Yesterday was the first anniversary of #NiUnaMenos. People filled the streets once again. In the year that followed the manifestation and the post I made, hundreds of women were killed. The man I talked about, the one who said that all women liked being catcalled, is now our president. Last year I shared some of the homicides that got the biggest media coverage in a two year period, and there were seven. This year I have a few of the cases I could find the most information on in a 6 month period that starts in October last year. There are fourteen women in this list.
Trigger warnings: murder, rape, mutilation, violence, sexual abuse.
Diana Sacayán: Hers was the first murder of a trans woman labeled legally as femicide in Argentina. Diana was a well known activist who fought intensely for the rights of LGBT people, and was the leader of the group “Movimiento Antidiscriminatorio de Liberación” (Antidiscriminatory Movement of Liberation). Her murder was also considered a hate crime due to the traces of extreme violence that her body presented, such as footprint marks on her face. She was found dead in her home by a friend, with 27 wounds on her body. Witnesses saw her arrive the night of her murder to her house with a man, and another one arrived later. Her murderer seems to be a man with whom she had some sort of relationship, who was also a drug addict and apparently stole money from her afterwards. She was 40 years old.
Romina Cisterna: Romina had gone out with friends and was walking back to her home when she was attacked and beaten to death. Apparently, her killer had tried to sexually abuse her, and when she offered resistance, he beat her until she died. He then threw the body into the backyard of a house that was close to hers, and it was later found by an 8 year old boy. Her killer tried to escape, but later turned himself in to the authorities because he was young and had no money. She was 22 years old.
Ariadna Sona: She’d gone out to get food and was attacked by a man who dragged her to a train station and tried to rape her. Because she resisted, he hit her repeatedly causing her multiple wounds, stabbed her, and mutilated one of her ears. Her father said that the man had completely disfigured her face because of how furious it had made him that she’d resisted. She was taken to the hospital but lost too much blood, and a week later suffered brain death and shortly after passed away. She was 18 years old.
Marta Cardozo: She was a 64 year old woman who was brutally beaten and raped in her own home by a man who ended up stealing her small TV. She was found naked with her head destroyed, several broken ribs and evident signs of abuse. It was said that her body was torn apart as if “someone had jumped over her body until they broke her bones.”
Débora Natalí Díaz: Her ex murdered her in front of her children by stabbing her five times. She had a restraining order against him, but he had ignored it before and had threatened to kill her and her family more than once already. She tried to get out of her house and ask for help, but died because the ambulance took 30 minutes to get to her. She had already gone to the police because he had beaten her repeatedly. Her twelve year old son said that the man was angry because she’d found a job. Her family said that he had been seen around Débora’s house several times after she put the restraining order on him yelling at her and threatening her, and her sister said that he’d told her that he was going to murder Débora hours before he did. The police knew about the threats but did nothing about it. She was 28 years old.
Marina Menegazzo (21) and María José Coni (22): They had been backpacking through Latin America and were found dead in Ecuador. The second autopsy performed on them revealed traces of scopalamine– usually known as “burundanga”– which is used as rape drug because it erases a person’s will and allows the perpetrator to do whatever they want with them. They were out of money and were trying to get a lift so they could go to Guayaquil. That’s when a man (who later confessed to be the one who murdered them) offered his house for them to stay in. They said yes. During the early morning they went out to buy something and when they came back there was another man in the house, who was drunk. They were sexually attacked, and the killer hit María José on the head with a stick, causing her death. Then, he sliced Marina’s neck. Hours later he tried get rid of the bodies by putting them in garbage bags and disposing of them in a place not too far from his house.
Cristina Rivadeneira, Ecuador’s Under Secretary of Tourism said: “All I’m saying, I’m a mother, and this was going to happen to these girls no matter where they went because they were going hitchhike to Argentina […] Something was bound to happen to them sooner or later. But well, unfortunately it was there.” This line of thought goes hand in hand with what many media outlets said when the news of their murder reached them: Why were Marina and María Jose backpacking alone if they didn’t want anything to happen to them? They should’ve known better. But they weren’t alone, they were two adult women travelling together. What the media was trying to say was “Marina and María José were backpacking through Latin America without a man. If they had been with a man, he could have protected them.” This case of victim blaming caused outrage among the people of Argentina and was heavily criticized.
María Natalia Fernández: She was killed by the man she was in a relationship with, in the middle of a public square. They were fighting, and all of a sudden he pulled out a knife and stabbed her repeatedly, killing her immediately. Her killed turned himself in shortly after. She was 35 years old.
Micaela Gutiérrez: She shot in the head after being beaten by her ex, who then shot himself. She’d placed a restraining order against him, but the police hadn’t deemed necessary to give her a panic button or police custody, because “there were no risk indicators”. She was 25 years old.
Diana Rojas: Her body was found by the side of the road with multiple stab wounds. It was proven that she’d tried to get away, but was killed in the process. There were no signs of sexual assault. The main suspect is the driver of a taxi she’d taken, who sold her phone to one of his coworkers, and had scratch marks on his arms that he said he’d “gotten playing with his dogs”. She was 25 years old.
Micaela Ortega: She was a girl who was missing for a month before her body was found hidden in the bushes. She had been hit in the head and strangled with a shirt. She was killed the day she went missing, but it was only found when her killer confessed. He said to a cop that he’d killed her because "she didn’t want to have sex” with him. Apparently, she’d resisted until he finally killed her. She was 12 years old.
Yamila Garay: She was missing for a few days and her family and friends were looking for her, until she was found dead in a sand quarry. Several witnesses said that they’d seen her going towards that place with a man (that was later revealed to be her ex-boyfriend) in a motorcycle, and then saw him return alone. She was part of the #NiUnaMenos manifestation last year; she and her classmates had made signs. She was 21 years old.
Lis Funes: She was murdered by her ex while she was sleeping in her home with her current boyfriend. He stabbed them both, but her boyfriend survived. The killer had a restraining order because he’d already threatened and attacked her several times before. She was 43 years old.
Mariana Colman: She’d been missing for a few days until she was found buried in a muddy hole with her throat cut open and bruises on her face. She was killed by a 53 year old man who confessed that: “I killed her because she ignored me.” She was 18 years old.
“Hay criminales que proclaman tan campantes ‘la maté porque era mía’, así no más, como si fuera cosa de sentido común y justo de toda justicia y derecho de propiedad privada, que hace al hombre dueño de la mujer. Pero ninguno, ninguno, ni el más macho de los supermachos tiene la valentía de confesar ‘la maté por miedo’, porque al fin y al cabo el miedo de la mujer a la violencia del hombre es el espejo del miedo del hombre a la mujer sin miedo.”
