Claudia opened Giovanni's backpack and saw the drawing hidden among the utilities. It was a woman, with a hole in her heart from which blood flowed. She approached her grandson and Giovanni burst into tears. A few days earlier, his stepfather had killed his mother, Karen, with a gunshot to the heart.
Candela, Julieta and Zahira look at each other with wet eyes, shared uneasiness. "Watch TV all four of us together in bed," the sisters agree. That's what they miss most since they lost their mother, Dolores, killed by her partner of 11 stab wounds two years ago.
Sabrina Gonzalez died of a stab wound to the back. She was killed by her boyfriend, charged with "homicide aggravated by the link and femicide". But he has been on the run for nearly nine years. Martina and Daira, Sabrina's daughters, are still looking for him. They fear he may be hurting other women.
"I had a very close bond with my mom, I lived with her. She wasn't just my English teacher, my friend, my confidant. It was very difficult for me. I suffered depression, anxiety...", says Mara, daughter of Mariela, murdered by her partner.
"I'm 16 years old," Lara introduces herself. My mom's name is Florencia Albornoz and she was killed by a policeman. That cop was my dad."
Candela 18 years old
Martina 23 years old
Juliet 13 years old
Zahira 11 years old
Daira 25 years old
Giovanni 11 years ago
Daira
and Martina
Candela,
Julieta
and Zahira
Giovanni
They are still looking for the femicide of their mother, Sabrina González. He was her partner, but he murdered her in the back eight years ago and is a fugitive.
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Candela, physical education teachers are about to begin. Maria Julieta is in first year, and Zahira is in fifth grade. They live with grandmother Alicia, 65, in Lomas de Zamora.
His mother, María Dolores Juncos was killed by 11 stab wounds by her partner on September 15, 2020.
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His mother, Karen Lopez, died of a gunshot to the heart on February 16, 2020. Giovanni was in the house that night. He lives with his grandmother Claudia.
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The "collateral victims"
After a string of femicides, the murder of Chiara Paez in Rufino was the last straw. She was 14, and her boyfriend killed her because she was pregnant. He buried her in the yard of his house. "Stop killing us!" "Not one less!" the women shouted a few days later, on June 3, 2015, in all the squares of the country. But there have been 2,257 femicides since then, according to the Observatory Now That They See Us.
1 v7.0421
Link with the aggressor
From 3 June to 25 May 2023
FEMICIDES COMMITTED BY PARTNERS OR EX-PARTNERS
» Figures in percentage by year
1 v7.0421
Physical place of femicide
FEMICIDES COMMITTED IN THE VICTIM'S HOME
» Figures in percentage by year
Femicides also have their "collateral victims." They add up to 1932 in these eight years. They are the daughters and sons of the murdered women. Children who are left without fathers from one moment to another: with dead mothers and fathers imprisoned, suicidal or on the run. Children who have been witnessing multiple violences.
Karen and Giovanni
"I miss her, we would go shopping, she would help me do homework," says Giovanni. I feel sad, I wouldn't want it to happen to anyone else. When I see our pictures together I cry. In the acts of the school too, because it is not ".
He is 11 years old, likes to play ball and is a fan of Racing, he spends weekends with his dad. Gonzalo. But during the week he lives in San Justo with his grandmother Claudia, his mother's mother.
Karen with Giovanni, when they cooked together
Giovanni with Claudia, his grandmother and who raises him. Photo: Martín Bonetto
Claudia was called by the sheriff and told her that her daughter, Karen Lopez, 29, a police officer, had committed suicide. At the same time, Johnatan Arancibia, Karen's partner, also a policeman, told Giovanni that his mother had killed herself by a shot to the heart. "But he called 911 two hours later. he is loose, processed, he cannot work," explains Claudia. We are waiting for the case to go to trial."
"February 16, 2020 changed everything, everything that was happiness for my grandson and for my whole family," says Claudia. I have been taking care of Giovanni since he was a child and now that he does not have his mother I am his grandmother, his mother, his friend, his eternal consolation. I dry his tears and he wipes mine."
They remember Karen every day. They have an altar of hers, who taught Giovanni to look into the eyes even if he is shy, to keep going. He treats, despite his eternal mourning, the pain, the absence. He repeats that he wants to go back to the past to be with his mother.
Claudia is 57 years old, does massage therapy, has 5 children, "The State let go of our hand, We do not charge anything for Karen's femicide. Giovanni is finishing elementary school, he has the party and the alumni trip and we don't know how to pay for them."
