Breaking the Silence: The Maria Soledad Case (2024)

[bunniefuu]

That's Soledad there.

Mirian,

Mara Eugenia,

Mnica, Caizares,

Silvia, Nancy, Marcela.

I'm in fifth A!

Fifth A, I'm in fifth A

We were planning our

senior trip to Carlos Paz.

But, obviously, not everybody

could afford to go.

So we came up with

this idea to hold fundraising dances

so we could raise money

to pay for the girls

who couldn't afford to go.

I was one of those girls.

Spring Fling,

crowning the Spring Fling queen.

We had the party on Friday, September 7,

at a club downtown.

LE FEU ROUGE CLUB

We didn't live

in the city, so to get back home,

we needed to find someone to come

and pick us up.

Sole said, "Where am I going to sleep?

I have no way of getting back home."

I said, "Sole, you can stay at my house.

It's not a problem. You can stay with me."

It was called "The Night of Surprises."

SPRING FLING QUEEN

It's ironic, but I don't even know

why we called it that.

That evening, we were all really excited

to get to the club.

We each had something to do

and somewhere we had to be.

And Sole was in charge of the tickets.

There were lots of people.

Everybody was there.

Anything that could go wrong

did go wrong that night.

The bouquets of flowers that were meant

for the queen were missing.

It was a weird night.

I don't know.

Something just felt off.

I told Sole, "Let's go home."

She said, "No, hold on.

Give me a minute, Ro."

So I said, "Okay, fine."

After about 40 minutes,

I was like, "Come on. Let's go, Sole."

And she told me

she wasn't coming home with me.

I asked her why.

And she said,

"I'm getting a ride from someone else."

I asked her, "Who?"

And she said,

"You know who."

That's when I knew...

it was him.

The girls called me around 3:00 a.m.,

saying, "Marilyn, get over here now.

The power went out. It's total chaos."

So I left in a hurry,

and that was the last time I saw her.

By the time I got back, she was gone.

I should have put my foot down.

I should have stood my ground

and said, "No."

"You're coming home with me.

I already told my parents."

I should have stood my ground.

At two or three in the morning,

Mara Soledad left the party.

Did Tula pick her up?

Did she go to the bus stop?

Nobody knows what happened

to Mara Soledad after that point.

BREAKING THE SILENCE:

THE MARA SOLEDAD CASE

How do I stop time and come back to life?

Marilyn used to play the guitar,

and we'd all sing and dance.

But when Marilyn sang sentimental songs,

Soledad would start crying.

I asked her once, "What's wrong?"

CLASSMATE

She told me she was in love

with a man she couldn't be with.

She used to kind of hide it.

CLASSMATE

Like she was embarrassed

to say she was in love.

But I noticed.

DON'T SAY YOU'LL LEAVE ME

Soledad was a writer.

We all knew she liked

to write poems and things like that.

You could tell from the way she wrote

about him that he was her first love.

The age gap was hard on her.

He was 28.

She never introduced him to us.

She never said,

"Girls, this is my boyfriend." Never.

I saw him once.

CLASSMATE

One day, I was leaving school with Sole,

and he was just passing by.

She said, there goes "el Flaco."

She called him "el Flaco."

We were waiting at the bus stop,

and Sole said,

"Come on, Mirian.

My friend's gonna give us a ride."

I asked, "But who is he?"

And she said, "It's Luis."

I said, "No, count me out."

"I'm not allowed to get in cars

with people I don't know."

"You can go, but I'm not coming."

And she said, "Oh, Mirian.

I hate you. I wanted to go."

So, I didn't get in.

She ended up staying with me.

She didn't get in, and the car left.

Supposedly, the driver

was the guy she liked, Luis Tula.

I didn't know who he was, so I'd tell her,

"All that matters is that you're in love.

That's a beautiful thing."

I had no idea who she was talking about.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1990

That Monday, I got to school,

and one of the girls asked me, frightened,

"Mnica, have you heard from Sole?"

She told me, "She never made it home."

I was like, "What?"

On that Monday, I had a class

in a room facing the schoolyard.

I saw a man standing by the flagpole.

He shouted to me,

"Sister, my daughter never came home!"

I asked, "Who are you, sir?"

He said, "I'm Mr. Morales,

Mara Soledad's father."

I asked, "Where is she?"

He said, "She never came home

from the dance."

He told me they'd spent the weekend

looking for her.

And, without asking him anything else,

I brought him into the classroom.

MARA SOLEDAD'S FATHER

I remember seeing him there.

He said, "Girls, I just want

to know where my daughter is."

"Did she spent the night somewhere else?

Is she at someone's house?"

We said, "We don't know where she is.

If we knew, we'd tell you."

"We have no idea."

We didn't have any information

that could help Mr. Morales, so he left.

Nobody came to give us class that day.

We were nervous because we were wondering,

"Where are all the teachers?"

They left us alone in the classroom,

but we were told to stay put.

Our classroom faced the main entrance,

which was next to the principal's office.

One of us climbed the window

to see if she could hear anything.

And then, suddenly...

At around 11:00,

Elas Morales came back in,

and he cried out,

"They found my daughter!"

Patricia was listening in.

And she screamed, "She's dead!"

Those exact words.

That's when the chaos began.

Teachers and assistants

came running from all over,

trying to keep the girls inside.

Windows were broken. Some got hurt.

I felt so angry

and powerless that I punched a door.

I still have the scar to this day.

They had to give me sedatives

because I was having a breakdown.

It was horrible.

We were all distraught.

It was so sad.

We all had...

so much fun together that Saturday.

And then we received

such terrible news the following Monday.

I don't know

how my classmates and I made it

from the school to the bus stop.

Or how I got on the bus.

I just know as soon as I got home,

I told my family it was

my classmate Sole who had died.

She had been k*lled.

I'm sorry.

We were only 17 years old.

We had lived a sheltered life.

The innocent times of our senior trip

and our graduation dinner.

Before that point,

we had no idea that evil existed.

Early Monday morning,

a bus driver traveling

from Valle Viejo to the Capital Department

passed the bend at Villa Parque Chacabuco

and saw people standing next to a car.

He thought they had had an accident.

He got out and noticed something odd.

He noticed that the people

were behaving strangely.

They seemed suspicious.

A few hours later,

in that exact same place, two workers

came across Mara Soledad's body.

This is the road to Villa Chacabuco.

It's the place

where her body was found,

ditches very close to her parents' house.

The girl was found partially buried...

FEDERAL ARGENTINEAN POLICE

...very close to the city.

Mara Soledad Morales's body

was found d*sfigured.

Had you ever encountered

a body with so many injuries before?

SUPERINTENDENNo, never.

The police are hard at work.

There is no news yet.

Judicial sources

have said that the officers

that carried out the initial work

where the body was found were negligent.

I passed by at 8:30,

and there were cops everywhere.

NEIGHBOR

I walked right up to the girl.

Anybody could have done the same.

People were everywhere.

Nobody cordoned off the area

to keep people away from her.

The police were just walking around.

Even with the body faced down

and the majority not knowing

the victim was female,

some police officers

already knew it was Mara Soledad Morales.

The lack of preservation at the scene,

and the number of inconsistencies,

show that the goal was to prevent

the crime from being solved, right?

