Buenos Aires, Argentina – “We’re the voice of those that now not have one,” learn the slogan plastered on indicators throughout downtown Buenos Aires final Thursday, June 3.
1000’s gathered exterior the Nationwide Congress to mark the eleventh anniversary of Ni Una Menos, a motion that emerged after the 2015 homicide of 14-year-old Chiara Páez and went on to reshape Argentina’s debate over gender violence whereas inspiring related mobilizations throughout Latin America.
Purple scarves, inexperienced handkerchiefs and pictures of victims stuffed the streets on Wednesday as demonstrators demanded justice for girls killed in acts of gender violence. This 12 months’s march was largely formed by the femicide of Agostina Vega, a 14-year-old lady in Córdoba, whose case dominated nationwide headlines within the days main as much as the demonstration and have become an emblem of public outrage.
The case sparked criticism of Argentina’s justice system and prompted requires the resignation of judicial and authorities officers over alleged failures to guard {the teenager}.
Demonstrators additionally highlighted the current murders of Dulce Candia, 17, within the northern province of Misiones; and Noelia Romero, 30, in a Buenos Aires suburb, whose names echoed all through the protest.
“This case encapsulates the institutional violence that the State topics us to,” organizers from Ni Una Menos mentioned in an announcement learn throughout the primary rally.
The assertion was learn by actress and gender rights activist Thelma Fardin, whose case turned a landmark second in Argentina’s #MeToo motion. “Don’t speak about me, cease killing us,” she mentioned to the gang that included girls of all ages, political leaders and kinfolk of femicide victims. Earlier this 12 months, Brazil’s Supreme Courtroom upheld the conviction of Argentine actor Juan Darthés for sexually abusing Fardin throughout a tour in Nicaragua in 2009, bringing to an in depth one of many nation’s most intently adopted gender violence circumstances.
As demonstrators superior by means of town middle, banners carried messages reminiscent of “No girl ought to should discover ways to survive residing within the place she belongs,” “Might freedom not be a promise however a actuality,” and “Feminist revolt towards fascism.”
Debate over cuts to gender packages
Alongside calls for for justice, many protesters additionally linked gender violence to Argentina’s financial state of affairs. One of the vital seen slogans learn “We need to be alive, free… and debt-free” (“Vivas, libres y desendeudadas nos queremos”), a variation of the motion’s conventional slogan “Vivas y libres nos queremos” (“We need to be alive and free”). Organizers mentioned the addition mirrored considerations concerning the affect of President Javier Milei’s austerity insurance policies on girls and weak communities.
The mobilization comes as feminist organizations and Milei’s authorities provide sharply totally different assessments of the state of affairs dealing with girls in Argentina.
In keeping with Ahora Que Sí Nos Ven, an Argentine feminist observatory that screens femicides and gender-based violence, a girl is killed each 31 hours within the nation. The group recorded 99 victims of gender-related killings between January and Might this 12 months and has documented greater than 3,200 such circumstances because the first Ni Una Menos march in 2015.
For organizers, the anniversary has grow to be not solely a name towards femicides but in addition a protest towards what they describe because the dismantling of gender insurance policies beneath Milei’s administration.
Activists pointed to reductions in funding for gender-based violence packages. In keeping with an evaluation by Argentine fact-checking group Chequeado, inflation-adjusted spending on eight gender-related packages fell by almost 95% between 2023 and 2025. Among the many most affected have been a nationwide hotline for victims of gender violence and a program which offers monetary help to girls in danger. Each noticed their budgets fall by almost 100% in actual phrases through the interval.
In keeping with Chequeado, six of the eight packages analyzed have been both eradicated or absorbed into broader initiatives beneath the Human Capital and Justice ministries.
However the Milei administration has defended the restructuring, arguing that a number of packages have been inefficient or redundant.
Authorities officers have additionally challenged the activists’ interpretation of the information. Senator Patricia Bullrich, from Milei’s La Libertad Avanza, highlighted what she described as a decline in femicides since Milei took workplace.
“I do know that behind each statistic there are households, and for these households that quantity means every little thing,” Bullrich wrote on social media through the mobilization. “However the information displays a actuality: since Javier Milei took workplace, we’ve got diminished femicides by 25%, strengthened the jail system and created a DNA registry for convicted rapists.”
Bullrich added that “the feminism I defend is the one which protects girls,” reflecting the administration’s argument that public safety measures, fairly than gender-focused establishments, have pushed enhancements within the statistics.
In keeping with a report launched by Argentina’s Supreme Courtroom, 200 direct victims of femicide have been recorded in 2025, down 12.3% from the earlier 12 months and the bottom annual determine since 2017. The judiciary’s Nationwide Femicide Registry estimated that one girl was killed each 44 hours final 12 months.
Because the demonstration got here to an finish, individuals raised images of victims towards Congress whereas organizers learn aloud the names of ladies killed over the previous 12 months. Eleven years after the primary Ni Una Menos march, demonstrators argued that the central demand stays unchanged: guaranteeing that no girl turns into the following title added to the listing.
Featured picture description: Protesters marked the anniversary of Ni Una Menos.
Featured picture credit score: @FundHuesped by way of X
