Content note: this story includes scenes some readers may find distressing

The torture and murder of Brenda del Castillo, Morena Verdi, and Lara Gutiérrez were streamed on social media by the leader of a drugs gang to terrify his subordinates into submission, Buenos Aires Province security minister Javier Alonso has confirmed.

The killing of the three young women has horrified Argentina, with feminists emphasizing the role of gender and poverty in the crime. Organizations including Ni Una Menos (Not One Woman Less) have defined the murders as femicides — the killing of a woman or girl by a man because of her gender.

The bodies of del Castillo (20), Verdi (20), and Gutiérrez (15) were found dismembered in the backyard of a house in Florencio Varela, on the southern outskirts of Buenos Aires.........

© Buenos Aires Herald