NOT ONE MORE DEAD WOMAN

People took to the streets of Huelva last Friday, carrying placards that read "Not one dead woman more", to protest the latest victim of domestic violence. Teresa Otero, aged 36, was killed by her partner, Cuban-born boxer Edel Cerdeño Mora, in Huelva last Thursday night when she tried to break off their relationship, which started in May. A street person who witnessed the murder and called the police said Cerdeño stabbed Ms Otero several times in the neck and then tried to set fire to her. She died shortly after the ambulance arrived on the scene and Cerdeño was taken to the University Hospital, suffering from burns. Ms Otero's grandmother died of a heart attack when she heard the news. Police said Cerdeño, an illegal immigrant, had a record of beating his partners and had served a jail sentence for rape in Cuba. Ms Otero's death brings the total number of women who have been killed by current or former partners to 58 so far this year. Andalucia heads the list with 16 women killed, followed by Valencia (9), Catalonia (8), and Madrid (5). The government recently introduced a new law to protect women and other vulnerable groups such as children and old people from domestic violence, but the killing continues at the rate of five women a month on average. Ms Otero had gone to a women's group for advice about a month ago and had already asked the language institute where she worked as an English teacher for a transfer to another branch in an effort to get away from her partner.