Teen's murder reignites Ni Una Menos protests across Argentina

Tens of thousands of people marched across Argentina on Wednesday to protest femicides and demand stronger public policies to tackle gender violence, as the Ni Una Menos feminist movement marked the 11th anniversary of its first mass mobilisation.

This year's demonstrations took place amid widespread outrage over the murder of 14-year-old Agostina Vega in the central city of Córdoba. The teenager’s remains were discovered at the weekend after she had been missing for a week.

In Buenos Aires, demonstrators, the majority female, filled several blocks of the city centre, marching from the National Congress building to Avenida de Mayo under the slogan: "We want to be alive, free and free from debt."

One protester carried a sign reading: "We are 10 femicides away from the World Cup" – a reference to the upcoming FIFA World Cup, which begins on June 11.

In a statement read during the main rally, organisers demanded the resignation of Córdoba Security Minister Juan Pablo Quinteros and the removal of prosecutors involved in the Vega case, accusing authorities of failing to protect the teenager and responding too slowly after her disappearance.

"Agostina's case reflects something that is happening across the country, but a woman is killed every 30 hours. This is not an isolated case and it's not the reason we're out on the streets today," said 25-year-old student Amy Cozzi as she marched. "There are no state policies that match the scale of the problem."

“As long as I’m alive, I’m going to come because a woman is killed every 31 hours and I’m tired of them laughing in our faces. Agostina Vega would be alive if they had looked for her in time,” said a 26-year-old protester called Lucía, explaining her reasons for marching.

Demonstrators also remembered other recent victims, including 17-year-old Dulce María Candia in the northeastern province of Misiones and 30-year-old Noelia Romero in Temperly, Buenos Aires Province.

Among those attending were relatives of women killed in other high-profile cases. Antonio del Castillo – whose granddaughter Brenda was murdered in last year’s brutal triple murder in Florencio Varela – said he had been struck by signs carried by protesters. "I saw signs saying: 'I go out and want to come home alive,'" he said. "The support from people is incredible."

The demonstrations unfolded amid a broader political dispute over gender violence policies. Ruling party Senator Patricia Bullrich, a former national security minister who retains control over the portfolio, said femicides had fallen by 25 percent since President Javier Milei took office in December 2023, citing tougher security measures, prison reforms and the creation of a national DNA database for convicted rapists.

A recent Supreme Court report said that there were 200 femicides last year, a decrease of 28 percent on the previous year.

Feminist organisations reject the government's approach, arguing that cuts elsewhere to gender-focused programmes have in fact weakened prevention efforts and support services for victims.

Nancy Pazos, a journalist and member of the female Periodistas Argentinas collective, stated that “being in the streets is the only way to stop the atrocities that are happening.”

The Ni Una Menos movement  emerged on June 3, 2015, following the murder of 14-year-old Chiara Páez in Santa Fe Province. The movement quickly became one of Latin America's largest campaigns against gender violence and transformed public debate on the issue in Argentina.

According to the Buenos Aires-based feminist observatory Ahora Que Sí Nos Ven, 99 women were killed in gender-related violence in Argentina between January 1 and May 24 this year. 

The group says more than 3,400 femicides have been recorded since the first Ni Una Menos march in 2015.

“I’m here because I always participate in the June 3rd marches. They’re more worried about us, seeing the massive security operation the City deployed, than about femicides. Agostina’s murder woke up a society that was asleep. And I’m here because the streets are ours,” said journalist Hinde Pomeraniec, one of the organisers of the first Ni Una Menos march in 2015.

– TIMES/AFP/NA