The police issued a warrant

for the detention of Luis Tula,

who was identified as the main suspect

due to his alleged romantic relationship

with Mara Soledad Morales.

The judge handling the case

will hear Luis Tula's testimony.

He's been detained as the sole suspect

in the death

of the young student from Catamarca.

POLICE STATION FOUR - REGIONAL UNICATAMARCA POLICE

This afternoon,

after a brief interrogation,

Tula was released

due to lack of evidence against him.

It seems as though this crime

won't be solved anytime soon.

The following day, at the burial,

we agreed that we'd all wear our uniforms.

To honor her,

because she loved her uniform.

May the Lord open the gates of paradise

to his daughter Mara Soledad,

so she can return to that land

where there is no more death.

We said our goodbyes to her

the day she would have turned 18.

Eighteen years.

I remember it was cloudy that day.

And while we were carrying the casket,

I saw all these little droplets on it.

And I thought, "It's raining."

Her casket was covered in tears.

They were our tears.

We had to accept that

we would cry without seeing her.

And the block was full of police officers.

Police officers and patrol cars.

They wanted to take the girls' statements.

I said, "Excuse me,

but the girls are underage."

"They'll only do it

with their parents present."

They were all scared.

There were rumors going around,

I think, in Catamarca.

But we knew...

that we wouldn't just leave it at that.

Soon after the body was found,

names of people that we never thought

would be involved, started popping up.

There were rumors that there were

sons of politicians, powerful people.

We didn't know

what we were getting involved in.

We just wanted justice.

We wanted them to pay.

We wanted the perpetrators to pay.

We will get an explanation.

They are going to tell us what happened,

why she was k*lled, and who k*lled her.

That's why we agreed

to take to the streets and demand justice.

At first, Sister Martha didn't agree

because it was very dangerous.

They sent us a letter asking our parents

for their permission to let us out.

I had issued an order

that every girl that went to that funeral

had to have her parents' permission.

Many parents were not okay with it.

They were afraid

something would happen to us.

That morning, Sister Martha told us

that we couldn't leave

because the police chief was there.

Ferreyra, the police chief, came early,

before the girls left, to visit me

and tell me the motives

behind Mara Soledad's m*rder

to keep me

from leaving the principal's office.

I arrived at the Carmen School,

and the sister received me,

and we had a conversation,

just the two of us, in her office

for about 30 or 40 minutes.

It was not a friendly chat.

They talked inside the office.

For a long time.

He had three theories.

That it had been a butcher relative

who was skilled at using knives

to have been able

to carve her up like that.

That it could have been people from a cult

who performed satanic rituals,

and that they had fulfilled a rite.

Or, if not, then it was something to do

with revenge or relationships

in which Mara Soledad was involved.

That was his goal.

To fill her head with different stuff,

that it had been a satanic cult.

The cover-up had begun, you know?

From the start.

At that moment, I didn't believe

any of the three theories.

I listened to him,

and every now and then,

the receptionist said, "Just a moment."

I'd go out,

and the whole school was ready to go.

Five hundred girls were waiting

in silence with their teachers.

Mr. Ferreyra, did you ever try

to prevent Carmen School

from carrying out the marches

or any Marches of Silence?

No, I did not try to prevent

any March of Silence from taking place.

He said, "Sister, you are responsible

for anything that might happen."

I asked, "What might happen?"

"We're trying to figure out

what happened to her."

"What's going to happen?

What could happen? Tell me."

It was a long wait.

Then Sister Martha came out.

She said, "I cannot let you go."

"What guarantees do I have

that you'll all be okay?"

And we said, "To make you feel better,

we'll all be silent."

"That will be our protest."

"We'll walk in silence.

We won't do anything."

So, she said, "Girls, get out there."

WE DEMAND JUSTICE

FOR OUR CLASSMATE MARA SOLEDAD

FIRST MARCH OF SILENCE

There wasn't a big crowd

because it was us

and the families,

basically, that marched with us.

We were very scared.

I remember we walked closely together

with our arms intertwined

because we felt that pressure

from the police

who had come

to try to prevent us from marching.

Catamarca stood still

as the march passed by.

I realized, in amazement,

that, as we marched by,

people who were driving on side streets

stopped their cars and got out,

as if we were singing the national anthem,

and they stood and watched us march,

joining us in that way.

And you could only hear

the sound of people's footsteps.

And that's how

"the Marches of Silence" began.

We arrived at the entrance

of the cathedral, and we prayed there.

We all prayed.

We asked the Virgin

to help us in our quest for justice.

We asked her for justice.

IN SILENCE, YOUNG PEOPLE

DEMANDED JUSTICE YESTERDAY

THE CRIES OF SILENCE

Sister Martha told us,

"Your behavior was exemplary,

so, from now on, girls,

I want you to know

that you have my full support."

The march of complete silence has begun.

SECOND MARCH OF SILENCE

It is being led by Sister Martha Pelloni,

principal of Carmen y San Jos School,

where Mara Soledad used to study.

The parents are by her side.

Move over, Cuqui.

1,128 KM FROM CATAMARCA

I worked for Telefe Noticias.

And suddenly, for three days in a row,

there was a news story

in the Clarn newspaper.

And Carlos Montero,

who was the editor in chief,

was curious about why the story

kept being published

and that it mentioned something

about the "children of power."

It was horrifying.

So, he decided to send a team to Catamarca

to find out what was happening.

He chose me, which was strange,

because they usually send men.

San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca,

a city of masses, naps, and silence.

A profoundly Christian city,

whose 90,000 inhabitants have been shaken

by the discovery

of the destroyed and desecrated body

of Mara Soledad Morales.

On the first week,

we went to the pedestrian area.

I approached people and asked,

"What do you think of the case?

What happened to Mara Soledad?"

"Who k*lled her?"

People did this, covering their faces,

and they wouldn't talk.

What are people saying

about the Morales case?

I can't tell you anything

because I wasn't here at the time.

That was the first thing that stood out.

We're also a little helpless

because people are afraid.

I don't know of what right now,

but we are afraid.

People are afraid.

I've missed two weeks of university

because I'm afraid

to be walking on the street.

The people we think are guilty

are out here,

and anything could happen to us.

And they said this to us,

"The thing is, you can leave,

but we have to stay here."

There is a lot of fear in Catamarca.

Who could be so powerful

to instill so much fear?

Power itself.

Nobody talked to me

about the Mara Soledad case.

So, we went to Carmen School,

where Mara Soledad used to study.

And the principal, Martha Pelloni,

welcomed me very kindly.

Do you think some people

know more than they're letting on,

saw more than what they say,

and are afraid to testify?

Yes, I am really convinced that's true.

I said, "Sister, you're bold as hell!"

And she covered the camera with her hand,

and said, "No, Fanny, not that."

So, I asked her if I could go

to Mara Soledad's class.

Fifth year A at Carmen y San Jos School.

Nothing will ever be the same

since September 8.

And the girls also told me many things.

All of us dreamed of graduating together

and making the most of this final year,

and going

on the end-of-year trip together.

All of a sudden, one of us was gone.

And the worst part

is the way in which she...

What was done to her.

So... that was very hard.

There's an empty chair behind yours.

