Hundreds of chaqueños took to the streets of Resistencia on Monday to demand justice and the truth behind the alleged femicide of Cecilia Strzyzowski, the 28-year-old who has been missing since June 1.
To date, at least seven people have been arrested as investigators scramble to solve the case, which has rocked the northern province of Chaco in the midst of an election campaign.
Led by the missing woman’s mother, Gloria Romero, and Cecilia’s grandmother, Mercedes, hundreds of women chanted “justice for Cecilia” and “You are not alone” as they marched through the provincial capital.
"I feel very supported. This has to end, no more impunity," Romero told the demonstrators in a brief speech.
Romero said she is seeking "justice, not revenge," because "an eye for an eye makes the world blind."
Demonstrators carried a number of pink balloons, her daughter's favourite colour.
Investigators believe Strzyzowski was the victim of a femicide. Her husband, César Sena, 19, has been accused of being the author of the crime of "triple homicide aggravated by the link, by the premeditated concurrence of two or more persons and for having been carried out in a context of gender violence.”
The young man's parents, Emerenciano Sena and Marcela Acuña – the head of a powerful political clan with close links to Chaco Governor Jorge Capitanich – are being held in custody, charged as “necessary” participants in the alleged murder.
Both parents were running as candidates in last weekend’s PASO primary elections, though they were removed from the ruling party’s lists after being arrested.
Macabre details have begun to emerge from the ongoing investigation in local media. Prosecutors now believe the woman was likely murdered and dismembered after she was killed.
On Monday, burnt remains of a suitcase and clothing were found, as well as an engagement ring that investigators believe belonged by Strzyzowski.
So far, searches ordered by the courts have failed to find evidence of her death. Security camera footage shows Strzyzowski entering the family home 19 days ago, but never leaving.
A landlord of the Sena family home testified before the team of prosecutors handling the case that he saw her "gagged and alive." He claims that "they took her body to a rubbish dump.”
The woman's disappearance has dealt a political blow to Peronist Governor Capitanich, the province's strongman who will seek re-election in elections in September.
The reaction of local residents to the developments was not to turnout to vote – Sunday’s primary elections featured a high abstention rate and Capitanich's Frente Chaqueño was pushed into second place with 36 percent, trailing the opposition Juntos por el Cambio coalition’s candidates, who scored 42 percent between them.
– TIMES/AFP
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