"An indigenous tribe in Colombia takes the law into their own hands and puts a man and a woman in stocks for having an affair. Offenders in rural communities in Colombia are still punished in the village stocks. This video shows an unfaithful wife and her lover locked in the stocks in Sucre, Colombia, where they were imprisoned on 19 March 2012 for 72 hours (3 days and nights). Here is a transcript of the news report:
"An indigenous tribe in Colombia takes the law into their own hands and puts a man and a woman in stocks for having an affair.
A Colombian man and woman found themselves in stocks on Monday (March 19) when an indigenous community handed down their own brand of justice, punishing the pair for alleged infidelity.
Thirty-four-year-old Alfreda Blanco Basilio was locked up for 72 hours after she was believed to have been unfaithful to her husband with 18-year-old Luis Martinez. Martinez was also put in the stocks.
Basilio's husband, Oscar Pineda, accused his wife of abandoning their six children to have an affair which he said had been going on for months.
"She abandoned her children and so I went to the police and reported her. Then they (his wife and the other man) came to the town and passed by me and I did not like this. And so that is why they were put in the stocks," he said.
But Pineda himself did not escape punishment and was jailed for 72 hours for having hit his wife after finding out about the affair.
Cesar Martinez, a resident of the Sampues tribe, said they have their own legal code to keep the community's independence.
"Our community is based on articles of law, where each one has its punishment and it is necessary to comply with them so that the local government maintains its autonomy," he said.
The angry husband was granted a divorce by the end of his incarceration period."
Another unfaithful wife being punished, this time in Paez de Gaitania, Colombia in 2009. She was given 30 lashes and was secured in these unusual stocks for 15 minutes. Although this seems a very short time, it must have been extremely uncomfortable for her to be suspended by her ankles in this manner. And of course she has to endure the shame of being publicly humiliated in front of the entire village. The punishment seems to have been effective as, according to a Colombian newspaper ("El Espectador" 26 July 2009), the woman apparently repented her infidelity and was subsequently reunited with her husband.
Here are some other examples of the stocks being used in Colombia:
Carolina Hernandez and Davinson Laso Care in the stocks for 24 hours in Sampués, Colombia, for their involvement in a machete attack on Carolina's lover.
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Fabio Paternina spending 72 hours in the stocks in Sampués, Colombia, for attacking his parents while under the influence of drugs.
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Chima Mendoza and Mendoza Balseiro in Sampués, Colombia, for attacking the owner of a bar and burning down his premises.
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Santander Mendoza in the stocks for 72 hours in Sampués, Colombia, for domestic violence against his wife.
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Oneida Pineda Polo, Yolima Caré Mendoza and Yohenis Caré Pineda in the stocks for 72 hours in Sampués, Colombia. They were found guilty of libel, slander and verbal abuse, culminating in a street brawl.
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A number of Colombian citizens were put in the stocks for violating the corona virus lockdown rules. The authorities seem to have given little thought to social distancing for the prisoners in the stocks.