It's Mara Soledad's.

Yes, there is an empty chair.

We cannot understand this m*ssacre,

because not even animals k*ll

the way they k*lled her.

There's no explanation as to why

they would k*ll and end a life like that.

What was going on socially?

What was happening politically, Sergio?

I think the brutality of the crime,

and especially the circumstances

in which it happened,

caught the attention of media outlets.

That's why they came.

That's why they all paid attention

to this crime.

But also to the political situation.

Nobody can deny that there is

a lot of nepotism in Catamarca.

Going to Catamarca meant going

to Saadi's kingdom.

Ramn Saadi is sat on people's shoulders

at 6:20 p.m. here in Catamarca.

We'll try to reach him.

Ramn Saadi

had been elected as governor in 1983.

He was the son of a very powerful

national Peronist political leader,

Vicente Saadi,

who was the mentor of the man

who would later become president.

Carlos Sal Menem.

PRESIDENT OF ARGENTINA (1989-1999)

Carlos Menem owed

his political career to Vicente Saadi.

Ramn inherited power

because his father had had it,

and he surrounded himself

with these sorts of th*gs

that later became

congress members and senators.

So, he could sanction whatever he wanted.

They appointed judges

and police officers whenever they wanted.

They ran it like a fiefdom.

I mean, there was

a history of quiet, subdued people...

because he owned Catamarca.

Governor, may I ask you to do something?

Talk to your people.

He received us in a dimly lit office,

and the first thing that he asked was

if I wasn't afraid

of walking by myself outside.

It was explicit impunity.

Governor Ramn Saadi...

MARCH OF TRUTH

OCTOBER 25, 1990

...is leading the march.

THE GOVERNOR CALL THE WHOLE TOWN...

The government organizes

the so-called "March of Truth."

They brought supporters,

against what they said

was a political move

against the government.

I can assure you,

as a citizen, as a father,

and most importantly, as a governor,

that those who are responsible

will pay for it in court.

Catamarca!

THE MARCH OF TRUTH

A LACKLUSTER IMITATION

I want to say something

to all Argentinians.

Right from the start,

we've known who did it

and how they did it.

The crime is solved.

But since they have...

Since those who k*lled my daughter

belong to Catamarca's political elite,

they want to cover it up.

But that won't happen

because in Catamarca,

we all know who belongs to which side,

and this won't go unpunished.

The following week,

30,000 people joined the seventh march.

NOVEMBER 1, 1990

Seventh March of Silence.

Thirty thousand people marched.

One third of the population of Catamarca.

This was the first time there was

a big demand for justice in our province.

It had never happened before.

Let's hold hands

Let us hold hands

Let us finally hold hands

I feel confidence in my heart

That we will finally succeed

As governor of this province,

we have helped

to get this crime solved the whole time.

Unfortunately, some crimes

are solved quickly

and others take longer.

Media outlets all over the country

covered the marches.

So, the federal government felt pressured

and had no choice but to get involved.

President Menem told Governor Saadi

to appoint Deputy Commissioner Patti

to lead the investigation of the case.

They sent Patti, who was

a popular police officer with an iron fist

and who would supposedly solve the crime.

It's 10:00 a.m.,

and the Aerolneas plane

transporting Luis Patti

has just arrived.

Patti arrived in Catamarca

he could solve and resolve the crime.

Patti!

PATTI: YOU ARE OUR HOPE

BE STRONG, PATTI

WE LOVE YOU

He's the only one who will help

the people of Catamarca.

Defend Mara Soledad!

Why Patti? Because we have lots of faith.

Because he did lots of good things

in Buenos Aires as well.

Deputy Commissioner Patti

left to carry out a procedure.

Good!

By order of Deputy Commissioner Patti,

the land will be cleared out

and searched manually,

not with machines, but manually,

in order to try to identify any elements

that could help in the investigation.

Usually, when a body is found,

the site is searched thoroughly

for evidence.

In theory and in practice,

that's usually true.

Has that not been done

here since September 10?

No, that type of search

has not been carried out.

From the time you arrived until now,

has the investigation progressed at all?

Are you closer to your goal?

Well, it has progressed. That is clear.

And are you much closer to your goal?

There are no timelines

for homicide investigations,

so we just have to wait.

He asked if he could come talk to me

at my home.

He wanted me to go

to the Federal Justice Department.

I said, "If you want to come,

I'll see you at my house."

What I told him was that the names

we had given the president

were confirmed

so that they wouldn't alter

the investigation or waste time.

Is the investigation going off course,

or are Patti's statements diverting it?

I am not going to judge what he's doing

because I don't know him,

but if he's going after Tula,

he's diverting the investigation.

Apparently, it had been a crime of passion

because Mara Soledad was dating a man

who was ten years older than her.

That man was Luis Tula.

Tula was

poor.

He wanted a better life.

He was a traffic employee,

but he was studying.

He was married. Or maybe he wasn't.

JOURNALISTula is a strange character.

Did you read Patti's note?

Some of it.

I'll read you an excerpt.

It says, "It was a crime of passion."

They ask, "Why are you so sure, Patti?"

"Due to several circumstances."

"The only solid theory

among the three or four possible

is it was a crime of passion."

"For example, who drove Mara Soledad

in their car?"

"It all seems

to indicate it was Tula's car."

They wanted it to be Tula

because, later, there was

another request from higher up...

Another request.

That's what Menem wanted to avoid

by appointing Patti.

LUIS PATTI - WE HAVE A SUSPECTula was tortured,

and he was promised the world

if he accepted responsibility

for k*lling Mara Soledad.

- How much were you offered?

- Two million.

- And did you accept it?

- No.

None of it?

They wanted something quick

to close the case.

No politics.

But it was up to the judge.

Patti's theory

is limited

to some passion-related circumstances

in a simple love triangle situation.

My theory is a bit broader.

From the start,

people linked Mara Soledad's m*rder

to "the children of power,"

because, apparently,

the children of power had the habit

of taking "bumpkins," as they called them.

Since the children of power

are upper class,

they call humble girls "bumpkins."

Children or family members

of powerful politicians who had a habit

of going out on the weekends

and looking for girls to have fun with.

Obviously, they didn't r*pe

and k*ll a girl every weekend,

but it's like they were used to having

a certain level of impunity.

Guillermo Luque's name came up

because somebody recognized his car,

which was the car that picked up

Mara Soledad at the bus stop.

One of the government's wealthy ladies

held a tea party at home

and told her friends

that Guillermo Luque had k*lled a bumpkin.

Could Tula be in the same situation

and be linked to these people?

Of course, he could--

If not Tula or Luque, hypothetically,

could it be Tula and Luque?

And some other things.

I'm not being accused of anything,

so there's no evidence

that I committed that crime,

or that I was even

in the province of Catamarca.

He lived in Buenos Aires.

He worked

at the National Congress Library.

Did you see Guillermo Luque

on Friday, September 7, here in Catamarca?

Yes, I saw him

because of a special circumstance

on Repblica Street,

between Salta and Rivadavia.

INVESTIGATING COURT 1

Judge Ventimiglia ordered

Guillermo Luque's arrest.

What are the latest updates related

to the arrest of Congressman Luque's son?

