Share

Share

Share on Facebook Share on Facebook Tweet Share on Twitter Share on WhatsApp Share on WhatsApp

SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER

News updated 11/11/2021, 7:20 am

Eight months ago, Tehuel de la Torre met with Luis Alberto Ramos and Oscar Montes because they had offered him a job as a waiter at an event. That was the last time anyone heard from the 22-year-old trans man from San Vicente (Buenos Aires). Now, the two people who last saw him have been charged with “aggravated homicide motivated by hatred of gender identity.”

What changed

This Wednesday, unlike previous instances, the detainees appeared for questioning and gave statements. While this information was confirmed by judicial sources, the content of their statements remains unknown. 

The prosecution now believes it has sufficient evidence to bring the case to trial. However, the trial date is expected to be in the second half of next year, as further evidence still needs to be gathered and certain steps remain to be completed in the next phase.

What are the key pieces of evidence that prompted the change in the case file?

The positive DNA result – with the samples found in the home of one of the detainees –, the cell phone and the jacket that were found burned meters from the house of one of the detainees in the first search, Ramos' silence, the phone activity that was detected at the place between 4 and 6 in the morning of March 11; and, fundamentally, the fact that no signs of life or possible whereabouts of Tehuel were found. 

One single cry : Where is Tehuel?

For Verónica, Tehuel's sister, there is no doubt that " they killed him because he was trans; they saw him as a woman and did something to him." The family is satisfied with the charges and hopes the trial will take place in the middle of next year (there are still two months of the investigation period remaining, according to the Buenos Aires Criminal Procedure Code). But they are not only hoping for a conviction. "I want them sentenced to life imprisonment and for them to finally say what they did to Tehuel, where his body is," she emphasizes to Presentes.

It's a persistent demand from day one. “Knowing what happened to Tehuel is very important for our family; we need to know what happened to his body. We want justice, we want them convicted, but we need them to talk, to say what they did with Tehuel,” Verónica insists.

Today, Tehuel's family feels deep gratitude for all the organizations and individuals across the country who supported their demands. "I can only say thank you to everyone who has stood with us these past months and ask them to continue doing so until we achieve justice," says the sister of the young man who disappeared on March 11.

He adds: “This shouldn’t happen to anyone, anywhere. I’ve been telling Ramos and Montes the same thing since day one: talk, tell us where Tehuel is. And I hope they get life sentences.”

In every province, on the 11th of each month, activities were organized in different cities to challenge the State and the community under the slogan "Where is Tehuel?". It was even one of the powerful slogans heard at the 30th Pride March in Buenos Aires.

The central point of all the demands was to make visible the violence to which trans and transvestite people are exposed due to the informality in which they access jobs, taking into account that Tehuel disappeared when he was going to a casual job.

Criticism and repercussions after 8 months without Tehuel

Ricardo Vallarino, Executive Director of 100% Diversity and Rights, addressed the changes in the case in recent hours: “ While we agree with the decision, it is necessary to point out that the prosecutor's request and the judge's decision to change the case from missing persons investigation to homicide in a context of hate based on gender identity, which only now allows the two detainees to be charged with the crime, came late, ” he stated in a press release from the organization.

100% Diversity and Rights had already filed an amicus curiae brief in the case, requesting the intervention of the Specialized Prosecutor's Unit for Violence against Women (UFEM) and the application of the established protocols, including the recent one on the investigation of disappearances of women and LGBTI+ people. This brief states that in cases of forced or involuntary disappearance, enhanced due diligence requires the obligation to consider the hypothesis of femicide or hate crime from the outset of the investigation, as a way to ensure the inclusion of a gender perspective and the conduct of a thorough and comprehensive investigation.

Regarding the latter, they explained that "the fact that the figure of aggravated homicide due to hatred of gender identity is being used does not mean that a gender and diversity perspective is being applied in the criminal investigation, so we reiterate the demand to give the intervention of the UFEM and to prevent the mere belated use of the appropriate criminal figure from hindering a process that guarantees justice for Tehuel."

The cause

Following the public outcry and actions by activists across the country asking #WhereIsTehuel, there were a significant number of raids, but those arrested never spoke. Montes only gave a statement once, and he lied.

Among the most important pieces of evidence available to the Justice system is the last photograph of Tehuel, where he is seen with the two defendants at Ramos's house in Alejandro Korn (Buenos Aires). A small bloodstain was found in that same house, which tested positive in comparison with the family's DNA sample.

The investigators told Tehuel's family that when they first arrived at Montes' house there was a strong smell of a cleaning product that is commonly used in the countryside and many items - such as some furniture and a mattress - had been removed from the house.

Throughout these months, operations were carried out at a pig farm, at different waste separation points, a landfill and an artificial lagoon near the homes of the detainees, among other places.

While the strongest hypothesis, upon which the charges are based, is that Tehuel was murdered, the young trans man's father has always maintained that the search should be broadened and raised the possibility that he was handed over to a human trafficking network for sexual exploitation. In fact, two months ago he organized an action in which he called on the entire country to take the time to walk around their block asking about Tehuel.

“We know that Tehuel’s father wants to continue searching for him alive. But we’ve known from the beginning, based on the clues that have emerged, that this is a hate crime,” Verónica points out.