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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina. The trial for the murder of Diana Zoe López García will begin on March 27 and 30. The trans woman was killed on November 10, 2023, by her partner, Fabián Villegas. “Aunt Zoe,” as her friends called her, was a human rights advocate for the trans community and managed the Hotel Gondolín for over a decade. 

Two public hearings are scheduled for the oral trial. It will be held in Courtroom No. 4—comprised of Judges Pablo Laufer, Ivana Bloch, and Julio César Báez—located at 550 Talcahuano Street in the City of Buenos Aires. Villegas is accused of “triple aggravated homicide” due to the familial relationship, hatred based on gender identity and expression, and the presence of gender-based violence. In other words, the court is treating the case as a transphobic hate crime.

Aunt Zoe was born in Salta but has lived in Buenos Aires since her teens. Her family, through one of her sisters, will be the plaintiff in the case. “Zoe’s extended family—her colleagues, daughters, and nieces from the Hotel Gondolín (and so many other places)—are facing this difficult time with great strength and organization. They ask the community for its support,” the plaintiff’s lawyer, Luciana Sánchez, told Agencia Presentes

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The start of the trial was announced at a press conference held at the Buenos Aires City Legislature with activists, friends and family of Zoe. 

What happened to Zoe?

Diana Zoe López García was murdered on November 11, 2023.At the time, she was with Fabián Villegas in a hotel room in the Balvanera neighborhood where they lived. The perpetrator was never in doubt. It was Villegas himself, her partner of more than 20 years, who called 911 (the emergency number) and said he had stabbed Zoe during an argument. Hours later, already in custody, he posted farewell messages on Facebook and tried to deflect responsibility: “It was both of our faults,” he wrote. 

“The investigation was swift, and the evidence focused on the aggravating factors. That was a difference from other cases. The investigating judge considered all the evidence gathered to be compelling and sufficient regarding the three aggravating factors: relationship, transvesticide, and femicide,” Sánchez explains. 

The crime, she emphasizes, marked a turning point. “Aunt Zoe was murdered in November 2023. She was the trans woman who had entered the Casa Rosada (the presidential palace) through the trans employment quota. She is an important human rights figure for the trans community in our country. We hope the trial will bring reparations for her colleagues at the Hotel Gondolin and their families.”. 

The context today: more hate crimes

The trial for the transphobic murder of Zoe is taking place against a backdrop of increasing violence against LGBT people. According to the National Observatory of LGBT+ Hate Crimes of the Argentine LGBT+ Federation, developed in conjunction with the Ombudsman's Office of the City of Buenos Aires, at least 227 hate crimes were recorded in Argentina in 2025. 

Furthermore, it analyzes that in 2025 there was 1 crime every 38 hours, while in 2024 it was 1 every 63 hours. And it reports that between 2024 and 2025, cases increased by 62%. 

The observatory analyzes this increase in light of rising levels of impunity in cases of violence. It links them to “processes of institutional weakening, setbacks in public policies, and the expansion of stigmatizing discourses in politics and the media, which legitimize violence and facilitate impunity. Compared to 2022 (129 cases)—a year in which these discourses had less public space—the increase is alarming and demands a clear political and social interpretation: the normalization of stigma has lethal consequences.”

Zoe in the memory of the Gondolin girls

Diana Zoe Lopez Garcia was 47 years old and the president of Hotel Gondolin, a shelter and social organization for transgender and transvestite people. Based on her own experience of arriving in Buenos Aires from Salta, where she was born, she dedicated herself to supporting transgender people in vulnerable situations. 

Leticia is one of the trans women living at the Hotel Gondolín. “Zoe is a role model for human rights, employment, and education. She's a champion of personal and activist development. In my case, she taught me a lot; she emphasized that the most important thing was to study and find work. Even though I'm a sex worker, I'm studying, and so are my colleagues. The vast majority of them are studying, taking courses, and finishing high school. She set a very important precedent: that of leaving us organized.”

Regarding the start of the trial, Leticia said they expect the maximum sentence. “There was premeditation or cruelty involved. There was a lot of evidence indicating that he had a hatred for Zoe and a hatred that was growing toward our group. And we noticed that,” Leticia commented

Personally, Leticia says, “she left an eternal void, a lot of sadness. There will never be another person who can take her place. There was a before and after Zoe. She was a great companion, a great friend, a great aunt Zoe.”

Days before the start of the trial for the transphobic murder of Zoe López García, killed in November 2023, the Casa Rosada removed the banner in which Zoe's coworkers—she worked at the soup kitchen at Balcarce 50—demanded justice for her. pic.twitter.com/dQKkBGvCWT

— Franco Torchia (@francotorchia_) March 8, 2026

In June 2023, when the Diana Sacayán-Lohana Berkins Labor Quota Law turned two years old, Zoe was hired at the Casa Rosada (the presidential palace) to work in the cafeteria. She remained there until her murder. Days after the transphobic murder, her coworkers, along with her family from the Gondolín neighborhood, put up a sign in her memory. A few weeks ago, the sign was removed from the cafeteria.