There is a warrant for his arrest,

and we're figuring out how to arrest him,

so it could happen at any moment.

Some suggest Guillermo Luque

is not currently in the country.

- Is that true?

- I doubt it. He must be in Buenos Aires.

Deputy Commissioner Patti

is traveling to Buenos Aires,

but Guillermo Luque

manages to avoid police efforts.

The well-known police chief

is now the main target for criticism.

Will you replace Patti?

No, the Ministry of Justice

will replace him.

The disagreements with Judge Ventimiglia

made him return to Buenos Aires.

Did you fail in Catamarca?

No.

He left empty-handed.

He didn't achieve anything at all.

- Is Guillermo in the country?

- He's on vacation.

Well, he's on the coast.

He might have already gone,

or he'll be going soon, to Punta del Este.

But he's always in touch with us

for when the judge subpoenas him.

Guillermo Luque,

son of a national congressman

and a provincial congresswoman,

so he really was a child

of the Catamarcan political elite.

Menem, who was the president at the time,

was a close friend of Ramn Saadi

and Luque.

And flying to Catamarca,

on the same plane,

is Guillermo Luque.

But Mr. Guillermo Luque has told us

that he won't speak to the media today.

I won't speak to the media

until I've spoken with the judge.

I've come back from abroad.

If I had had

any concerns about my situation,

do you think I would've come back?

Wouldn't it have been easier,

since, as you said,

I'm so well-protected by political power,

to distance myself from the situation?

Since I am innocent, I came back.

A new witness

incriminates Guillermo Luque.

This time,

not only does he destroy the alibi

that he wasn't in Catamarca

when the crime took place,

but he also implicates him

in Mara Soledad's m*rder.

There is a group of people

that have come together to accuse me

because they want to alter the information

and divert attention

from the city of Catamarca,

and they want to divide

the Catamarcan family.

He left on Friday 7, at around 10:00 p.m.

and returned on Saturday at 5:00 p.m.

Who left on Saturday... on Friday?

"El Hueso" came to pick him up on Friday.

GUILLERMO LUQUE'S FRIEND

Then he returned on Saturday by himself.

He met with his dad inside the room.

I heard his father yelling,

"What have you done?"

And then they left again immediately.

They returned at around 6:00 or 7:00 p.m.

Then they gave me the clothes to wash.

They were bloodstained,

both the pants and the underwear.

And the car was taken to La Merced,

where it has stayed ever since.

- But who washed the car? Moreno?

- Moreno washed it.

What is your role at the Luque home?

I'm the gardener.

I was intrigued by that red color it had.

And I peeked inside,

and Moreno told me it was blood.

Apparently, Guillermo had k*lled a girl.

My son Guillermo Daniel Luque

was not in Catamarca on the 7, 8, or 9.

Anybody who saw my son

on September 7, 8, 9, or 10,

should tell the police

and law enforcement.

Were you paid off?

They didn't offer me anything.

- Did they just threaten you?

- Yes.

Who threatened you, specifically?

ngel Luque.

The Luques had told him

that if he talked, they'd k*ll his mom.

Things won't end well for anyone who

comes here to give a false testimony.

It seems that Guillermo Luque's situation

is getting more difficult.

I think so.

There's progress in the investigation,

and, as it deepens,

the situation of the accused

gets more difficult.

Especially for Luque.

Good morning. Have you testified?

It was a farce, a sham.

- Why?

- Because it's a setup.

- Who set it up?

- Were you able to testify?

Who set it all up?

Luque was the straw...

that broke the camel's back.

ngel Luque.

When the suspicions about Luque increased,

the congressman showed off his power

in his area.

With impunity,

trying to highlight his son's innocence,

he challenged a journalist.

"Do you think if my son

had been the perpetrator,

the body would have been found?"

With the confidence

of those who feel they're untouchable.

Everybody said, "Well, that means

that these things happen in Catamarca

and that bodies have not been surfacing."

That was awful.

This meant that ngel Luque

was expelled from the National Congress.

The first time in Argentinean history

that a member of Congress was expelled

was actually ngel Luque.

Wasn't Luque's removal a little late?

Some say that the Catamarcan power

protected him as much as it could.

No way.

The provincial government

has never covered up

any type of activity,

not Mr Luque's or anyone else's.

I've suffered

the same consequences as my son.

Removing me from

the House of Representatives

was a political decision.

I'm still waiting to hear

what crime I committed.

And if I committed a crime

and no one complained,

they covered for me, for the crime.

CALL ATTRIBUTED

TO NGEL LUQUE AND VCTOR PINTO

This is awful.

I know. If the president

doesn't control it from there,

it'll get out of hand.

What do you mean,

"doesn't control it from there"?

Here is where Pinto

makes the serious mistake

of telling Luque,

"If the president doesn't control it

from there, it'll get out of hand."

"Control it from there."

"From there."

The president of the country.

Intervention!

We won't go!

We, the people, won't go away!

There are problems here.

It's a tough situation.

Menem is covering up!

There's a strong police presence.

Some things were just burned there.

There is a large police deployment.

Mara Soledad's classmates

and secondary school students in Catamarca

want to extend an invitation

to all the youth in this country.

Yes.

We want all young people

in the country to participate.

The adults too.

We wanted to do a national march.

"Everyone is in favor of this cause.

We have to do a national march."

"People from all over

should march for Sole."

"Join our cry for justice,

our silent cry,

at the well-known Marches of Silence."

JUSTICE

APRIL 18, 1991

That national march,

which I joined in Buenos Aires,

was held at the same time

in different parts of the country.

In different provinces.

222 DAYS AFTER THE CRIME

JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU

We had to march with human shields,

who were priests

who put themselves on the line

because we had been told

that from in between the buildings,

while we were marching,

there would be a stray b*llet

heading towards us.

SOLE LIVES

It was dangerous,

but we had to go ahead anyway.

In the face of so much covering-up,

so much impunity,

so much abuse,

we have to come together.

The only thing

that should bring us together is our heart

and the desire

that the justice that we want so badly

finally prevails in this country.

Justice!

Let us hold hands

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER

I feel the certainty in my heart

That we will finally prevail

What moved me the most

was the support

from people all over the country.

We never thought it would get to that.

How did the national march end?

It ended in a provincial intervention.

The march had such a strong impact

that there was a provincial intervention.

As president of Argentina,

today I have decided

to expand the federal intervention

to the executive and legislative powers

of the province of Catamarca.

The appointed federal inspector

is Mr. Luis Prol.

LUIS PROL APPOINTED AS INSPECTOR

With all due respect to my dear friend,

who has made today

one of the biggest mistakes

a president can make,

which is to not respect

our way of governing.

Ramn was very close friends

with Menem, very close.

He relied on Menem.

And Menem betrayed him.

GOODBYE, CRUEL BROTHER

When the president, Menem, saw

he could not do anything else for Saadi,

and that his fall

could bring him down as well,

he let go of his hand.

FROM VICENTE TO RAMN SAADI

A WORN-OUT DYNASTY

The arrival of the federal inspector

for the province of Catamarca

is well-received.

But while all this was happening,

they lost sight of Mara Soledad.

She disappeared.

The files got lost.

Nobody thought about her anymore.

