Domestic Abuse by Latinos Targeted

Ten months after her ex-boyfriend tracked her from El Salvador to a Langley Park restaurant where she worked and slashed her cheek with a broken beer bottle, Ligia Oviedo faced a row of TV news cameras yesterday and urged Latina victims of domestic violence to follow her example to seek help from the criminal justice system.

"Don't stay with the person who's abusing you because he's supporting your family," Oviedo said. "There's help available."

Oviedo was joined at a news conference by Glenn F. Ivey, the Prince George's County state's attorney, and a half-dozen representatives of churches and social service organizations. They announced the kickoff of a campaign to combat domestic violence in the county's rapidly growing Latino community.

On Sunday, pastors and priests at more than 20 county churches that serve Spanish-speaking congregations will speak about domestic violence and resources that are available for Latino victims and abusers, Ivey said.

The churches will pass out literature providing the names and phone numbers of organizations that provide help, including business cards produced by Ivey's office.

One side of the cards lists the toll-free number of a 24-hour national domestic violence hotline, and the other side shows phone numbers for police, prosecutors, sheriff's deputies and two organizations that help domestic violence victims. The national hotline (800-799-7233) has Spanish-speaking staff available, said Ramon Korionoff, Ivey's spokesman.

Ivey said domestic violence victims who are in the country illegally need not fear calling for help.

The outreach to the Latino community is an expansion of recent efforts by law enforcement officials, church leaders and social service providers in the county, Ivey said. This month, Ivey attended services at two majority-black churches in the county as part of Project Safe Sunday, a four-year-old program that brings the clergy into the fight against domestic violence.

Prince George's has more cases of domestic violence than any other jurisdiction in Maryland.

In Prince George's District Court, more than 5,085 applications for civil protective orders were filed during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2005, accounting for more than 21 percent of all cases filed statewide, according to the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence, which obtained the figures from the state judiciary.

Oviedo will accompany Ivey to two majority-Latino churches Sunday. She spoke in Spanish at the news conference, her remarks translated by a member of Ivey's staff.

In an interview, Oviedo, 24, said her life has improved dramatically since the attack. On Sept. 1, her assailant, Adan Fuentes-Martinez, 38, was sentenced to 16 years in prison after being convicted of first-degree assault and other charges.

Oviedo was worried about her 3-year-old daughter, fathered by Fuentes-Martinez, because she was with members of his family in El Salvador. Antonio Arenas, a victim's advocate with the House of Ruth in Maryland, and state's attorney's officials wrote letters to authorities in El Salvador, who intervened on her behalf, Oviedo said. Oviedo said the child is now with one of her cousins, and she hopes to bring her to the United States to be with her.