Argentina in shock after drug gang tortures, kills 3 women in Instagram live-stream

After three young women tortured and murdered live-streamed on social media, thousands of protesters took to the streets of Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Saturday (Sep 27) to demand justice. Protesters organised by a feminist group were marching to parliament with a read signs and banners showing "It was a narco-feminicide!" "Our lives are not disposable!"

"Women must be protected more than ever," Brenda's father, Leonel del Castillo, said amid protest, news agency AFP reported. He had earlier stated that he was not able to determine the body of his daughter, the way she was tortured and murdered.

The grandfather of the 20-year-old cousins, Antonio del Castillo, was also in tears and labelled the killers "bloodthirsty." "You wouldn't do what they did to them to an animal," he said. "I have hope that the truth will be revealed," he added. “I ask people to stand with us.”

After the murder, all the girls went missing for 5 days. Later, when they were found then the bodies of Morena Verdi and Brenda del Castillo, cousins aged 20, and 15-year-old Lara Gutierrez were found buried in the yard of a house in a southern suburb of Buenos Aires on Wednesday. The crime committed by drug gangs was perpetrated live on Instagram, and 45 members of a private account watched the whole scene, officials said.

Five suspects arrested

Meanwhile, National Security Minister Patricia Bullrich announced that they had apprehended five suspects by Friday, bringing the total to three men and two women. The fifth suspect was arrested in the Bolivian border city of Villazon, as he was accused of providing logistical support with a car to those killers.

Authorities have shared a photo of the alleged mastermind behind the plot, a 20-year-old Peruvian who is still on the run. Investigators said the victims were tricked into getting into a van on September 19 under the pretence of attending a party. The abduction was allegedly part of a plan to “punish” them for breaking gang rules and to serve as a warning to others.

According to Buenos Aires province Security Minister Javier Alonso, police uncovered a video of the attack after a detainee revealed it during questioning. In the recording, a gang leader can be heard saying: "This is what happens to those who steal drugs from me."

In addition, the local media reported the victims were brutally tortured, with their fingers cut off, nails ripped out, and subjected to beatings and suffocation.

Were young women engaged in sex work?

A cousin of Brenda and Morena, identified as Federico Celebon, told news agency AFP that without the family's knowledge, the young women had sometimes engaged in sex work "to survive". He added that they had "bad luck" to "find themselves at the wrong time with the wrong people."

Several media outlets also revealed that the women had been asked to join the party as prostitutes. A 35-year-old leatherworker, identified as Yamila Alegre, said while at the march on Saturday.

"We always try to make the girls feel guilty, we know everything about their lives, what they were doing there, what their family is like... we publish their photos but we know nothing about the perpetrators, not their names, their faces are blurred," she said.

Meanwhile, Del Valle Galvan, Lara's aunt, also refuted the claim that the 15-year-old was involved with drugs or prostitution. "There is poverty in our neighbourhood, but what people say about Lara is false," she said. "We want justice to be done, for nothing to be covered up, for the whole truth to come out so that those responsible can be held accountable for their actions. We are not afraid!" she told AFP.