They were thinking about Saadi,

of who would defeat him,

of what Menem would do.

She got lost.

Inspector Luis Prol

has called an election in Catamarca.

It will probably be the most significant

in the history of this province.

Even though he had been removed,

Saadi's power was such

that he decided to run in the election.

VOTE FOR SAADI

Radicals and anti-Saadist Peronists

chose an old Catamarcan radical

as their candidate.

There is a bipolarization

in the Catamarcan election

between the former governor Ramn Saadi

and radical Arnoldo Castillo.

Saadi, is this

the trickiest election you've faced?

No, that is the belief of people

who have been shaken to their very core

due to this merciless campaign

that's been going on for over a year.

Catamarca will vote

to really eradicate corruption.

So, you can vote responsibly,

or you can vote to support Saadism.

This secular prayer, as it was called,

with Martha saying, "Don't be afraid,"

had an impact.

The Civic and Social Front has won.

This is how people are celebrating

in Catamarca's main square.

It's being said

that you are one of the key figures

behind this change in Catamarca.

Well, that's what Catamarca is saying.

Yes, I think there was some encouragement

because of my role as a nun

who was condemning what's wrong.

And I hope this commitment

that Catamarca has to accept today

becomes a reality in the future.

What do you expect

from the next government

and the Mara Soledad case?

Well, I hope the case is solved

and the K*llers end up

where they need to be.

We want a transparent government.

We don't have any disagreements

with anyone.

We want justice to serve as justice.

And all those who have committed crimes,

under any government, will pay.

I was transferred in December 1991.

Sister Martha Pelloni is here with us.

I am sure my transfer was a request

from Menem to the bishop,

and then from the bishop

to my congregation.

Catamarca needs to ask

to be cleared of its guilt

so that justice may flourish.

Menem went to see Monsignor Miani

and asked him to remove the nun.

They thought that if she was gone,

the marches would stop

and we would all fall silent.

The goal was to get me out of Catamarca.

For us, the support

of Sister Martha was very important.

When she left,

we felt like we'd been orphaned.

Our Mother of the Valley, pray for us.

It wasn't really the surprise that got us,

but the need to silence us somehow.

The whole political pressure at that time.

But despite it all, we carried on.

And she told us, "Don't stop. Keep going."

But sure...

Back then we really felt

the world was collapsing around us,

and we had to keep going.

Due to the federal intervention,

the government that followed

brought lawyers from Crdoba to fill

the judicial power seats in Catamarca.

Due to the political reality in Catamarca,

the government at the time,

the Civic Front,

needed to hold a trial.

They didn't have a state prosecutor.

Due to internal conflict,

and perhaps because society was split

between Saadists and anti-Saadists,

being involved in the process

meant that the prosecutor

would probably have had

to confront one of the sides.

So, it was very hard to choose

within Catamarca.

The main goal was to find

a prosecutor from the judiciary in Crdoba

to hold that position.

They finally chose me,

and I took power in Catamarca.

I'm Taranto. I was the prosecutor

in the Mara Soledad case,

and I lived in this hotel.

- How are you?

- How are you?

Hello. Do you remember me?

- Yes, from Crdoba.

- Yes, exactly.

- The Mara Soledad case.

- Exactly.

I was just telling her that.

Yes, I remember.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

This past February 26,

both the oral and the public trials began

to solve the m*rder

of student Mara Soledad Morales.

SIX YEARS AFTER THE CRIME

The trial took place

in Catamarca's criminal chamber two,

the court of which is comprised

by judge Rodolfo Ortiz Iraman,

the court president,

and, as board members,

Judge Juan Carlos Sampayo

and Judge Mara Alejandra Azar.

The Morales family has just arrived.

Be strong, Ada!

How are you feeling?

I'm fine, thankfully.

I'm here, strong, stronger than ever.

And I'm just waiting for justice.

That's all.

The courthouse agreed

to the public broadcast of the hearings,

which, with the help of Channel 6,

was distributed

to all national media outlets.

It was unheard of,

to have a criminal trial

broadcast live on TV.

- Not even the trial of the Juntas.

- Exactly.

I remember everyone was,

like with TV shows today,

ready for the trial to begin

during nap time.

We call witness Miguel ngel Ferreyra

to the stand.

Mr. Ferreyra, were any tactics used

to alter or derail

the investigation of this case?

Look, as chief of police

and in my capacity as witness here,

I don't know what you are referring to.

There were two narratives.

The narrative on file,

on the basis of which

the case was settled,

and the popular narrative.

On September 7, 1990,

Mara Soledad says goodbye to her mom

for the last time at their house

and went to the party

to pick the Spring Fling queen, held here.

Thirty years ago, this was Le Feu Rouge.

Some scenery is still here, what worked.

She didn't care about the queen,

but she wanted to meet up

with the person

she was in love with, Luis Tula.

Did you have a romantic relationship

with Mara Soledad?

I have to agree and admit, I actually did.

She asked him to come to the club.

She was deeply in love with Tula.

Luis went, but he didn't stay.

He shows up on a motorcycle

before the party is over

and says, "Look, I can't pick you up."

Mara Soledad, quite sad,

according to her classmates,

went to catch the bus home.

That's where she was seen alive

for the last time,

at the bus stop, three or four blocks away

from the club.

It was probably at this bus stop

that Mara Soledad's tragic end started.

I obviously had to go back

to Catamarca for the trial.

Sister Pelloni is probably

one of the most important witnesses

for this case.

Sister Pelloni,

what are your expectations?

We'll talk later.

Patricia de la Colina tells me

that a suitor she had,

a friend, Marcelo Coronel,

had told her

that five classmates at school,

who were in the third year

at Colegio Nacional,

had seen,

in the early hours of September 8,

at the stop on Salta Street,

how Mara Soledad got

into a car, a green Falcon,

driven by Guillermo Luque.

The girl got into the boy's car.

He was alone.

CLASSMATE

And they went down Repblica,

as if they were racing, like, really fast.

When he told you about the girl,

did you know who he was talking about?

Putting two and two together, as they say,

I guessed it was Mara Soledad.

He told me that on Monday.

The same Monday that Sole was found.

MARCELO CORONEL, WITNESS AT RISK

Then he said it wasn't true,

that I should say I had lied.

- I never told you that.

- Yes, you did.

I never said that.

With everything they did to me,

don't you think I'd tell?

- Do you know what they did to me?

- Yes.

They took me to the first police station,

and he was sitting there, all beaten up.

And the police said

they had brought him from the rugby field

because I was asking,

"Why is he like that?"

He asked me to please say that I had lied.

I don't know, Marcelo,

why you don't say it or didn't say it.

- You're making it all up.

- I'm not.

He said, "She approached it

as if she knew the guy in the first car,

the one who was alone."

I have no reason to make that up!

I never told you anything.

Never.

ACCUSATIONS OF PRESSURE, t*rture,

AND BRIBES TO HIDE WHO TOOK HER TO A CLUB

What's relevant here

is that her friends knew,

and they said this during trial,

that Mara Soledad,

because of the kind of person she was,

would never have gotten into a car,

unless it was a car with Tula inside,

or unless she knew those people

would take her to where Tula was.

In the end,

she left voluntarily in a Falcon,

which was Guillermo Luque's Falcon.

