The torture and killing of the three young women, one of them a teenager, was terrible enough. But what really sent chills through Argentina was that the drug traffickers accused of carrying out the killings live streamed their crime on social media, the authorities said.
The women were lured to a house on the outskirts of Buenos Aires last Friday, where their torture and killing was broadcast on a private Instagram stream to an audience of about 45 people, according to regional authorities. The victims were identified as Brenda del Castillo, 20, Morena Verdi, 20, and Lara Gutiérrez, 15.
The police believe an international drug organization was behind the crime, which the authorities say was meant to deliver a message following the theft of a small package of drugs, apparently by one of the victims.
“Everything points to a drug-related revenge,” Javier Alonso, minister of security for the Province of Buenos Aires, said during a news conference on Wednesday. “We can call it a settling of scores.”
The killings were a shock to many in Argentina, where horrific violence at the hands of drug gangs is relatively rare compared to Mexico and other countries in Latin America. It also reflects the increasing practice by criminal groups of posting videos on social media to intimidate rivals, journalists seeking to chronicle their deeds and the public.
The three victims were last seen around 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 19, as they got into a white van in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, the capital. From there, they were lured to a house some 18 miles away, the police said, with promises that they would be paid in exchange for sex work.
“They were tricked into participating in this event,” said Mr. Alonso, noting that the plan had been carefully designed by an international criminal network to trap the women.
The women were then tortured and murdered later that night, their ordeal streamed to an audience of several dozen people on social media, Mr. Alonso added. The authorities did not provide further details of the crime.
Meta, Instagram’s parent company, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the case.
This week, investigators tracked down the victims’ bodies, which were buried in plastic bags in a garden. So far, the police have arrested four people, but investigators believe others were involved.
Criminal groups, the authorities said, are increasing their presence in Argentina, which has become an important transit route for smugglers transporting drugs from Bolivia and Peru toward Europe. The drug trade has fueled competition and violence among criminal groups that battle each other for territory and profits.
President Javier Milei of Argentina, who portrays himself as a law-and-order libertarian, has taken a hard stance on cartel violence, promising to prosecute gang members as terrorists.
Ana Ionova is a contributor to The Times based in Rio de Janeiro, covering Brazil and neighboring countries.
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