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A lesbian couple suffered another attack in Argentina. Miguel and Julián Yanes—father and son—beat and injured Inés (39) and Analía (41) with a knife in the Balvanera neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Two days earlier, the younger man had threatened them: “You fucking dykes, I’m going to kill you.” The incident occurred on March 3, and last week, prosecutor Silvina Bruno requested that the case be brought to trial. The charges include the aggravating circumstance of hate based on sexual orientation. 

“We want justice to be done and to be able to live in peace,” Inés told Presentes.

On Saturday, March 1st, Inés found herself locked out of her building, without her cell phone or keys. She rang a neighbor's doorbell to see if he could help her. Julián Yanes answered and replied, "I'm going to kill you fucking bitches, didn't you realize you rang my doorbell?" Inés recounted. The threat was carried out two days later. 

“My partner was coming back from shopping, it was around eight o'clock at night, when the man attacked her from behind as she was going up the stairs. He started hitting her with a stick,” Inés recalled in an interview with Página12. She stepped between them, but the man pulled out a knife and stabbed Analía in the ear and Inés in the arm, she continued. At that moment, Miguel Yanes, the father, appeared, and “instead of stopping him, he hit us too.” 

Without protection

After the attack, with visible marks on her face, Inés left the building to alert the police in the area. With reinforcements, officers arrested Miguel and Julián and confiscated the stick and the knife. The men were detained for 48 hours. They have a restraining order against them, and the women have been given a panic button. But since they live in the same building, they met again after the incident. 

The Criminal, Misdemeanor, and Petty Offenses Prosecutor's Office No. 9 of the City of Buenos Aires, specializing in gender violence and headed by Dr. Silvina Bruno, requested on Monday that the case be brought to trial. It accused the Yanes family of the crime of "minor injuries and threats" with the aggravating circumstance of hatred based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, judicial sources informed Presentes

Inés and Analía have been a couple for three years. They own the apartment where they live. They work selling empanadas through a self-managed business. They aren't activists: "Just people who choose to be free," they say. Since the attack, their daily lives have become difficult. "Our days are strange. We're following the law step by step. Trying to heal physically and emotionally. We can't stop working because we're self-employed. The very principle that protects us is also the one that sometimes limits our ability to work. It's the irony of these times and of life itself," Inés shared with Presentes.

She described the neighbors who attacked them as “taciturn people with little communication skills.” “We didn’t have problems with any other neighbors. This surprised us. It was chaotic and sudden. But the violence reached its source, and they reacted with total impunity. They caused injuries that could have been fatal,” she said. 

On March 6th, at a meeting prior to Lesbian Visibility Day, Inés and Analía shared their experiences from just days before. Since then, the Argentine LGBT Federation has been providing them with support, and staff at Bonaparte Hospital have helped them access psychological care.

Escalation of violence

The attack occurred amidst an escalation of violence against sexual diversity, particularly against lesbians, following President Javier Milei's speech at the Davos Economic Forum. The president repeated a series of lies, fallacies, and misinformation regarding the LGBTQ+ community. Since that speech on January 23, there have been at least five attacks and attempted attacks against lesbians in the country. 

On January 29, Orlando Alcides Lutz Fogar set fire to the home of a lesbian couple in Cañuelas. He initially fled, but is now in custody. That same day, in La Plata, a lesbian returning from an assembly for the Antifascist March was stalked by Juan José Juárez, a man who minutes earlier had stabbed and killed a woman in the street, in addition to attacking two other men. In Buenos Aires, on February 5, a young lesbian couple suffered another attack in the street in the Recoleta neighborhood. The fourth known attack occurred in Orán, Salta province. In the early morning of February 11, Juan Marcelo Córdoba broke into the home of Mariana Oliver, a well-known lesbian activist, and stabbed her seven times. 

“The context is chaotic. Violence is state-sanctioned, and that gives free rein to all these attacks and thousands more. We have regressed millions of years in terms of rights,” Inés said. 

This escalation of attacks brings to mind a lingering memory: the triple lesbian murder in Barracas on May 5, 2024.Then, as now, disinformation against sexual diversity dominated the media agenda and contributed to a violent climate. Before the attack that took the lives of Andrea, Pamela, and Roxana and seriously injured Sofía, Justo Barrientos had repeatedly insulted them, alluding to their sexual orientation, and had threatened to kill them. One day, he carried out his threat.