In 2020, there were 13 femicides committed by police officers. From then until today there were 52 women killed with official weapons.
Florencia, Lara and Valentín
Florence with her children Lara and Valentin.
Florencia Albornoz was also killed by a policeman. "That cop was my dad. I have that day very stuck in my mind. I remember getting in my dad's car. My mom bought me a mint ice cream, which is my favorite today. But I didn't feel well. I was dropped off at my grandmother's house. I cried because I didn't want to, I felt something was wrong. And when they told me my mom was dead... What I felt is as if a part of me had been taken from me. I was three years old." Lara speaks slowly, slowly. She is unwell, distressed, has social phobia, cannot go to school.
Florencia Albornoz was murdered by her husband, Miguel Angel Mazó, on 17 January 2010 in Quilmes. The man was a policeman from the police station No. 1 in that city. It was a double homicide because at the same moment Mazó also killed a friend of Florencia who was with her at her house. In 2012 he was sentenced to 18 years, Cassation reduced his sentence by 6 years. The Court set it at 15. In just over two years it can come out.
"I homeschool because I have social anxiety. I'm afraid to go out and I'm afraid of men, especially those older than me, I think they're going to do something to me. And that's not normal. A normal girl doesn't think that, but I do, a lot, and it makes me angry. I try to tell myself that I have to live my life for my mom, but it's kind of depressing my life."
Lara, with the shirt that reminds her mother.
"I think I could have had a better life with a mom. At school events I always felt jealous. I'm very angry," Lara says. I don't even want to consider my dad. It disgusts me to have the same DNA. It's like I have a horrible gene. I'm afraid I'll get out of jail because they tell me I look a lot like my mom. I'm afraid he'll do something to me. He didn't think about me for a second as he did what he did. I would insult him. I would say horrible things to him until I get tired. I could never forgive him, but I would like to know why he did. She never did anything to him. Never. He never did anything wrong."
Dolores, Candela, Julieta, Zahira
Candela also has a hard time bonding with men. He's 18 years old and he says he can't, he doesn't trust, he gets sick. It has not yet been three years since his mother, Dolores, was murdered by her partner. Luckily it wasn't his dad. Says. But his dad is dead, he had cancer.
Dolores with her eldest daughter, Candela.
Dolores with her two youngest daughters, Julieta and Zahira
Ramón Hermes Acuña was found guilty of the femicide of María Dolores Juncos (35) in February 2022. He himself confessed that he had killed her, he said it was out of jealousy. But the Justice declared him not imputable and released him. He is now 79 years old and at home.
In addition to Candela, Dolores had two more daughters: Julieta, 13, and Zahira, 11. They live in Lomas de Zamora with grandmother Alicia, 65, who receives the minimum pension. Last month it was 47 thousand pesos. Grandma washes clothes outside and cleans houses to support her three granddaughters.
"Birthdays without her are sad," Candela says, wet-eyed. We were excited about the trial, but it's over, and he's at home, there's no hope."
"He has to be in a psychiatric hospital, he can't be at home, free, because he goes out, he goes to the bank, to his grandchildren's birthdays. He confessed that he killed her, controlled her, checked her cell phone, sent her one message after another," says Dolores' sister. The medical examiner said he can't be on the street, he always had a gun in his car."
"She was with us all the time. Before she was killed she had taken us to the park... When I slept with her I heard all the messages he sent her threatening her," says Julieta. Cries. Zahira can't even speak.
"Mother's love is irreplaceable. When I see a mother hugging her children, my heart breaks in pieces. On the last day of the child we all went to the cinema to see The Lion King," Candela recalls. This man destroyed the life of an entire family in a second and for him everything remains the same."
Sabrina, Daira and Martina
Sabrina González was 36 years old when she was murdered at her father-in-law's home in the town of Virrey del Pino in 2014. Her sister-in-law found her after several days without news. Investigators determined that Sabrina had been stabbed to death in the back by Jose Antonio Castellanos, her boyfriend of 8 months. Since then he has been charged with the crime of "aggravated homicide and femicide", but he is a fugitive.
The Buenos Aires Ministry of Security increased the reward to $5,000,000 for anyone who provides information about Castellanos, who has an international arrest warrant.
One of the last photos of Martina with Sabrina, her mother.
"He is still a fugitive and it will be nine years, he may be doing something bad to other women," says Martina, 23, lives with a grandmother in Laferrere, Her father has been imprisoned since she was born.
