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On Sunday the 21st, La Pancha Quebracho's friends went to her house because she wasn't answering her phone. There they discovered that La Pancha (the name of the drag persona she made famous in the Mar del Plata scene) had been murdered. Héctor Alberto Juárez, or La Pancha (her friends refer to her/him with both names and don't assign her/him a fixed gender identity), was 57 years old and lived in the Alto Camet neighborhood.

One of his friends called 911, and prosecutor Romina Díaz from the Functional Instruction Unit (UFI) No. 6 of Mar del Plata arrived. According to what she told Presentes, proceedings were initiated to "investigate the causes of death," and she ordered an autopsy because he was found alone and without any witnesses.

According to judicial sources, a preliminary autopsy report revealed that the body had numerous blows, which constituted the cause of death.

The crime is classified as "homicide." As of this writing, no suspects have been charged, and the investigation is focused on the case itself. LGBTQ+ activists are calling for the case to be investigated as a hate crime.

Showgirl and comic star

Pancha Quebracho was a drag artist who emerged in the 80s with total boldness and humor in the center of the Mar del Plata underground scene.

One of her friends and fellow artist Santiago "Santy" Flores remembers sharing shows with her thirty years ago. " Pancha was one of the first, although there were a few others already. Within the drag scene, she was different from everyone else. She was very grotesque; she would paint her face with burnt cork and make breasts out of balloons. We would appear with all the glamour, and Pancha would stand next to us with a curtain from the house hanging on it. She was very funny, very creative," he told Presentes.

Her memory evokes the constant laughter of those who surrounded her, both on and off stage. Alma Cristal Barraza, known as La Loly Pop, explains to Presentes: “I started when Pancha and Santiago Flores were already famous. Icons of the city. There was a bar called Millenium where I would take him by the hand and introduce him to Pancha. It was hard not to laugh with her, and that was what she wanted. 'I'm not going to be pretty, because I'm not.' She laughed at herself and her crazy antics. That's what we wanted to see. There wasn't another artist who did comedy. She was a comedic show woman with a unique style. She would make breasts out of water balloons, and one would pop, leaving her with only one. Her wigs would come off, the act would start, and she'd be late or forget her lines.”

Justice for an ally of nature

Initial reports of the crime indicated that a cardboard collector had been killed. Santy can attest that he didn't do that kind of work. “He was always working, and what the media is saying about him collecting cardboard is a lie. What happened is that he was fed up with the system. He lived a rather unusual life. He was in harmony with nature. He cooked in a clay oven that he built himself and showed it off with pride.”

Cristal remembers him as "a very bright person, who never had malice towards anyone. Good, humble, simple."

He used to ride around on his beat-up old bike and was always getting robbed. “He’d even put bars on his windows and had a cell phone that didn’t work in case he got robbed, and look at that, the police found it at his house,” says Santy.

And she continues, saying, “Pancha was pro-life; she didn’t want to kill any animal, not even a mosquito or a spider. She had distanced herself from the system. With her passing, a part of our history and our struggle was taken from us. Pancha had been working tirelessly for the trans community for a long time. It’s not like it all ended. That she got sick and, well, she passed away. She was taken from us. Because Pancha was taken from us. They killed her. We are waiting for the justice system to investigate, or we will take to the streets to demand justice.”

Claudia Vega, head of the Equal World Association (AMI), told Presentes: “This is clearly a hate crime. We stand with the family during this very recent time, as they were deeply distraught at the wake. We will await the developments of the legal process. We understand that there must be a thorough investigation. We know that in these cases, collaboration and organization between the LGBTQ+ movement are crucial. We will be closely monitoring the process, and if necessary, we will collectively demand justice, marching together if needed.”