Proxy violence: they found at the bottom of the sea the …

Spain is shocked by the appearance in the sea of ​​the corpse of one of the two little sisters who disappeared in Tenerife a month and a half ago. This is Olivia Gimeno Zimmermann, six years old. The little girl’s body was at the bottom of the sea, in a bag which in turn was tied to the anchor of her father’s boat, Thomas gimeno.

Olivia and her one-year-old sister Anna went missing on April 27. The next day, the boat of Gimeno, 37, was found: it was adrift and without anchor. On April 27, Gimeno was seen loading six bags in the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Olivia’s body was found thanks to a robot from a search vessel, a thousand meters deep and three miles off the coast of Tenerife.

The investigation points to the kidnapping of minors by their father. In recent weeks, the seabed began to be studied because it had no results on land. Hence the help of the ship ngeles Alvariño, whose robot found the body of the eldest of the little sisters. The work was based on an area delimited by the geo-positioning of Gimeno’s cell phone during the hours of the disappearance of the girls.

The case could be one of the most perverse forms of gender-based violence: indirect violence, whereby harm is caused to the mother through the suffering of the children. Since 2013, there have been 39 such cases in Spain, including four in Tenerife. With one exception, all of the crimes were committed by the biological parents.

The drama began when GImeno picked up Anna from her ex-partner, Beatriz Zimmermann, 35, at five in the afternoon on April 27. Then he went to look for Olivia in a school camp and with the two he went home. From there, around 7:30 p.m., he headed for the Tenerife marina. No one, neither the guards nor the security cameras, could detect if he had entered with the girls.

The point is that Gimeno embarked alone. From his car, he took suitcases and bags, and for this he had to make three trips between the vehicle and the boat. He sailed twice. When he returned from his first outing, the Civil Guard intercepted him and fined him for having skipped the curfew that governs the coronavirus pandemic. He left for sea after midnight and was never seen again. The next day, the empty boat was found, without an anchor, off Puertito de Güímar, on the east coast of Tenerife. Later, a baby chair, the kind used for car trips, appeared in the water. Three days ago, the investigation into ngeles Alvariño He found a duvet cover and an oxygen cylinder floating in the water. Both came from Gimeno.

Meanwhile, Beatriz Zimmerman went through an ordeal, convinced that the girls were alive. A day before the tragic discovery, he considered the material located by the research boat to be “quite a theater” to simulate Gimeno’s escape with his daughters.

Spain followed the affair with vilo and no one ignored this tragedy. Not even the authorities. “I cannot imagine the pain of the mother of little Anna and Olivia, who disappeared in Tenerife, at the terrible news we have just heard. My embrace, my affection and that of all my family, which today shows of solidarity with Beatriz and those close to him, ”the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, wrote on Twitter.

On the social network, the president of the Canarian government, Ángel Torres, also showed his solidarity. “Weeks of waiting for hopeful news and yet today arrives to us the worst news possible, the one that freezes our soul, about the girls from Tenerife, Anna and Olivia. All our regrets, encouragement and strength to his mother, Beatriz, his family and friends. Canaries destroyed ”.

Another voice that has been raised is that of Irene Montero, Minister of Equality, who condemned “this violence which is used against women mothers to strike where it hurts the most is a matter of state” . He also wrote: “There are no words to accompany Beatriz in these moments of terrible pain. We are here for whatever is necessary. No more #ViolenciaVicaria”.