She was taken to Clivus,

which was a club that girls didn't go to

because it was for adults.

And we don't know

exactly what happened there.

This used to be Clivus.

It has a different name now,

but it probably still serves

the same purpose,

providing a place to dance, a nightclub.

You said that at around 4:00 a.m.,

you ran into Mara Soledad.

Yes.

- You mean Mara Soledad Morales.

- Yes.

Rita Furln worked as a cashier at Clivus,

and she saw some shocking things there.

There, leaning against a column,

was Mara Soledad with a guy.

Miss Furln, did you know

Mara Soledad Morales?

Yes, ma'am.

How long had you known her?

I couldn't tell you

exactly when I met her,

but we chatted several times

in front of my house.

And also at church.

You saw her in Clivus that awful night.

Not only her, in fact,

but Guillermo Luque as well.

Who else did you see that night?

- Guillermo Luque and "Hueso" Ibez.

- Yes.

What were they wearing?

I don't remember exactly.

We're talking about five years ago.

I ran into them at the stairs,

coming from the upper floor,

"Hueso" Ibez with Guillermo

and two girls.

Some of the girls came

to talk to me about that night,

because they were working there at Clivus.

"They choose girls there on Saturday."

They would say,

"Girls are chosen on the weekend."

It's like some had a droit de seigneur,

which means that first

they had to go through someone powerful

so that the father could later get a job.

Some friends of the children of power,

who were sort of like acolytes,

who liked to mingle with the upper class

in order to have a different lifestyle.

Luis Tula was friends

with these children of power

because they had lots of money,

they went out and went to the clubs

that Tula couldn't afford.

So he was part of that group.

And his entrance fee was exactly that.

Recruiting girls.

There was one called

"el Hueso," "el Gordo," or "el Loco."

The court agreed to hear testimonies

of Hugo "Hueso" Ibez

and Luis "Loco" Mndez.

Ibez, 41 years old, a taxicab driver,

said he met Luque

in 1987, in a bar in Catamarca.

He stated he did not see him

in the province the weekend of the crime.

When it was his turn,

"Loco" Mndez, 35, a furniture seller,

said he saw Luque on some weekends

and that he has no proof

that Luque was in Catamarca

between September 7 and 9.

There are a lot of people who saw him,

that at some point said, "Yes, I saw him,"

and then said,

"No, I didn't see him. It wasn't him."

Witness Evangelina Sosa was testifying.

They wanted to see

if she confirmed or corrected

what she said during the investigation.

The night of the eighth in Clivus,

she said Evangelina Sosa

was tapped on the back,

and it was Mara Soledad, who greeted her.

You said you saw

Mara Soledad Morales at Clivus.

She was dressed in black

and she wore a sweatshirt, a turtleneck.

You pointed at your neck, like this.

No, ma'am.

You said she was going upstairs

and you were going down

because your dad was waiting for you.

So, all I'm saying is a lie?

Yes, ma'am, you are lying.

- I'm lying?

- Yes, ma'am.

I said, "Look, Evangelina. I'm a nun."

"I'm only interested in the truth."

I talked to her. We spoke.

"You should not feel pressured

or forced by anyone."

"Lay your conscience before God,

and may it all be to solve this crime."

"Because today it's Mara Soledad,

and tomorrow it's many others."

The girl started crying again,

and said, "Sister,

what I said this morning is true."

"But my parents won't let me testify."

EVANGELINA SOSA SAYS SHE LIED

AND REPORTED BEING PRESSURED

Ma'am, did you notice any fear

in these people

that were telling you the facts?

Because you said

they changed their stories a lot,

and that they'd tell you something,

and then they'd deny it.

- Were they scared at all?

- Yes, sir.

There were lots of threats.

Why do you think

something is being covered up,

which will be uncovered at some point?

Because, without a doubt,

a strictly police matter,

like a crime,

has been used to link it

to a political event... fact.

Ma'am, did you receive any threats?

Yes, many, even up

until the day before coming here.

And here in Catamarca,

these few days, I've received threats too.

What were the threats you just received?

That I should not testify

because they said, with expletives,

that they will beat me up.

They said that I should not come

and that they will k*ll me.

Sister Martha Pelloni,

principal of the Carmen School, testified

about what Sara Cuba,

Ramn Saadi's cousin, said to her,

which included Guillermo Luque

having k*lled a bumpkin.

Sara Cuba said

that around the day Mara Soledad died,

Mrs. De Lupiani showed up to exercise

and said, "Do you know what happened

to Beba Luque's son?"

They had been playing cards

at a tea party,

and she said he had k*lled a bumpkin.

She thought it had been a car accident.

They each went home

with that version of events.

It seems like they both talked

about it at home.

And that is what Mrs. De Lupiani did

with Sara Cuba de Boggio.

But the next day Mrs. Lupiani went back

and said to Sara Boggio at the gym,

"Don't mention anything

about what I said yesterday about Luque

because it wasn't an accident."

"Apparently, she was k*lled."

No, Sister. No...

Yes, ma'am. What I said is true.

- And I waited until...

- This is outrageous of you!

- And it's a lie.

- I accept the insult.

You should be dragged out here

by the hair and beaten up.

I went to defend my truth. What I knew.

Because I could not prove anything else.

What I knew were the conversations

I had with de Boggio.

She denied them.

No aggression!

The witness must be penalized, judge.

She has threatened another witness.

Sister Martha could have been hurt.

She's one of those unsung heroes.

1,128 KM FROM CATAMARCA

I started at 22 years of age,

here, in this house, shut in.

Back then, we didn't go out.

But I was already a rebel.

A rebel because I criticized,

not because I resisted,

because obedience was one of my vows.

We're talking about 1987.

Halfway through the year,

I was diagnosed with sudden breast cancer.

I felt death was close, honestly.

The day before my surgery,

I prayed to God, crying,

"You know I gave you my life

because of what you did

for so many people."

"And I want to keep working."

"I won't waste one minute of my life

if you give me the life that I want."

My surgery ended,

and at the end of that year,

the provincial authority

sent me to Catamarca.

That's where the odyssey started

with the Mara Soledad case.

During the process,

many things became difficult.

I mean, in Catamarca

and surrounding that trial,

there were threats, there were...

A lot of witnesses were afraid.

They spent lots of money

trying to throw a wrench in the works.

Lots and lots of money.

Actually, they tried

to make up things about Taranto,

and they couldn't do it.

I started to get visits,

visits from women,

and I quickly realized

that what they might try to do

was discredit me.

In fact, there was

this one woman who came once

to try to talk and propose things to me.

Then she came to the trial

and sat next to the mother

of one of the accused.

There have been many witnesses

who accuse your son.

Do you feel the situation

is getting complicated?

No, it isn't.

During the trial, there were theories

about where it all had happened,

where Mara Soledad was r*ped.

There was a history

of parties thrown

at a place called Los lamos,

a motel, a pay-as-you-go hotel,

which was referenced

by some of the witnesses.

Ms. Patricia Rodrguez testified,

and Prosecutor Gustavo Taranto

followed her testimony closely,

as it linked Guillermo Luque

to drugs and orgies.

Sister Martha Pelloni had also referred

to what the young lady had said.

