The case of María Soledad Morales on Netflix: how was the murder identified as the first femicide in the country

34 years ago, the murder of Maria Soledad Morales It shocked the entire country. Known as “The María Soledad case”, this event – which occurred in the province of Catamarca – marked a milestone in Argentine history for being recognized as the first femicide in the country. In addition, it originated the famous “marches of silence” organized by the nun Martha Pelloni and the victim’s schoolmates.

, documentaries and even a movie starring Valentina Bassi In 1993 they told this story that, today, has no culprits behind bars. Next October 10th it hits the screen Netflix a new documentary thatthrough the testimonies of Pelloni, the prosecutor Gustavo Taranto, the journalist Fanny Mandelbaum, and María Soledad’s classmates, will review this tragedy and the fight they carried out so that the truth comes to light.

“This film talks about friendship, because even when the crime was reviewed by journalism over the years, it was never approached from the point of view of a social actor who today is the main driving force of gender struggles in the continent: The young women”, observes its director, Lorena Muñoz, about what will be María Soledad: The end of silence.

Through these young women who, at just 17 years old, became heroines, Muñoz will focus on how the people of Catamarca took silence as a weapon of combat and denunciation. “A nun and a handful of teenagers fighting injustice with an unexpected weapon: silence. They all promised to find the culprit, but what none of them imagined was that this promise would be one of the fundamental drivers when it came to activating demands for justice for the femicide of their friend.”, he reflected on this series of marches – 82 in total – that attracted an average of 25 thousand people each time.

Originally from Catamarca, María Soledad Morales was 17 years old and was studying her last year of high school at the Del Carmen y San José Catholic School. Daughter of Ada Rizzardo y Elias Moraleswas the second of seven siblings and dreamed of being a model. At that time, she had a love relationship with Luis Tula; a man twelve years older who was married; although she didn’t know it.

On the night of Friday, September 7, 1990, the young woman went dancing at Le Feu Rouge, a bowling alley in San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca, where – along with her classmates – she had organized a party to raise funds for the graduate trip.

Around 3 in the morning, María Soledad left the place with her boyfriend who picked her up. to continue the night in another disco, Clivus. There, Tula introduced him to his friends who were children of political officials and high-ranking police officers in the province, among whom were Guillermo Luque (son of the national deputy of Catamarca Ángel Luque), Pablo and Diego Jalil (nephews of the local mayor at that time, José Jalil), Arnoldito Saadi (son of the then governor Arnaldo Saadi), Miguel Ferreyra (son of the police chief), Eduardo “El Loco” Méndez and Hugo “Hueso” Ibáñez.

Hours passed but María Soledad never returned home. The search began first, at her friends’ house. Then, to the school where its principal, Martha Pelloni, made herself available to her parents. Three days later, his body was found in a ditch on the side of provincial route 38 in a place known as Daza Park by a group of National Highway workers.

Blows, cigarette burns, a fractured jaw, cuts to the scalp, ears and one of the eyes made his corpse unrecognizable. In fact, her father was able to confirm that it was her because of a small scar that the teenager had on one of her wrists. “At that moment I would have preferred that someone shoot me and not see the body that I saw of my daughter,” said a very shocked Elías Morales at the trial.

Hours later, and despite the fact that they tried to “delete” some evidence, It was learned that the victim had been raped before dying from cardiac arrest caused by a lethal dose of cocaine.

After finding María Soledad lifeless, her family and friends began to reconstruct her last hours. While a bartender at the bowling alley Clivus stated that he saw the young woman get into a car “dizzy and “dazed,” the prosecution was studying the hypothesis that Morales had been drugged and taken to a temporary shelter. located at the intersection of routes 1 and 41, where she was allegedly raped by several people.

For the Catamarca police, the theory about what happened was very different. For them, the young woman had been attacked by a group of homeless people when she was walking on the side of the road; a very unbelievable version by the way.

Ruth Salazar, Tula’s wife, was also named as a suspect. The idea that he could have killed her out of spite and that her husband had covered up for her sounded loud. However, “the children of power” Those that María Soledad encountered that night had everything to win.

The crime of María Soledad Morales shook not only the province of Catamarca but the entire country. With Martha Pelloni (the rector of the Del Carmen and San José schools) and her classmates at the helm, “the marches of silence” were replicated in every corner of . Without saying a word, these walks sought to shed light on a case that seemed far from being resolved.

Fighting for truth and justice was the objective of these young women who, at only 17 years old, dared to confront the political and police power of that time. The impact was such that, On April 17, 1991, Carlos Menem (the President of the Nation at that time) intervened in the province of Catamarca, removing its governor, Saadi, from office.

After limiting the power of the concealers, and two trials, the justice system gave its verdict in 1998. Guillermo Luque was sentenced to 21 years in prison for murder and rape while Luis Tula received only 9 years; being considered a secondary participant in the crime. However, neither of them served their sentence to the end. The first was only in prison for 14 years and the one who “introduced” Morales to his friends only served half of his sentence.

Today, 34 years later, the murderers and concealers walk freely through the streets of San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca while María Soledad’s friends try to keep her memory alive through this documentary that will soon be seen on the screen of Netflix.

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