Cynthia Moreira
22 Feb 2018
San Miguel de Tucumán (Argentina)
Strangled, stabbed and dismembered
TDoR list ref: tgeu/23-Feb-2018/Claudia Oliveira
Cynthia’s decomposed and partially dismembered body was found in grassland at the back of an uninhabited house.
Her body was in such a state that despite her body being found on 23rd February she was not identified until 18th April. She had been missing since 14th February.
Today, after the publication of a story in the newspaper La Gaceta saying that it could be the young woman, one of Cynthia’s sisters wrote this message:
“To all our family and friends of Cynthia: the body is unrecognizable. Only a DNA test can confirm whether it is my sister. The people who took the case told me that they do not even know what Cynthia is, how can La Gaceta know?"
“We still do not know who the murdered person is. They say she’s a trans girl but we do not know. I know Cynthia, and we’re waiting for her to appear. What we do know is that the girls of Tucumán are constantly in danger. In addition to feeling the anguish that they are killing us, that friends and acquaintances die, that because we are trans we are afraid of going out into the street and sometimes of going to the center to work. I do not know if I’m going back. I am afraid and it is not a sensation, it is a reality: they are killing us, they are destroying our bodies and our lives”, Mahia Moyano, an activist with LOTO (Freedom and Pride Trans Organized), told Presentes.
Tucumán, one of the most violent provinces
Tucumán is one of the most violent provinces in Argentina for trans people. LOTO emerged after the travesticide of Ayelén Gómez, perpetrated in August 2017. Her brutally murdered body was found under the stands of a sports club before a rugby match. Some time before, Ayelén had denounced police officers for raping her.
In January in Tucumán, another trans woman - Lourdes Reinoso - was savagely murdered.
[READ ALSO: Tucumán: a young trans and her great aunt were murdered] http://agenciapresentes.org/2018/01/23/tucuman-una-joven-trans-tia-fueron-asesinadas-ex-pareja/
Before the wave of violence, trans people, LOTO and other organizations marched on February 7 to say enough to transvesticide and transfemicide, demand that the gender identity law is enforced, and ask for a trans work quota law.
“We ask for Justice for all: not one trans less, live we want”
A month later, they also marched with the slogan Ni Una Trans Menos. At that point the friends and family were still looking desperately for Cynthia.
[READ MORE: March in Tucumán: “Without the trans, there is not one less” ] http://agenciapresentes.org/2018/02/08/tucuman-pedimos-justicia-todas-una-trans-menos-vivas-nos-queremos/
One suspect was arrested in September 2019, but Cynthia's family believe others were also involved.
On February 14, 2018, Cynthia Moreira , 25, left home. Five days later her body was found, dismembered, inside two bags, by a man who was performing maintenance tasks in a house on 9 de Julio 1,500, in Villa Amalia. A member of the Díaz clan was arrested for this crime, but it was always suspected that there were more involved.
“We still do not have a date but the case was brought to trial with a detainee; we believe there were three more involved. We asked that Maia Amaya , a trans girl who accompanied Cynthia and whom witnesses said they saw with her between February 14 and 15, be investigated; she denies that. We believe that she is trying to cover up something or for someone, "said Laura Moreira. The young woman added that she does not believe that Amaya did that out of fear: “she never approached my family after the crime, nor did she accompany us on the marches; in fact she made fun of certain things, which made her an unloved person among trans girls. I think she is not lying out of fear but because she was involved”. Moreira considered that it is already known who the implicated were, and that she is waiting for their capture.
In September 2022 Ramón Soria was acquitted of her murder due to insufficient evidence.
Centro de Apoyo a las Identidades Trans & La Gaceta, 18.04.2018
https://www.lagaceta.com.ar/nota/881474/actualidad/cynthia-moreira-fue-recordada-marcha.html
http://www.primerafuente.com.ar/noticias/91309/exigen-justicia-3-anos-transfemicidio-cynthia-moreira
https://www.lagaceta.com.ar/nota/819212/actualidad/detenido-crimen-cynthia-moreira.html
https://lanotatucuman.com/por-cynthia-moreira-y-por-todas-las-trans/destacada/28/15/2019/37605/
https://lanotatucuman.com/4ta-marcha-nacional-contra-los-travesticidios-y-transfemicidios/
http://agenciapresentes.org/2018/02/23/hallan-cuerpo-desmembrado-investigan-una-joven-trans/
http://agenciapresentes.org/2018/02/23/hallan-cuerpo-desmembrado-investigan-una-joven-trans/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRydT0cLoG8
