The brutal killing of a 16-year-old girl who was allegedly raped and impaled on a spike by drug dealers sparked a continent-wide protest this evening.
Women from Mexico, Guatemala, Argentina and Brazil have been demonstrating against male violence towards women.
Many women took an hour from their workday to show voice their anger over the death of Lucia Perez.
Perez, a high school student in the resort city of Mar del Plata, died on 8 October after being brought to the hospital by two men who said she had overdosed on drugs.
But after doctors noticed signs of violent sexual penetration, investigators pieced together a different story.
Prosecutors say the two men drugged, raped and impaled her through the anus, causing pain so excruciating that she went into cardiac arrest and died.
The lead prosecutor, Maria Isabel Sanchez, could barely hide her disgust.
“I know it’s not very professional to say it, but I’m a mother and a woman, and I’ve seen a thousand things in my career, but nothing equal to this litany of abhorrent acts,” she said.
In the latest protest, 50 activist groups called on women across the country to go and take to the streets dressed in black.
One organizer, Sabrina Cartabia, said the goal was to protest not only Perez’s killing, but a culture that values women less than men.
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