Thousands of people marched through the streets of Buenos Aires on Saturday in a powerful protest against femicide, after the shocking torture and murder of three young victims left the nation reeling.
The victims — 15-year-old Lara Gutiérrez and 20-year-old cousins Morena Verdi and Brenda del Castillo — were abducted on 19 September under the guise of attending a party. Instead, they were taken by members of a drug-trafficking gang, tortured, and killed in an attack investigators say was designed to “punish” them for allegedly violating gang rules.
Authorities said the gruesome crime was livestreamed on social media as a warning to others. “This is what happens to those who steal drugs from me,” a gang leader is heard saying in the video, according to Buenos Aires provincial security minister Javier Alonso.
Five suspects — three men and two women — have been arrested, but the alleged ringleader, a 20-year-old Peruvian man, remains at large. Police released his photograph in the hope that he can be identified and captured.
The bodies of the three victims were discovered on Wednesday, buried on a property in a southern suburb of Buenos Aires, five days after they went missing.
The crime has triggered a wave of grief and anger in Argentina, where femicide remains a pervasive problem. Relatives of the victims led a march to Parliament demanding justice. “Women must be protected more than ever,” said Brenda’s father, Leonel del Castillo, who broke down while recounting that his daughter’s body was unrecognisable due to the abuse. Her grandfather, Antonio, in tears, called the killers “bloodthirsty,” saying, “You wouldn’t do what they did to them to an animal.”
One woman is killed every 36 hours in Argentina, according to local femicide monitoring groups. Activists say the murders of Lara, Morena, and Brenda highlight once again the urgent need for stronger protections and decisive government action to end gender-based violence.