Thousands of people have taken part in an anti-femicide protest in Buenos Aires, demanding justice for a girl and two young women who were tortured and murdered in a crime that has shocked Argentina. <\/p>\n The brutal killings of 15-year-old Lara Gutierrez, and Morena Verdi and Brenda del Castillo, who were both 20, were livestreamed on social media. <\/p>\n Police believe a drug-trafficking gang was responsible, and that the crime was broadcast as a warning to others. <\/p>\n They had arrested five suspects – three men and two women – as of Friday, according to National Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, but a 20-year-old Peruvian man they say is the group’s leader remains at large. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The victims were lured into a van believing they were headed for a party on 19 September, according to investigators.<\/p>\n But authorities said this was part of a plan to “punish” the girl and young women for violating gang code, serving as a warning to others.<\/p>\n One of the detainees revealed a video of the incident under questioning, according to Javier Alonso, security minister for the Buenos Aires province.<\/p>\n In it, a gang leader is heard saying: “This is what happens to those who steal drugs from me.”<\/p>\n Authorities have released a photograph of the alleged Peruvian mastermind in the hope he is recognised.<\/p>\n The bodies of the three victims were found buried at a property in a southern suburb of Buenos Aires on Wednesday, five days after they went missing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In Buenos Aires, relatives of the victims joined a march to Parliament on Saturday demanding justice for the women and girl.<\/p>\n “Women must be protected more than ever,” Brenda’s father, Leonel del Castillo, told reporters at the protest. <\/p>\n He had earlier said it was impossible for him to identify his daughter’s body due to the abuse inflicted on her.<\/p>\n Antonio del Castillo, grandfather of the 20-year-old cousins, was in tears, as he called the killers “bloodthirsty”.<\/p>\n “You wouldn’t do what they did to them to an animal,” he said.<\/p>\n One woman is killed by a man every 36 hours in Argentina, according to a femicide monitoring group in the country cited by Agence France-Presse.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"AFP](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/7592\/live\/e3127c00-9c0e-11f0-928e-73648c8cc266.jpg.webp\")
AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n