Orsi walks back remarks on attempted femicide at medical school: “It is not an isolated event”

Yamandú Orsi tried to draw a line between one incident and the wider problem of gender-based violence after his comments about an attempted femicide at Uruguay’s Faculty of Medicine triggered student opposition.

Asked on Thursday whether educational institutions needed new security measures, the president said he could not think of any because such cases were “very isolated.” Students at the Faculty of Medicine rejected the remark and decided to continue occupying the building.

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Gender-based violence is not an isolated event.

On Friday, Orsi said the context of his comments had been forced. He explained that he had been asked whether the secondary education system had handled the case appropriately, and that he meant the specific incident, in light of what had happened, was isolated. But he added that gender-based violence was “not an isolated event.”

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Violence against women happens every day and anywhere.

Orsi repeated that distinction while discussing his experience as a teacher. He said he had spoken with staff who worked at Salinas No. 1 High School when the alleged attacker had faced complaints from classmates there. The teachers described how the matter had been handled with the tools available at the time, he said. Orsi said he used the phrase “isolated event” because the young man’s conflicts had begun at that school and he did not want to generalize.

The president nevertheless said violence against women occurs every day and in any setting. “We should not hold institutions responsible for something much deeper and connected to something cultural,” he said.

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We should not hold institutions responsible for something much deeper and connected to something cultural.