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“In this building, on May 6, 2024, Pamela Fabiana Cobbas, Mercedes Roxana Figueroa, and Andrea Amarante were massacred for being lesbians, in an attack fueled by hatred and discrimination, an act that distances us from an inclusive, equitable, and egalitarian society. It was lesbicide. Justice means that it never happens again,” reads the plaque on the door of the Canarias family hotel in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Barracas. The vicious attack against four lesbians, which ended in the triple lesbicide of Pamela, Roxana, and Andrea, and in which only Sofía survived, was one of the most shocking hate crimes in recent years in Argentina and around the world. 

The case is being handled by National Criminal and Correctional Court No. 14, headed by Edmundo Rabbione, and is close to being referred to trial. This was reported to this outlet by sources closely following the case. For now, the aggravating factors are homicide due to "common danger" and "malicious intent." Meanwhile, all the plaintiffs are requesting that evidence be developed to classify it as a hate crime.  

The victims' lawsuits are fourfold: one representing the sole survivor, Sofia, and her partner Andrea, led by attorney Luciana Sánchez. The other representing Marisa (Roxana's ex-partner) and Tiziano, their son, now a teenager, is represented by Raquel Hermida Leyenda. The other representing a relative of Pamela's who runs the Victim Assistance Office. The other representing FALGBT (Argentine Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transgender People), which represents several organizations and is sponsored by volunteer lawyers, was not easily accepted. The latter was eventually rejected by the Court of Cassation, as the lower court rejected it. 

All of them are requesting more evidence be produced before proceeding to trial. There are witnesses who were not called—such as those cited in the article by Presentes and other media outlets—and evidence that the judge did not provide. There were two witness hearings, but the plaintiffs believe other crucial witnesses are missing. Meanwhile, Barrientos is in custody, charged with homicide and serious injuries, and is being held in pretrial detention. 

What happened between May 5 and 6, 2024

Between the night of Sunday, May 5, 2024, and the early hours of Monday, May 6, Justo Fernando Barrientos, a neighbor who lived in a room next to the one the four women shared in the same family hotel in Barracas, Buenos Aires, opened the door, threw an explosive device at them, and set them on fire. The fire caused fatal burns to three of the women. Hours after the attack, on May 6, Pamela Cobbas died. Two days later, Roxana Figueroa died, and the following Sunday, May 12, Andrea Amarante died. Andrea's partner, Sofía Castro Riglos, was hospitalized for several weeks due to her injuries.  

Various testimonies indicated that the victims' sexual orientation was linked to the attack, as they had been harassed for being lesbians. Neighbors spoke on television and also to journalist Agustina Ramos, who visited the hotel a few days later. They can be read in this article from Presentes published on May 10, which addresses the complex relationship between prejudice-driven violence, hate speech, and also the housing crisis and socioeconomic crisis affecting the lives of the four women.

The cruelty of the case resonated with national and international media outlets of all sizes, which in the first few days reported on the violence LGBT people face simply for existing, while narratives that dehumanize non-conforming identities—or outright deny them—continue to prevail. “They killed them for being lesbians,” activists have repeated since that day. 

Lack of gender and diversity perspective 

“Until now, the lack of a gender and diversity perspective in the justice system has made it very difficult for organizations to participate in the follow-up of the case. We had to go all the way to the Supreme Court, meaning that at first, the organizations were told no to be considered as plaintiffs,” explained María Rachid, a member of the FALGBT and the Institute Against Discrimination of the Ombudsman's Office in Buenos Aires City. 

Rachid pointed out that whether or not one agrees with the hate crime investigation, "the courts should pursue it, even if they want to rule it out. But they cannot obstruct that line of investigation as they are doing, preventing the organizations from participating until recently. It's proving very difficult to produce evidence that points to hate, that is, lesbicide. All the plaintiffs are asking for this evidence to be produced before proceeding to trial." 

An emblematic case 

The mass lesbicide drew attention not only in Argentina. The brutality with which the perpetrator acted—after throwing the explosive, he closed the bedroom door and pushed the victims back into the flames when they tried to leave—so typical of hate crimes, made headlines and reports around the world that spoke of the violence that lesbians and LGBT people continue to suffer. 

For many, it was a case that marked a turning point. In its report on Violence against LGBT People, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights warned: hate crimes are perpetrated in contexts of heightened dehumanization and discrimination. The multiple lesbicide was perpetrated in a context where anti-rights influencers were interviewed during prime-time broadcasts. The previous week, Nicolás Márquez, a friend and figurehead of President Javier Milei, had been introduced on Radio Con Vos as a "writer" to launch an apologia for homophobia and justify, with false data, the lack of public policies to protect people of sexual diversity. And in the same vein, national government officials promoted—and continued to promote—aggressive discourse toward diversity, and the closure of organizations such as the INADI (National Institute of Women, Gender, and Diversity) and the Ministry of Women, Gender, and Diversity.

