Random Things That Bolivian Mennonite Men Used Cow Tranquilizers To Assault Women (12 items)

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  (#2) Nine Men From The Community Used The Spray To Knock Out Entire Households As They Slept

  Using veterinarian Peter Weiber's spray, a handful of men began committing rapes in the middle of the night. First, they would spray the anesthetic through windows and screens, knocking out anyone inside the room. This not only incapacitating the victims, but also incapacitated any potential witnesses.

  Many of the women were assaulted with their husbands unconscious right beside them.
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  (#6) Victims Ranged In Age From 3 To 65

  The women that were assaulted ranged in age from 3 to 65. It was reported that the 3-year-old had a broken hymen that was attributed to being penetrated by a finger. 

  Victims were both single and married. Some of them were also mentally infirm. And though it was not discussed publicly by members of the community (likely due to their conservative views), reports claim some men and boys were raped, as well.
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  (#5) The Assaults Continued For Four Years

  Old Colony Mennonites choose to live a life isolated from the rest of the world. Because of this isolation, many of the members of the community didn't know what to do about the "ghost rapes," and didn't know how to handle issues involving sexual assault - at least not in the way much of the modern world does.

  The community essentially ignored the problem, potentially making the psychological effects of the already confusing abuse much worse. With nobody acting to stop the assaults, they continued for four years.
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  (#11) The Assaults Deeply Affected The Community, Even After The Men Were Arrested

  Although the rapists were identified and received 25-year jail sentences, reporters who visited the colony in the following months and years were told by residents that the rapes had not stopped. Women still felt incredibly unsafe in their own homes, and were powerless to stop the continuing attacks.

  To this day, the only methods available to them are installing better locks and bars on their windows.
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  (#7) Leaders Use The Denial Of Education To Control The Community

  How do you report a sexual assault if you don't even know the words for it? The Mennonite church severely limits what young girls learn in school, which includes vocabulary with which they could describe a potential attack. Besides a lack of sexual education (a taboo subject), girls are often not even taught the word for genitals.

  While basic education isn't denied to the children of the Manitoba colony, girls stop going to school at the age of 12. They also learn only their traditional language of Low German, while the men of the colony also learn Spanish. The idea is that they are not taught "too much," so they aren't tempted by the outside world.
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  (#1) A Veterinarian In The Community Reformulated A Drug For Anesthetizing Cattle

  A veterinarian in the Mennonite community, Peter Weiber, provided the Manitoba rapists with a special spray he had formulated, using a drug meant for anesthetizing cows. He changed the formula and made it sprayable, so as to easily knock out entire families.  

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