Argentina: International drug network broadcast torture and murder of three women on Instagram

Shock erupted in Argentina over the murder of three young men on the outskirts of Buenos Aires province. The province’s security minister, Javier Alonso, confirmed that the victims had been tortured and that the crime was broadcast on Instagram as “an act of disciplining” for them and for “different members” of the criminal organization responsible.

Brenda del Castillo and Morena Verdi, both 20, and Lara Gutierrez, 15, were found in a house in Florencio Varela after disappearing last Sunday in La Matanza, one of the country’s most populous and dangerous areas.

"They were supposedly going to participate in an event to which they had been invited, without knowing that they were falling into a trap organized by a transnational drug trafficking organization that had perpetrated a strategy to murder them," Alonso said at a press conference.

Later, in an interview with local media outlet Todo Noticias, the official said that “the whole murder and torture session” had been “transmitted live on social networks.” He also estimated that about 45 people had watched it. “It was an act of disciplining for the girls, but also for different members of that organization,” he added.

The broadcast was revealed by one of the four people arrested so far. Alonso also said the intellectual author, who remains at large, is believed to be the gang leader: “He is Peruvian, approximately 23 years old… he is establishing himself as the leader of this organization.”

Although the motive for the crime remains unclear, authorities said it was an act of revenge for reasons yet to be determined.