Pamela and Roxana had been living in a small room in a hostel in Barracas (Argentina) for two years. Later, Andrea and Sofía moved with them. Two couples of women who shared a small room without a bathroom. On May 6, one of his neighbors launched a Molotov cocktail in that room, he closed the door and held it so that they could not leave when the fire broke out.

He had already threatened to kill them last Christmas. Justo Barrientos harassed them, addressed them as “monsters” and called them “cakes,” “dirty” and “fat.” He ended up carrying out his threat. Pamela died just a few hours after the fire, Roxana lay dying for 48 hours and Andrea fought for her life for 6 days.

Only Sofía, 42 years old, has survived. At the moment, continues to recover the hospital and has already been able to give a statement. Barrientos, who tried to commit suicide after the LGBTIphobic attack, has already been brought to justice.

The Milei Government denies lesbicide

Now the magistrate will have to decide if Barrientos is attributable and if the aggravating factor based on gender and sexual orientation applies. The street is clear: “It was a triple lesbicide, a massacre,” they said during the protest in the town of Barracas, where the women were murdered.

But the Milei Government refuses to speak in those terms. “It seems very unfair to me to only talk about this episode when violence is something much more comprehensive than simply an issue against a certain group,” responded Manuel Adorni, spokesperson for the Casa Rosada. “There are many women and men who suffer violence,” he added.

His words outraged activists and specialists in gender issues and opposition politicians. The deputy of the Left Front, Romina del Plá, has condemned Adorni’s statements on Twitter and has assured that what happened in Barracas was a lesbicide. To this, the spokesperson responded with a screenshot of the RAE to defend that this term is not in the dictionary.

The homophobic precedents of the Government

“Justice for all, the State is responsible“: is the chant that is repeated at rallies in memory of the victims. They point to the increase in speeches of hate in the Milei era. It should not be coincidental if we remember the statements of her now Foreign Minister. Interviewed last year, the then representative of La Libertad Avanza, Diana Mondino, responded like this about equal marriage: “If you prefer not to bathe and be full of lice, it is your choice, ready, then don’t complain if there is someone who doesn’t like that you have lice.

Just a few days ago, it was Milei’s biographer and friend who attacked the group. During a radio interview, Nicolás Márquez, a striker of the extreme right, described homosexuality as ““insane and self-destructive” and He congratulated himself because Milei does not “promote or finance” homosexuality.

Paradoxically, he attacked the RAE for including the term homophobia because “homophobia does not exist.” “Phobia is a disease, a psychiatric disorder. Homophobia is an idiomatic invention (…) that has a pejorative and insulting character, and pathologizes anyone who differs with gender ideology,” he added.