Two femicides spark outrage ahead of Ni Una Menos march

Argentina is in shock after the remains of Agostina Vega, 14, were found in Córdoba on Saturday, and the body of Dulce Candia, 17, was discovered in Misiones on Thursday. Both had been missing for several days in separate cases, and evidence shows they were murdered and disposed of. The two cases took place just days ahead of the Ni Una Menos march against femicides, carried out every June 3 since 2015 to demand justice for the victims. Agostina had been missing for a week and Dulce for 11 days before their bodies were found. Although investigations on their murders are ongoing, they appear to be new additions to the over 80 femicide cases registered this year by feminist observatory Ahora que sí nos ven. “Justice for Agostina, for Dulce, for all of us,” the Ni Una Menos organization wrote in an Instagram post calling for a march on Wednesday across the country. Agostina Vega Agostina was last seen alive on the night of May 23, when she left her house in a neighborhood in the outskirts of the capital of Córdoba province. She told her family that she was going to her grandfather’s shop, but that never happened. CCTV footage shows her entering the house of Claudio Barrelier, 33, who used to be in a relationship with the girl’s mother. She arrived there in a taxi, which was paid for by Barralier, according to what the driver would later testify. She had told the taxi driver and her friends that she was going to Barrelier’s home to pick up a “surprise gift” for her mother. The security cameras never show Agostina leaving the house.  Last Monday, May 25, Barrelier was seen driving a black car he borrowed from a woman. Data from phone antennas located the man in the same area where Agostina’s body would be found five days later in a field. Agostina’s family reported her disappearance to police a few hours after she went missing. The taxi driver saw the girl’s missing poster on May 24 while watching the immensely popular Belgrano-River football match. The driver recognized her and managed to call Agostina’s mother, Melisa Heredia. He told her where Agostina had hopped off the taxi and described the man who paid for the trip, whom Heredia immediately recognized. The two were still friends after ending their relationship, and had reportedly seen each other at a football game and a birthday party the day of Agostina’s disappearance. That night, Heredia messaged Barrelier to tell him Agostina was missing and asked why the girl had asked her for his number earlier that day. Barrelier said she had asked him to drive her to a friend’s house, and that he told her he didn’t have a car at the moment. Barrelier was arrested shortly after the driver identified him as the last person to have seen Agostina alive. While first he testified he hadn’t seen Agostina, and said the girl captured entering his house was his own daughter, Barrelier later admitted the girl had been in his house, although he did not confess to murdering her. Herrera believes Barrelier could have tricked Agostina to get her to go to his house. The man is facing potential femicide charges and a conviction that could put him behind bars for life. The judiciary is investigating whether he had help. Barrelier had already been in prison for almost a month a year ago for illegally restraining a woman in his house. At the time, the woman was seen leaving his house naked and with her hands tied, asking for help. Barrelier was released even though the investigation of that situation is still ongoing. The Córdoba judiciary was harshly criticized by part of the public and feminist organizations who claim the investigation was delayed given the provincial police was busy with a large operation amid the Belgrano-River match. Prosecutor Raúl Garzón denied the accusations in a press conference where he announced that they were “98% sure” that the body found belonged to Agostina — DNA tests will provide more conclusive confirmation — and that there was “no self-criticism” to be made on their behalf. He added that the estimated time of death was the same night of her disappearance. Dulce Candia Equally tragic but with less media coverage, Dulce María Beatriz Candia’s murder struck the Misiones city of Eldorado after her body was found at an abandoned construction site last Thursday. According to the autopsy, the girl appears to have been strangled. Dulce was last seen on May 17. According to reports, she was watching her 10-year-old sister that day, as her mother was staying with their father, who was hospitalized. The little girl said her sister left the house to go to a nearby church and never returned. On Thursday, a man reported a strong smell coming from the construction site, where the girl’s body was effectively found. Provincial police chief Daniel Orlando Molina told local radio Eldópolis 106.3 that an initial analysis of the remains indicated they had been at the construction site for at least seven days. So far, there are no suspects of Dulce’s apparent femicide.