I remember that Patricia Rodrguez

showed up one day

to tell me that at some point,

they left Clivus to go to Los lamos.

Patricia, another girl who was with her

and whose name I don't remember,

"El Gordo" Mndez and Luque, Guillermo.

Then they had sex together,

and then had sex with the girls.

At this type of trial,

the only in-person witness is the victim.

Their bodies speak to us

through the autopsy report.

"Based on the data

obtained during the autopsy,

the conclusion is that the deceased

had suffered severe trauma to the face,"

DETAILS FROM AUTOPSY

The day the body was found,

you went to the morgue

to identify your daughter.

And you also said that,

at first, you didn't recognize her.

Look, sir, I think...

at that moment I would have preferred

for someone to sh**t me instead of seeing

my daughter's body like that.

I don't wish that

even on my daughter's k*ller,

to have to live

with the pain I've endured.

Not even my daughter's k*ller.

They tried to silence the body,

but the body has injuries

that were sustained before dying.

So, in a way,

the body is still talking to us.

What they were talking about

at first was r*pe.

The r*pe happened with another person

or persons who are unknown to date.

"Sexual intercourse took place."

"A posteriori,

there are signs of asphyxiation,

which would have led to her death."

Are there any substances

that can cause the effect of asphyxiation

in an organism, a human being?

Cocaine, which is a substance,

can also create circumstances

that lead to death by suffocation,

through cardiac arrest.

Guillermo Luque,

along with unnamed people,

gave her cocaine, against her will,

in a quantity that is inconsistent

with voluntary consumption,

to achieve a state of defenselessness

and then r*ped her repeatedly.

Mara Soledad died,

in the end, as a result of the drugs.

She was taken to the Pasteur Institute.

She had her stomach pumped,

but she was already dead.

Sister, we received an account

that, at the Pasteur Institute,

a nurse was called to help a young girl,

who might have been Mara Soledad Morales,

who was completely incapacitated.

She called me and said, "Look, Martha,

when Mara Soledad

was brought here that night

by those guys in one of their trucks,

she was already dead,

but they intubated her."

"I have that tube."

She said, "I hid it."

"Well, that tube was given

to the authorities, and they..."

"They lied to me."

"They made it disappear.

I had that evidence."

From the start of this trial,

the attitude of the presiding judge,

Alejandro Rodolfo Ortiz Iraman,

had generated controversy

and even doubts about his impartiality.

It was an embarrassment

because if a witness

said something he didn't like,

the jury would say, "Enough."

So, their mouths were shut.

We saw it on television.

And from the start,

we saw things we didn't like.

Some say he is tipping the scale

against Luis Tula

and in favor of Guillermo Luque.

You saw on television

that when someone pointed

at Guillermo Luque and accused him,

the court went wild.

I warn you that this type of behavior

will be penalized from now on.

Many people noticed what was happening.

Everything was shady and weird.

There may be reasons why

TV coverage is not beneficial.

But one advantage is that you can

monitor the integrity of the trial.

In this trial, there are

many suspects, even including the judges.

We all saw the suspicious negative gesture

of court member Sampayo

to his colleague Azar,

to vote against the motion of detention

for giving a false testimony.

One person signaled to the next,

like saying, "Dismiss it."

The image of justice, eyes covered,

was tainted by suspicions of bias.

The court's response was to ban

the live broadcast of the trial,

censoring the right

to information for the whole country

to watch the hearing processes freely.

By banning the broadcast of the trial,

secrecy and suspicions grow.

There was supposed to be justice,

but it was never served.

I WANT FREE, TRANSPARENT JUSTICE

The firm resignation

of Mr. Iraman, who said,

"Faced with the most aberrant behavior

of corrupt power,

that intends to force judges

in the Mara Soledad Morales m*rder trial

to issue a guilty verdict against

one of the perpetrators in this case."

This is about Guillermo Luque.

They want to save Luque at all costs!

Let me through.

JUSTICE WITHOUT TV, RADIO

Justice!

They follow orders!

They have children and grandchildren.

We're very sad about the court's decision.

We are with Mr. Gustavo Taranto,

chamber prosecutor in this case.

What is your assessment?

Finally, now the courthouse president

has resigned.

There's no admission,

but the trial is back to square one.

What is your assessment?

As you say, the trial basically restarts...

The whole process is nullified.

It's back to square one,

and we have to start

with a new courthouse.

The whole oral and public proceeding

has been nullified.

NOW WHAT?

More than six years

since the m*rder of Mara Soledad,

a new trial starts on Friday

with the same defendants,

witnesses, and prosecutor,

but with new judges.

The second trial began in August 1997

and lasted many months.

There were many hours of hearings,

and more than 300 witnesses appeared.

Mara Soledad's mother begged witnesses

that had seen something

to say what they knew.

To all of those

who didn't speak out because of threats,

I understand you

because I experienced that myself.

Police officers, instead of looking

for my daughter's K*llers,

came to my house

when my husband was at the courthouse.

They weren't looking for the K*llers,

they wanted to blame her.

They asked me terrible questions

to make me ashamed of my own daughter.

Or they pressured me to stay away

from the marches of silence,

because they'd harm me.

That is why I'm saying, "I understand

those who spoke ill of Mara Soledad

because of pressure they felt

in court and from the police,

and those who got death threats."

But this is their chance

to open their hearts.

Today, for the first time, a witness

in the Morales case broke down

and confirmed that Guillermo Luque,

Luis Tula, and Mara Soledad

were at Clivus that evening

and the early morning of Saturday,

September 8, 1990.

The prosecutor stopped the session

and announced that Muro had showed up

to expand on his testimony.

The silence in the room foreshadowed

a crucial moment.

Muro took a deep breath and said,

"I was afraid.

I received all sorts of threats."

"I didn't have anybody to turn to,

and now I will tell the truth."

Ms. Mara Soledad Morales was there.

CRIMINAL CHAMBER

Mr. Tula was there.

BARTENDER AT CLIVUS

Mr. Ibez was there.

Mr. Luque was there as well.

Tula and Luque claim

they did not know each other.

That should be taken with a grain of salt.

Mr. Ibez and Mr. Luque leave.

They basically leave

with this whole group of people.

And Mr. Tula leaves a little later.

What I could hear was...

"We'll leave with the girl.

You leave after," he said to Tula.

- Luque.

- Yes, to Flaco.

A witness sees Guillermo Luque

a few days later

with four scratches

on his face, on his cheek.

I saw that he had

two or three lines

on his face, like scratches,

as if they had been done

with a fairly forceful object.

Mara Soledad's mom, dad,

and friends say her nails were long.

When they came to ID the body,

Mara Soledad's mom

said her nails had been cut short.

And a doctor claimed he saw the biochemist

cutting Mara Soledad's nails.

And the biochemist denies it.

She says, "I didn't cut her nails."

The conclusion was that the mark

on Guillermo Luque's face was linked

to Mara Soledad's short nails.

THE COVER-UP THEORY IS REINFORCED

After many months of trial

and many witnesses,

finally came the closing statements.

I'm convinced

that the main witness in this process,

the main witness is, Your Honors,

Mara Soledad Morales.

