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Video: Outrage in Argentina over the murder of an 11-year-old girl during a robbery on her way to school

The death of Morena Rodriguez led to public protests and the suspension of campaign events just days before the mandatory primary elections.

Captura de pantalla de una cámara de seguridad que capturó el asesinato de Morena Domínguez.

(Twitter: Guillermo de Luca)

Published by
Santiago Ospital

"We want answers, we don't want to be afraid." The helplessness of a child over the death of his classmate, 11-year-old Morena Rodriguez in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, went viral on Wednesday and Thursday.

The child’s words were picked up by the local media outlet El Nueve during a demonstration in front of the public school where Rodríguez was going when she was approached by two thieves on a motorcycle, known there as "motochorros."

As the girl was on her way to school early in the morning, a pair of criminals on a motorcycle approached the child, knocking her to the ground and snatching her backpack. Doctors reported that the little girl later died of cardiorespiratory arrest.

The crime, which occurred four days before the nation’s primary elections, led several candidates to suspend campaign events. Some also expressed their condolences on social media, such as the candidate of the main opposition party, Juntos por el Cambio (Together for Change), Patricia Bullrich:

Again the pain. Now with the murder of Morena, 11 years old. All my thoughts and support to her family and friends. We cannot continue living with so much anguish and fear. This is it. They transformed Argentina into an unlivable country.

Javier Milei, a candidate from the party La Libertad Avanza (Freedom Advances), wrote:

The Lanús tragedy in which an 11-year-old girl was murdered by a motorcycle when she was going to school has a very clear responsible: a political class that for decades has defended a model of impoverishment and Zaffaronism that generates criminals with no respect for life. Decades of putting victims in the place of perpetrators, and criminals in the place of victims. For this reason we are proposing a complete reform of the laws on internal security, defense, intelligence, and the penitentiary service, all based on a new national security doctrine: WHOEVER DOES CRIMES PAYS FOR THEM. We want to end this model that defends criminals and return to the only model that works: the repression of crime without hesitation. Until murderers, rapists and criminals know that committing a crime has direct consequences for their lives, we will continue to live under this scourge that is insecurity.

The leader in the official polls and current Minister of the Economy Sergio Massa declared that Rodríguez's death was a "clear sign that we have to put the emphasis on the fight against insecurity," according to statements to the public agency Télam.

Warning: the following images may be disturbing to some audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.

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