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Due to the atrocious crime, which has shocked both Costa Rica and Nicaragua, the authorities are keeping his former partner in preventive detention, identified as the alleged perpetrator of this femicide.
Faced with the lack of definitive answers and the urgency to protect the most vulnerable members of the family, doña Vilma Espinoza, the victim's mother, and her daughter Mariuris Merlo, have been forced to undertake a painful journey. They traveled more than 650 kilometers from San Juan de Río Coco, in Nicaragua, to Costa Rican soil.
During the burial of the 22-year-old woman, attendees demanded that the femicide of Junieysis Adely not go unpunished (Courtesy Nicaragua actual). The motivations of these women are clear and urgent: to demand that the death of Junieysis Adely not go unpunished and to regain permanent custody of the young woman's daughters, twin girls barely two years old who are currently under the care of the National Child Welfare Agency (PANI).We recommend reading:The President of Costa Rica rules out attending the OAS Assembly in Panama
For Mrs. Vilma Espinoza, the process has been devastating. In exclusive statements to Trivisión, she confessed that initially she did not find the physical or emotional strength to make the trip due to the profound impact of the tragedy. However, the engine that drove her to cross the border was the memory and love for her granddaughters, whom she still only knows today through a phone screen via video calls. "I didn't feel brave enough to travel yet, but I asked the Lord for strength and I did it. It is necessary that my daughter's death does not go unpunished, that justice be done," expressed a moved doña Vilma. ADVERTISEMENTIn a moving interview, Vilma Espinoza, mother of the deceased Junieysis Merlo, recounts the immense pain of her loss and her journey in search of justice. Her main goal is to obtain custody of her granddaughters, whom she has never been able to embrace. The victim's mother reported that her daughter lived in Costa Rica with the great illusion of raising her little ones and that she always reminded her that they were her main reason for moving forward. Before the remains of Junieysis Adely, doña Vilma assumed the promise to look after the well-being of the minors. The family has made a public appeal to the Costa Rican authorities, directly addressing the executive president of PANI and government figures, appealing to gender sensitivity and the understanding of maternal pain so that they expedite the procedures that allow them to take the girls back to Nicaragua.Fear, Uncertainty, and the Urgency of Maternal Custody
The trip has not only been marked by mourning, but also by fear. Mariuris Merlo, Junieysis's sister, acknowledged that the family is in a state of constant alert and vulnerability in Costa Rica. As this is a severe case of gender-based violence, there is a well-founded fear for their own physical safety, so they have formally requested support and protection from the local authorities.
Mariuris emphasized that the absolute priority is for the twins to leave the PANI institutional shelter to be raised in a solid family environment. She also explained that the length of stay in the country is totally indefinite and could extend for months due to the bureaucracy and the indispensable legal requirements to resolve the migratory situation and custody of the minors, who have Costa Rican nationality by birth. Maryuris Merlo Espinoza, sister of Junieysis Merlo, talks about the immense pain her family is going through.The Legal Strategy and the Call for Citizen Solidarity
In the legal field, the Merlo Espinoza family is represented by lawyer Joseph Rivera. The lawyer detailed that the immediate strategy consists of appearing before the Prosecutor's Office or the Criminal Court of Pavas to ratify the complaints and formally establish the victim's mother and sister as active parties in the criminal process. Regarding the situation of the minors, Rivera was optimistic after the first approaches with the representatives of PANI. He explained that the main current obstacle is the lack of a fixed and permanent address for the family in Costa Rica, an indispensable requirement for the social workers of the institution to evaluate the environment and authorize the girls to leave the temporary shelter. After the tragic death of Merlo, his mother and sister traveled from Nicaragua to Costa Rica. With the support of their lawyer, they will begin the process to ratify the complaint and request custody of the girls, who are in a PANI shelter.While the paperwork progresses and the Public Ministry defines the opening of the trial against the alleged femicide, the family survives thanks to the solidarity of the Costa Rican and Nicaraguan people. With initial donations from the citizenry and temporary accommodations that expire immediately, the permanence of doña Vilma and Mariuris in the country hangs by a thread, which is why the information platforms keep the economic aid channels open to sustain this struggle that barely begins.