I'm going to allow myself to...

and I apologize,

because it is almost symbolic

and a bit...

assessing the presence

of the victim in the process,

of a figure of speech, bringing

Mara Soledad Morales to this trial.

CRIME AGAINST MARA SOLEDAD

PROSECUTOR'S ARGUMENI placed a recent photo of Mara Soledad

at 17 years old back then, on the wall

and I tried to get her to say it.

It was a symbol.

But evidence showed

that she had been abused,

and I said symbolically,

"Mara Soledad tells us,

'I was r*ped, and I didn't want it.'"

"Mara Soledad tells us, 'I was drugged

against my will, and I didn't want it.'"

This...

Sorry.

Can we stop for a bit?

Looking at the photo of this young girl

around the time of her death,

17 years of age, dressed as a schoolgirl

with knee-high socks,

with the same shoes

she was k*lled in that night, Your Honors...

Mara Soledad Morales

also tells us, "I was drugged."

"I was drugged

against my will, and I didn't want it."

Your Honors, I believe

Mara Soledad Morales.

And what is

Mara Soledad Morales telling us?

She says, "I was r*ped."

"I was r*ped by two or more people,

and I didn't want that."

I also believe her, honorable courthouse.

Also, what does Mara Soledad Morales

tell us through her body?

"In that crazy violence against me,

that person who was inflicting

that violence directly on my body

held me with one hand,

forced me to swallow blood, and hit me

to inflict the violence

that made me defenseless."

And Mara Soledad Morales tells us,

that's why this is important,

she points with her finger,

"Look for the person who did this to me.

He'll have my blood on his hands."

"Look at his hands."

"It's a sexual crime."

"Search his clothes, his underwear."

Honorable courthouse,

this information, this report

brought about by the clear testimony

of Mara Soledad Morales,

who has no reason for lying,

and even if it is considered

a symbolic image,

this is the main testimony

that this prosecutor's office considers

for supporting the case

that we'll now build

against the perpetrators.

This is the senior year photo.

- Yes.

- And this one.

Look at this one. Wow.

Sister Martha.

What a nice memory.

471 KM FROM CATAMARCA

Look at the date, December 7, 1990.

That day, during the graduation ceremony,

we cried a lot

because we had someone who wasn't there.

Today I'm going to Catamarca,

and I know I'm going

to relive all of this.

But I also need

to be able to talk, you know?

To tell everyone what we went through

when we were 17.

EMAS SPIRITUAL RETREALook who's here!

Silvia!

Hi, Marcelita! How are you?

We had a very special bond

with Sister Martha.

I have very nice memories of it all.

If she hadn't been there,

it would've been different.

I think the sister loved young people.

We used to say, "Tell us, Sister."

"What did you like to do

when you were like us?"

And she said, "I'll tell you."

"I smoked and I liked Elvis.

That's all I'm saying."

I remember I took Mara Soledad

to a spiritual retreat during our course,

because I also gave those assignments

and did vocational orientation with them.

It's an uncertain age.

Many of them didn't know what they wanted.

What Sole wrote 32 years ago,

here, at the retreat...

They asked her, "A hobby?"

"Listening to music."

"Best friend?"

There is a name crossed off.

"I don't have one."

"A nice memory?"

"Falling in love."

"A dream?"

"To be loved."

What did she love?

"Life."

"An error?"

"Loving the impossible."

And "A wish?"

"Being somebody in life."

Finally, the court called us

to hear the sentence.

Well, here they come.

First, Mr. lvarez Morales,

Mr. Olmedo de Arzuaga in the center,

and the other judge.

We'll go directly to listening

what is going on in the hearing room.

Please read the verdict.

The court has ruled, unanimously.

First, Guillermo Daniel Luque

shall be found guilty

as a criminally liable co-perpetrator

of the crime of r*pe followed by m*rder,

aggravated by the use of narcotics,

and the participation

of two or more people,

sentencing him to 21 years in prison

and complete disqualification

for the same length of time.

Second, Luis Ral Tula

shall be found guilty

of personal conditions

already stated in this case

as a secondary participant,

therefore, sentencing him

to nine years in prison

and complete disqualification

for the same length of time.

As a mom,

I wanted them to get a life sentence,

especially Tula,

who is responsible

for our daughter's tragedy.

Nine years is nothing for him.

I tell both of them,

you apologized to everyone

but today, at least before the court,

you should have apologized to Sole

after all the harm you caused her.

Unfortunately, today I would have liked

to see all those who are liable go down,

because there are many missing.

But maybe one of them will apologize

and tell the truth about what happened.

THE CRIME AGAINST MARA SOLEDAD

There are some painful things

we'd like to forget.

But it's impossible.

It is now part of our lives.

These are memories that don't let me,

in my case, heal the wound yet.

Many people ask me who Mara Soledad was,

as the whole country was moved

and it was the first femicide case

that was tried as such.

Because up until that point,

it was always the woman's fault.

It was a man's violent emotion

because she had talked back or whatever.

I'd say that Mara Soledad

was a kid like any other.

Today, we are 50 years old,

and what could she have done up to today?

She could be showing us her kids' photos,

what she dreamed of becoming

and could not.

That hurts too.

It hurts a lot.

When I close my eyes,

I just imagine her

with the best thing she had.

A childlike smile.

We know we did what we had to do

and that we put our hearts

into this whole story.

That we didn't fail Sole.

We didn't fail her.

We advocated for her

as best we could, until the end.

And I hope...

that this huge loss,

this lost life,

helps raise awareness,

and keeps raising awareness.

Every 13 hours, a woman dies

because of gender-based violence.

So, Mara Soledad is the symbol

of what we women can do today

in the form of social justice.

WE ASK FOR JUSTICE

FOR OUR CLASSMATE MARA SOLEDAD

NOT ONE LESS

WE ARE THE CRY OF THOSE WHO HAVE LEFT US

IF TOMORROW IT'S MY TURN,

I WANT TO BE THE LASYOU ARE NOT ALONE

NOT ONE LESS

VALLE VIEJO MUNICIPAL CEMETERY

#ENOUGH

WE CRY OUT FOR THE VOICELESS

WHAT DO THEY k*ll WHEN THEY k*ll US?

LUCILA YACONIS

NOT ONE LESS

NOT ONE STEP BACKWARD

SISTER, IT WAS NOT YOUR FAULSTOP FEMICIDES

I DON'T WANT A COUNTRY WHERE THEY k*ll US!

IF TOMORROW I DON'T COME BACK,

LOOK FOR ME IN THE STARS

NOT ONE LESS

Guillermo Luque was sentenced

to 21 years in prison

for r*pe followed by death

aggravated by the use of narcotics.

After 14 years in prison,

he was conditionally released

for good behavior.

Luis Tula was sentenced

to nine years in prison

as a secondary participant

for the crime of r*pe.

Like Luque, he was released early.

Nobody else was convicted

for participating in the events

or attempting to cover up the crime

and derail the investigation.

In 2011, Luis Patti was sentenced

to life in prison

for crimes against humanity

commited during the last

military dictatorship (1976 - 1983)

At 83 years of age, Sister Martha Pelloni

never quit her fight.

In 2008, she founded

the Stolen Baby Network

to assist victims of human trafficking,

abuse, and sexual exploitation.