"It's an emblematic case that, in another context, would have generated concrete public policies. That's why the National Government tried to minimize it and the courts tried to prevent the organizations from pursuing it," Rachid analyzed.

The extent of cruelty and “criminal” discourse

“For me, it's a paradigmatic event due to the scale of the cruelty. At first, it was described as a 'neighborhood dispute,' and the word "lesbian" wasn't even allowed to be pronounced. However, it's part of a profusion of hate speech about LGBTQ+ people and existence. It was the enactment of that distance that suddenly becomes nonexistent amidst the neo-fascist discourse that renders some people disposable,” said Marta Dillon, a journalist and contributor to the mostri column. 

When asked about this case, presidential spokesman Adorni didn't even dare to use the word "lesbian," denying that it was a hate crime. Even the Minister of Justice has publicly denied the diversity of sexual identities .

“They also deny gender-based violence. There's a massive denialism that has only intensified. With this case, we began to become aware of how these neo-fascist narratives operate, enabling the possibility of eliminating others because some bodies are worth more and others are worth less. After the Davos speech that led to the Anti-Racist and Anti-Fascist Pride march on February 1, there were also attacks against lesbians or against people whose gender is easily interpreted based on this idea that there are only two, as Trump said and Milei copied. What we are denouncing based on this incident is a way of spreading violence through social fascism, encouraging individual perpetrators or groups to carry out these attacks, which are protected by impunity, and which are also symbolically protected by the Executive Branch itself.”

The journalist says we can call them hate speech, "but they are criminal speech. They seek to dehumanize to the point that these attacks are possible. And that's what brought this incident into question." 

Speeches that hate and kill

Activist Jesi Hernandez also recalls that the triple lesbicide "marked a before and after in my life. Not only because they were lesbians and we shared an identity. It mobilized the lesbian community to unite." The following day, a mobilization was called for on social media " to see what we could do about this case and how we could bring it to light ," she told Tiempo Argentino.

“No media outlet wanted to cover the news simply because the word “lesbian” was in it, and they didn't want to mention it .” The Assembly of Self-Convened Lesbians for Barracas set a goal: to break the media siege “so that society realizes that what is said and repeated has consequences, nothing more and nothing less than in our lives. The feeling was one of tremendous helplessness. It was the realization that because of who you are, your life is in danger. And to be attacked in a totally defenseless state, just like them, in their own bed. That feeling that you can't be safe even when you go to sleep.”

Jesi emphasized that after so many exchanges online, a lesbian community began to form, strategically involved in the case. “I recognize this capacity we have as lesbian women and lesbians to come out and use our resilience to say, ‘This is who we are.’ They don't really know what they provoked. They provoked unity, resistance, and activism.”

LGBT activists not only managed to break the media siege and call for marches and activities to proclaim "It Was Lesbicide," and "They Killed Them for Being Lesbians." They worked and networked to take care of Sofía's physical and mental health when she left the Burn Hospital with nowhere else to go. In October, the organizations "Yo no fui" and "No tan distintxs" managed to open the doors of Casa Andrea , a collective housing experience for women, LGBTQ+ people, and children. This is a safe space where Sofía, the only survivor of this multiple lesbicide that the courts refuse to name, moved to and lives.

"The triple lesbicide in Barracas cannot be part of a story that repeats itself. It must be a cry that awakens us, a mark that mobilizes us, an active memory.
Thank you for being here, for not being silent (…) Memory is our tool, and with it we will continue to fight." pic.twitter.com/Nu8yt3ekmQ

— @presenteslatam.bsky.social (@PresentesLatam) May 5, 2025

Activities 

This week, activities continue to keep the call for justice alive. 

The claim addresses two urgent issues: that the judicial investigation address the deaths as hate crimes and that care be guaranteed through reparations for Sofía Castro Riglos. 

Yesterday, the group Lesbianes Autoconvocades por Barracas held an open discussion on hate crimes and speech in the Buenos Aires City Legislature. 

A collective mural was painted yesterday in Azara and Lamadrid, "so that memory can also speak from the walls of the neighborhood."

This afternoon, marking the first anniversary, there are gatherings starting at 4 p.m. to "remember, embrace, and demand justice" for Pamela, Roxana, Andrea, and Sofía in Plaza Colombia in Barracas (Montes de Oca and Pinzón Avenues). The Antifascist and Antiracist Assembly is calling for a march from there to the Hotel Canarias and back to the plaza.