Six months without Tehuel: "We need them to keep searching for him"
The two detainees, Ramos and Montes, still haven't revealed what happened to the missing trans youth. The father held a press conference demanding that they search for him alive. The maternal family is pleading that the search not be abandoned. Yesterday, Ramos's house was demolished, and Montes's house and a shrine to San La Muerte were raided. The judicial investigation continues.
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Six months after Tehuel de la Torre's disappearance, the investigation has yet to yield a conclusive lead regarding his fate. This Friday, at a press conference, Andrés, his father, confirmed a genetic match between blood samples found at Ramos's house and those taken from family members. However, he downplayed the significance of this finding and requested an investigation into the possibility that he is a victim of human trafficking. That same day, when the investigation team arrived at the home of Luis Alberto Ramos—the first person arrested in the case—for another raid, they found it almost completely demolished. Searches were carried out at Montes's house and at a shrine to San La Muerte (the results of which are still pending).
At the press conference, led by Tehuel's father and his representatives from the Translesbian Feminist Lawyers Collective, Marcela Mancini and Vanesa Vargas, a document was read aloud. This document had also been submitted to the Prosecutor's Office and the Court handling the case. Signed by Andrés De la Torre, its opening lines state: “Six months have passed. Despite the amount of paperwork, Tehuel still hasn't been found.”
“It’s true that two people have been arrested who know what happened and decided to lie and cover for each other. The Prosecutor’s Office did a good job arresting them, but it’s not enough. Forensic investigations take weeks, even months. We’ve witnessed countless searches. None have yielded a single clue. So I ask myself: Why hasn’t Tehuel turned up? Is it because he’s trans? If he was cis, would we have a different outcome? This is a desperate plea from a father who no longer knows where to turn, who to ask for answers. We’re here to ask for a team of prosecutors to be assigned to this case, not just one prosecutor who has to handle many other cases at the same time,” he added.
When contacted by Presentes, Andrés De la Torre confirmed that the Prosecutor's Office had informed him that the DNA test results were positive, comparing samples taken from Tehuel's relatives with those found at the home of the first person arrested in the case. However, he downplayed the significance of this finding, stating that "it was just two drops of blood they found."
He did emphasize that he has reasons to believe in the human trafficking hypothesis, "because Tehuel had already been called (Ramos) for that job on the 5th, a week earlier, and nothing happened"; therefore, he believes that when his son arrived in Alejandro Korn on the 11th, those now detained already had a plan in place.
In any case, all hypotheses remain open. The case is still officially classified as a missing person case—and the lawyers believe it should remain so as not to interrupt the search—and the initial charges against the detainees, Ramos and Montes, for perjury and obstructing justice, remain in place.
One of the requests made by the lawyers to prosecutor Karina Guyot, who is leading the search for Tehuel, is that she request collaboration from the Public Prosecutor's Office of Santa Fe, which has investigated cases involving complex crimes such as that of Paula Perassi . They also request that a team of prosecutors be formed for the investigation.
A sustained claim
The detainees, Luis Alberto Ramos and Oscar Montes, remain silent. Tehuel's maternal family and the social organizations supporting them fear that the passage of time will weaken their demands. Today, as every day, Norma and Verónica, Tehuel's mother and sister, will remember him, but they will not hold any marches or rallies. Tehuel's mother underwent surgery a few days ago and is still unable to leave her home, so they plan to post on social media to continue demanding that those responsible explain what happened.
“We want those arrested to talk and for them to keep looking for Tehuel. Months go by and he hasn't been found,” Verónica Alarcón told Presentes, adding, “The whole community sees that the search for Tehuel has stalled considerably. What we want is for the case to be resolved as soon as possible, for them not to forget him, for them to keep looking for him. We need to find my brother.”
The family's plea is desperate: “We suffer more and more each day without any news of him. We need them to keep looking for him. It's been six months since Tehuel disappeared, we can't believe it.”
For their part, the self-organized group for Tehuel issued a statement on social media calling for a street mobilization on Saturday, September 11, at 3:30 p.m., in front of the Buenos Aires Province House (Callao 237, CABA). “Tehuel disappeared due to the comprehensive exclusion experienced by the entire LGBTQ+ community: lack of access to healthcare, education, housing, and decent work. The Labor Quota has been in place for over a year at the national level (considering the Decree issued last year) and for six years in the Province of Buenos Aires without being effectively implemented,” they stated in the call to action.
They add: “That is why we respond with struggle and continue to occupy the streets because the governments have not given us any rights nor do they guarantee those we have won through struggle and organization; on the contrary, they impose austerity measures on the people and repress our identities and sexualities. We make our voices and our cries heard above the machinery that seeks to silence us.”
In addition to the mobilization in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, they are calling for a Twitter campaign on Saturday at 11 a.m.
In the press conference, Tehuel's father and the Collective of Lawyers called for "everyone across the country, before the scheduled time of the demonstrations, to leave their homes to carry out a symbolic search for Tehuel, walking around their block, and recording that moment to later share it on social media."
Broad search
Gonzalo Goberna and Ian Rubey, president and member of the NGO 100% Diversity and Rights, analyzed the status of the case. They noted that, in addition to Tehuel's reappearance, the main demand of social organizations is that the investigation incorporate a gender perspective . In fact, in May, the organization filed a brief with the court to become an amicus curiae in the case, and they have not yet received a response.
“We believe there is little interest in involving civil society organizations in the process, and this is related to the fact that they either don't want to, or don't understand, the importance of including a diversity perspective in the procedure. Prosecutor Karina Guyot didn't even respond to our amicus brief, nor did she make any progress in the investigation,” Goberna told Presentes.
And Rubey added: “The intervention of UFEM, which specializes in violence against women and gender diversity, is necessary. We still believe it is necessary for people who are specialized in this type of violence to intervene, taking into account Tehuel's identity.”
One of the points of disagreement with the investigation is that “they are looking for a body; they are not considering the possibility that Tehuel is alive. That would imply a different kind of investigation, a different kind of action that is not being taken today,” explained the member of 100% Diversity and Rights.
The trafficking network hypothesis
The organization's hypothesis is that Tehuel may have been handed over to a human trafficking network for sexual exploitation. "It could have been a hate crime (his murder), but it could also be related to his gender identity. That's why we're considering sexual exploitation," Rubey explained, reiterating the importance of having trained personnel to address all the possible situations surrounding a missing trans person.
Finally, she called for the demand for Tehuel's safe return not to lose momentum as the months go by. She emphasized that the young trans man's disappearance occurred after he met with the accused under the promise of a job, highlighting this as a key point in understanding the vulnerabilities faced by the trans and travesti community.
“Our trans lives matter too, and we need the support of all of society. We are always present in the struggles, on March 8th, on June 3rd, and now we need that part of the community to be with us as well. Not only in the demand for Tehuel's release, but also to support us in achieving the real implementation of the laws that guarantee our rights, such as the right to work. Because we continue to disappear for looking for a job,” Rubey emphasized.
To help with the search, the following website was created: http://tehueldelatorre.com/
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