Buenos Aires.- Thousands of people marched across Argentina to demand justice for the murders of three young women, Morena Verdi, 20; Brenda del Castillo, 20; and Lara Gutiérrez, 15; crimes authorities link to a drug trafficking gang.
The mobilization, called by the feminist collective Ni Una Menos, took place in Buenos Aires and was mirrored in other cities, including Rosario, Córdoba, Tucumán, Bariloche, and San Juan.
In Buenos Aires, protesters gathered at Plaza de Mayo and marched to the National Congress.
Relatives of the victims led the demonstration, carrying a banner with the young women’s names and a sign demanding justice.
“There are no good or bad victims; there are femicides. The State is responsible!” read one of the chants.
The grandfather of Morena and Brenda thanked the public for their support. “This time they took three lives, tomorrow they will take four, and then five. This cannot go on,” he told reporters.
Federico Celedón, cousin of Brenda and Morena, said the tragedy had united the family. “Some of us had the chance to study, they didn’t. But that doesn’t make them worth less. We want justice, and we want this not to be repeated,” he said.
At the end of the march, brief scuffles broke out between demonstrators and police officers.
Morena’s mother, Sabrina del Castillo, told local channel C5N she had been assaulted by officers: “They pushed me against a barrier and hit me. My son stepped in and told them: ‘You killed my sister.’”
Meanwhile, authorities confirmed the extradition of Lázaro Víctor Socaturo, the fifth suspect in the case, from Bolivia.
He was arrested Friday night in Villazón, near the Argentine border.
According to Security Secretary Alejandra Monteoliva, Sotacuro owned a car that supported the vehicle used to transport the young women to a house in Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires province, where they were tortured and killed.
Authorities identified 20-year-old Tony Janzen Valverde Victoriano, known as “Pequeño J”, as the gang leader and alleged mastermind of the murders.
Originally from Peru’s La Libertad region, he remains a fugitive with an international arrest warrant.
Four other suspects refused to testify before a judge this week.
They face charges of aggravated homicide for multiple victims, premeditation, cruelty, and gender-based violence.
The bodies of the three victims, missing since Sep. 19, were found Wednesday buried in the yard of a house in Florencio Varela.
Buenos Aires provincial Security Minister Javier Alonso said the women fell into “a trap organized by a narco gang” allegedly based in a shantytown in Buenos Aires’ Flores neighborhood.
