Tucumán: The second day of the trial for the transfemicide of Cynthia Moreira takes place
The young woman was murdered in 2018 and four years later one of the accused is going to trial.
Share
SAN MIGUEL DE TUCUMÁN, Argentina. Cynthia Moreira, the young woman murdered in February 2018, continues this Tuesday
On Friday, at the start of the trial, LGBTQ+ activists, social and political organizations accompanied the young woman's family to the courthouse doors to demand justice, more than four years after one of the most heinous crimes in the province.
The trial is being conducted by the Fourth Chamber of the Criminal Court, which is composed of judges Wendy Kassar, María Fernanda Bahler and Judge Emilio Páez de la Torre, from Tucumán.
The expected trial
“The murderers of my sister are not being tried here. The main case remains open, and we have plenty of evidence. This case that is now going to trial, for me, is a whitewashing of the justice system,” says Laura Moreira, Cynthia’s sister.
It turns out that this trial has Ramón Antonio Soria in the dock, accused of being an accomplice in the transfemicide of the 26-year-old woman. “The ones responsible are Leo and Horqueta Díaz, and the case against them is open with a lot of evidence, but suspiciously, it keeps getting delayed before going to trial,” Laura told Presentes .
“The justice system continues to abandon and discriminate against my sister, just as it does with the entire trans community,” says Laura. She recalls the mistreatment by investigating prosecutor José Suasnabar, who failed to investigate leads pointing to former police officers and the Díaz brothers, and condemns the attitude of prosecutor Marta Jeréz de Rivadeneira, who mentions Cynthia without acknowledging her gender identity.
Laura was the first witness to testify at the hearing, which began shortly after 11 a.m. on Friday. Her investigation into her sister's murder led her to dozens of leads that she later contributed to the case.
The reconstruction began on the night of February 14, 2018, when Cinthya said she was going to a party and was in the company of Maia Amaya . The young woman, in statements prior to the trial, denied this. On this occasion, she did not appear to give her testimony despite having been summoned.
“We know Maia is lying and now has the opportunity to tell the truth. We have the tools to protect her, but if she continues to lie, we will proceed with the false testimony charge,” warned the plaintiff's lawyer, Carlos Garmendia .
The case: disappearance, discovery and identification
“I’m going to a party,” Laura recalls Cynthia saying on the night of February 14th. She had dressed up, as was her custom because “besides being beautiful, she was very flirtatious,” she adds.
She never returned, and the search for her sister went viral on social media. Nine days later, Héctor Gramajo found a mutilated, burned body scattered in garbage bags in the yard of a house in Villa Alem, owned by his father-in-law. The man had gone to the unoccupied property because he had a vegetable garden there. “As soon as I realized it was a body, I called 911,” Gramajo said in his statement in the courtroom.
The body could not be immediately identified due to its condition. Months later, DNA testing confirmed it was Cynthia. “The investigation indicates she wasn't killed there. There were no traces of blood anywhere,” Laura explained to the press, insisting that the justice system never supported her.
“Cynthia had a family that loved and respected her.”
Cynthia was a sex worker. According to the investigation, she owed money to two brothers, accused of supplying her with drugs, from the Villa Amalia area—southeast of the city of Tucumán. Laura refers to them as 'the Díaz clan'. The brothers are being investigated for the young woman's murder.
Ramón Soria, currently on trial, was for many years the right-hand man of the Díaz brothers and is considered a foster brother. “We have information that 'El Gordo'—as Ramón Soria is known—is being threatened. We know that when he was arrested, they had to take their children out of school because they were afraid. The Díaz brothers had said they would blow their children's heads off if they talked,” says the victim's sister.
Cynthia's father and sisters were present at the first hearing. Laura, spokesperson and driving force behind the investigation, affirms that this trial, regardless of its outcome, is only the beginning on the path to truth. “Cynthia had a family that loved and respected her for who she was. That's why we won't give up until justice is served,” says the woman, who mourns the loss of her mother, who passed away earlier this year.
Tucumán justice and transfemicides
One of the most high-profile cases, which involved organizing the trans movement in the province, was the murder of Ayelén Gómez . The 31-year-old woman was murdered in August 2017, and the sentence left a bitter taste of injustice. Through a plea bargain agreed upon between the prosecution and the defense, a nine-year sentence was handed down. “Was my sister’s life worth less than other lives because she was a trans woman?” asks her sister Yohana, for whom the sentence should have been life imprisonment.
The transfemicide of Lourdes Reinoso (30 years old), which occurred in April 2018, did receive the maximum sentence despite a summary trial. The same was true for the case of 19-year-old Gala Perea .
The ruling that acquitted Ricardo Puenzo , accused of murdering Alejandra 'Power' Benítez, was overturned in March of this year, and a retrial is expected. Meanwhile, the murders of Victoria Nieva (33 years old), which occurred in April 2018, and that of...
Vanesa Solórzano (20 years old) - in August 2020 - does not yet have a trial date.
We are Present
We are committed to a type of journalism that delves deeply into the realm of the world and offers in-depth research, combined with new technologies and narrative formats. We want the protagonists, their stories, and their struggles to be present.
SUPPORT US
FOLLOW US
Related Notes
We Are Present
This and other stories don't usually make the media's attention. Together, we can make them known.