, depression and the difficult health conditions he was experiencing caused one of the residents to call an ambulance. When the service arrived and the doctors asked about the reasons why his health had deteriorated, he says that Osorio allegedly claimed him because “he had gotten them into trouble” and had informed him that he was losing his job.
The woman was transferred to the Palermo Clinic and days later she contacted a lawyer to start a process before the authorities, who, thanks to pressure from the media, gave priority to the case. “In one day we advanced what would normally take three months, we were assigned a prosecutor, the methodological program for the investigations was drawn up and the Judicial Police is already working”, says Nixon Forero, Edy’s lawyer
Mr. Osorio lowered a sofa for me; I slept in the basement, that place had been fumigated because there were rats, but there I had to sleep
What do the experts say?
EL TIEMPO consulted two lawyers who are experts in criminal and labor law on the case of this guardian. The jurists explained the scope and consequences of the abuse to which Edy Fonseca was subjected.
For Manuel Duarte, labor lawyer and professor at the Externado University, although it is too early to talk about slavery, a condition that the authorities must determine with the investigation, the case could fit into what is called ‘slave labor’, since the employer it passed over the dignity, protection, health and safety of the employee.
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For the lawyer Juan Pablo Hinestrosa, expert in criminal law, “It would not be ruled out that eventually a case of servitude could be discussed, because they took away all the conditions of dignity and freedom in their work.”
Although both experts stated that the results of the investigations must be awaited, they agreed that the abuse Edy was subjected to for 28 days is a crime. For now, the complaint filed against Osorio and Vargas for personal injuries and illegal restraint is already in the hands of a prosecutor.
As the woman recovers at home, along with her family, she hopes that authorities will do justice to her case.
What has the District done about the case?
About the Edy Fonseca case, the mayor Claudia López told EL TIEMPO that she is going to “support her with lawyers and file a complaint for trafficking with moral exploitation; we condemn this fact, it is regrettable ”.
For its part, the Secretariat for Women made psychological and legal support available to Edy for free. In a statement the entity stated: “We reject the use of the conditions of compulsory isolation as a pretext to exploit women in the workplace.”
It should be noted that this pronouncement is based on the testimony of Edy, who affirms that both Osorio and Vargas used the quarantine as an excuse to prevent him from going home.
The SuperVigilancia, for its part, ordered an inspection of the building for alleged illegal contracting. He assured that if it is found that Edy Fonseca was hired directly, it would constitute reprehensible conduct and that it would warrant a precautionary measure.
DRAFTING BOGOTÁ
TIME
On twitter: @BogotaET
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