The Frontlines of My Life: Cristina you will not be silent, now we are your voice.

The morning of July 7, 2011 I received a call telling me that Cristina, my old friend from high school, was missing. I felt anguish and impotent. My classmates along with the Siekavizza family, organized a social movement named \"Voices for Cristina,\" to demand her return. I attended an organized march where Cristina's father made public the main suspect in the disappearance and murder of Cristina: her own husband, Roberto Barreda. He had fled with their two children.

The Siekavizza Case had national impact, and our whole society joined in the quest though “Voices for Cristina,” sharing information through social networks. Finally on November 8th, 2013 Roberto Barreda was captured in Mexico, and the children were placed under the safe guard and care of their paternal grandparents. He is expecting a trial for her murder, though Cristina’s body is still missing.

Cristina's sister, Susana Siekavizza commented:

\"For no one was [it] a secret that my sister and her husband, Roberto, had a strange relationship and as time went by, it got worse. My sister had episodes of frustration again and again. For me she showed isolation, economic limitations, lack of confidence, [and] excessive control from her husband. But we were far from understanding and believing that that would mean my sister’s death and disappearance.”[i]

This process unleashed in me a feeling of hopelessness, sadness and above all impotence, especially because I see too many Cristinas, who, like her, suffer all kinds of violence. However, I am particularly disturbed by a kind of silent, subtle violence: economic abuse.

In Guatemala we live day by day with a cultural “machismo,” which is rooted in all strata of the society:

• Men are the head of the family. If they pay, they control the circumstances.


• Men feel they own their spouse and children, and have control over them and their assets


• The place of the woman is at home, working 24/7 without payment


• Women who work feel guilty leaving their kids to caregivers, and are criticized for “not taking care of them”

These circumstances prevent women from voicing their opinion and can lead to abusive acts towards women. Many women stay in these abusive relationships just because they cannot afford to leave. Some endure silently because they have a greatly damaged self-esteem and do not feel capable or worthy.

According to Lenore E. Walker[ii], most abusive relationships display adistinct pattern, known as the Cycle of Abuse or Violence[iii]. Abuse is rarely constant but alternates between:tension building,acting out, thehoneymoonperiod andcalm.

Some women do have the courage and a socially supportive set of laws, to get away, break this pattern and empower their voices. I wish Cristina did.

It doesn’t matter the level of abuse suffered, from serious physical violence to different levels of discrimination and social accepted machismo. The individual circumstances do not matter. We all have our own beliefs that limit what we think our capabilities are. And that is what I am most passionate about: creating new mindsets and developing individual skills. It is women's internal and external voices that I mostly want to emphasize in my project.

Through my coaching programs, I have witnessed how women can become aware of their own internal power. With the right mindset, women can discover and develop skills, and with little guidance, training and support, they can achieve not only economic and personal livelihood, but also a passionate working life, initiating into the world of entrepreneurship and thus economic independence.

My favorite are those “aha moments,” when women open a whole world of possibilities by expanding their way of thinking and then start to flourish. I am motivated by the desire to never allow any women, to go through what Cristina did.

[i] https://nomada.gt/nos-mueve-el-amor-por-cristina-y-mis-sobrinos/

[ii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenore_E._Walker

[iii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycle_of_abuse