On one level Ligia’s story belonged on a newspaper’s last page, the one that was reserved for tawdry crimes and gory traffic accidents. Yet her respectability, her beauty, and her argument that a woman should be allowed to defend her own honor, vigilante-style, struck a chord with many of her compatriots. Venezuelan men often felt protective toward the young blonde and resentment toward Basque adventurer who had disgraced her. Beezley mentions that “Hispanic customs dictated that a family’s honor was intertwined with the chastity of its women. Legal codes granted the father of the family, or its older male, the exclusive right to guide and protect his family. If he attacked or killed another male who threatened his family, the law usually exonerated
