Marcela Chocobar was murdered on September 6, 2015, in Río Gallegos. Her skull was found days later, but her body has still not been recovered. Her sisters marched to the courthouse to demand justice, a new investigation, and a continued search.

Report from Río Gallegos: Belén Manquepi Gómez

Photos: Courtesy of La Opinión Austral

“We are mobilizing, two years after the death and disappearance of my sister, to demand justice for all the wrongdoing by the justice system,” said Judith Chocobar, one of the four sisters of Marcela, the 26-year-old trans woman murdered on September 6, 2015. The Chocobar sisters led the mobilization yesterday in the center of Río Gallegos, the city where they live and where the murder was perpetrated.

They were accompanied by the organizations Juntas ya la Izquierda, Las Rojas, the Plenario de Trabajadoras, and the Mesa de Mujeres. They marched from the flagpole at the intersection of Avenida Kirchner (formerly Roca) and San Martín to the Criminal Court of Instruction No. 3. There, three of the sisters—Judith, Elizabeth, and Karina—met with the court secretary, Fernando Costabel. “We raised our concerns about everything that hadn't been done and why the charges hadn't been changed, and we received no answers,” Judith told Presentes.

“We want it to be tried as a hate crime.”

The sisters, originally from the province of Salta, have long been requesting a change in the legal classification of the case. From the beginning, it has been classified as "simple homicide." Their demand is that it be investigated as femicide or a hate crime.

The modification of the charges had also been requested by the Santa Cruz Human Rights Secretariat, “But the judge (Rosana Suarez) and the prosecutor (Antonio Chan) sent it to the appeals court. It’s a disgrace to have judges and prosecutors like that,” commented another of the sisters, Elizabeth Chocobar. She told Presentes that the family will request a meeting with the prosecutor to get more details about the progress of the investigation.

How is the investigation progressing?

Now that the case is before the Oral Court, the Chocobar family must wait for the file to be reviewed and given to the defense and plaintiff lawyers, who will examine the case and may submit further evidence. Afterward, the case must return to Prosecutor Saldivia. Once he has reviewed the parties' observations, he decides whether to accept them. And once the case is complete, a trial date is set.

[READ MORE: This is how the Justice system investigated hate crimes] 

In addition to the change in the legal classification of the case, Elizabeth emphasized that the family is demanding the search for the body continue. “They promised us they would look for it. We need the body so she can rest in peace, so we can rest. We continue to demand justice, justice for her, and that those involved be brought to justice.”

The Chocobar family believes there are other people involved, beyond the two arrested. “We need the case to be thoroughly investigated, because at that party (where Marcela was supposedly) there weren't just two or three people, there were like eight or ten. And those people need to be investigated. What we're asking for is a complete re-investigation. That's what we're going to appeal at the trial, that the case be reopened. And we're going to ask once again for my sister's body to be found,” said Elizabeth.

“Sexist justice revictimizes the family.”

Paula Nauto is a member of the Las Rojas organization and participated in yesterday's demonstration in Río Gallegos, supporting Marcela's sisters. “The patriarchal justice system repeatedly revictimizes the family. Just today, one of the sisters, Laura, collapsed at the courthouse doors,” she said. She denounced the fact that the State “not only fails to provide support or assistance to the family,” but also continued, “by withholding information or refusing to pursue lines of investigation proposed by the family itself, these women are being abandoned. That's why we need to come together and support each other to achieve changes in this patriarchal justice system. Day after day, it lets things slide, more and more women are killed, femicide perpetrators go unpunished, and they're back on the streets.”

Two arrested, one released, and many suspicions

The last time Marcela Chocobar was seen alive was outside a pub in the city of Río Gallegos in the early morning hours of September 6, 2015. She often went there with friends. A security camera recorded her leaving in a red Renault 9. Days later, her skull was found in a vacant lot. Her body has not yet been found. “Her skull was found in an open field in San Benito, a poor neighborhood far from the city center. It was just the bone. Because of the time that had passed, investigators believe it's unlikely it was consumed naturally. It's painful to think about, but someone went to the trouble of removing the flesh with a sharp object. In this area, it's common for people to have experience working in meatpacking plants and butchering meat,” said Marcela's sister, Judith Chocobar.

Four months after the skull was found, a man bought the red car in which Marcela had last been seen for a very low price. But the buyer found a comment from the seller very strange and went to the police. The man had told him that the Renault had already been searched and “had nothing to do with the crime.” Based on a series of wiretaps, in May 2016 the courts arrested three men. One of them was the car seller, Adrián Fioramonti, who was released after paying 50,000 pesos in bail and was later acquitted for “lack of evidence.” Previously, the courts had investigated a former boyfriend and later arrested two Bolivian men. They had a car similar to the red Renault in the video, although this line of investigation was discarded and delayed the capture of the alleged perpetrators, Ángel Azzolini and Oscar Biott. Both are currently in custody awaiting trial.