She is also angry that femicides do not decrease, she thinks that justice does not help and says that it also costs her the links with men: "I feel distrust, they frighten me, I am on permanent alert." He has no psychological support, in hospitals there are no shifts. "When you turn 18, the State ignores you," he says.
Daira with her mom
Daira is 25 years old, lives in Lugano with her partner and their two young children. "It's a big disappointment, you take forward the cause and nobody does anything. For justice, my mom is one of the bunch, there is no progress. We go to the marches, we made escraches, but everything remains the same and he is loose as if nothing. I miss her, we did everything with her, from drinking mate to things around the house."
Mariela and Mara
Mariela with little Mara, a very close relationship
"I'm Mara. I am 43 years old and I am a communicator, English teacher. I also dance and make documentaries, one of the documentaries I did was Femicide, one case, multiple struggles, in relation to my mother's case. Her femicide is a first-person documentary. What happened with my mother was that she had a very short partner who killed her on July 19, 2005 and I was a plaintiff in the case that at that time was classified as simple homicide. This person was sentenced to nine years, was reduced to eight and is currently free," Mara presents. She lives alone, in a small apartment in Caballito.
Mara.en his department of Caballito. Photo: Alejandro Bar.
Her name was María Elena Gómez, they called her Mariela, she was an English teacher and danced salsa. "She was 53 when this guy killed her. We knew she wanted to leave him, and we guess that's what triggered the event," Mara explains.
"To this day he continues to suffer from post-traumatic stress, which is activated on certain dates, such as the anniversary of death or the birthday of his mother. " That he is free is an issue, perhaps there is someone that I see and that reminds me of him and generates some discomfort. I still work in therapy, dance, homeopathy, I suffered depression, anxiety, what happened with my mom is still very hard."
Men, a problem also for Mara. "It's very difficult to transform beliefs about men. In my dreams they also appear. I keep dreaming of this guy who killed my mom. And men always appear in situations of violence, wanting to rape us, harass us, violate us."
230 families united in grief
Marcela is the mother of Julieta Mena, murdered by Marcos Mansilla, her boyfriend, in October 2015. She was two and a half months pregnant and 22 years old. "My daughter was killed by Mansilla because she did not want to have an abortion, who was he to decide for both of us? Today I would be helping her, raising a grandson," Marcela laments. Channel your pain with action. And that's why she put herself in charge of Atravesadxs por el femicide, a group of relatives.
They got together in January 2018, there were 8 families, today there are 230 from all over the country, "We live in an increasingly violent world. I believe that it should be fought with Comprehensive Sexual Education, with more equality, with rights. But women are increasingly fighting for their rights and men feel threatened, they don't want to lose their place of power in society."
Marcela denounces the inconveniences that the families of femicides have to collect the economic reparation provided by the State.
Brisa Law
On July 4, 2018, the Chamber of Deputies converted into law the reparation to sons and daughters of mothers victims of femicides, by which girls, boys, adolescents or young people whose father has been prosecuted or convicted as author, co-author, instigator or accomplice of the crime of femicide against their mother can charge until they turn 21 years old (in the case of a disability, for life) the equivalent of a minimum pension.
Daiana de los Angeles Barrionuevo was 24 years old when she disappeared on December 20, 2014. She was found dead Jan. 10 inside a bag in a Moreno creek. She had been murdered by her ex-partner, Iván Rodríguez. Daiana had 7-year-old twins and Brisa, 2. First they went with their grandfather, until Cintia, their aunt, Daiana's sister, took them home. Cintia has three children, now raising six. The law of reparation is called Brisa for the little one.
According to the National Secretariat for Children, Adolescents and Family, 1469 children and adolescents receive economic compensation today, out of 1838 applications. The amount does not reach 60 thousand pesos.
"A violent man is a violent father"
"In contexts of coexistence, daughters and sons live in fear for themselves and their mothers, and this continues in contexts of separation, even worsens. Gender-based violence disciplines women-mothers and children. Discipline through fear, captivity and threat. It is a continuum of control and obedience. The consequences are at all levels, in the bond with their mothers who have been degraded by the father, in their social life, school, in their health, "says Fernanda Tarica, doctor, director of Shalom Bait.
There they accompany women who suffer violence. Children often experience constant fear, feelings of ambivalence towards the father, anger towards their mothers, behavioral problems, learning, shame, guilt. Says Tarica: "A child needs to live in emotional and physical security. A violent man exercises a model of violent fatherhood. In 50 per cent of situations, children are also victims of physical and sexual violence."