The province of Corrientes has been chosen as the venue for the 38th Plurinational Meeting of Women and Dissidences, which will begin this Saturday under the motto 'Against human trafficking and in memory of those who are missing'. This decision was made due to the urgent need to address issues such as sexual exploitation and gender-based violence.
From this Saturday to next Monday, three days of activities will take place, aimed at highlighting the situations faced by the community and honoring the memory of femicide victims. In an interview with the Argentine News Agency, the national deputy-elect for the Workers' Left Front (FIT), Myriam Bregman, stated that the event will be 'strongly marked by the alarming femicide statistics'.
'In Corrientes alone, there have been at least five femicides under a government that no longer only has hateful and misogynistic speeches, but has turned them into state ideology and policy, with Security Minister Patricia Bullrich blaming the women themselves and feminism,' she indicated. She also emphasized that they must demand justice for the femicides that occurred in the province over the past year and assured that they must turn 'the anger from this harsh reality into a fight for all' and mobilize for a new 'green wave' to confront 'machista violence'.
One of the participating groups will be the association 'Catholics for the Right to Decide' (CDD) with the objective of 'sustaining life in common' in the face of the 'offensive' against women's rights and in repudiation of the 'emptying of institutions' and the 'criminalization of obstetric emergencies'.
'In a country traversed by the feminization of poverty, the increase in femicides, and the systematic dismantling of gender policies, we feminists meet again at the Plurinational Meeting of Women, Lesbians, Transvestites, Trans, Bisexuals, Intersex, and Non-Binary People to reaffirm our capacity to reinvent ourselves and organize collective responses where the state retreats,' they stated.
Along the same lines, they referred to the case of Paola Ortiz and described her claim as 'urgent'. She is a woman 'criminalized and sentenced to life in prison' for an obstetric emergency, accused of 'murdering' the baby she gave birth to stillborn.
According to CDD, this situation demonstrates 'a system that abandoned her' before, during, and after the event. If you are experiencing domestic violence, you can call the 144 Line.
Among today's activities is the workshop 'Rolling Rights', which presents monitoring of access to sexual and reproductive health in the health services of Corrientes, Catamarca, and Entre Ríos. Additionally, an advance screening of Sara Astiazarán's documentary will be shown; she is the nun who ignited the collective struggles of women.
National deputy Mercedes de Mendieta and City of Buenos Aires legislator Mercedes Trimarchi (FIT/IS), members of the feminist group 'Isadora Women in Struggle', confirmed their presence and announced they will also speak out against the 'enslaving' labor reform promoted by President Javier Milei.
'From Isadora and Dissidences in Struggle, we are pushing for the 38th Meeting to demand a budget to combat gender-based violence based on the non-payment of the debt and for the next meeting in 2026 to be held in the city of Buenos Aires, in the political heart of the country, to make our voice heard with greater force,' Trimarchi assured.
Andrea D'Atri, a Buenos Aires legislator (FITU) and founder of the international socialist feminist current 'Bread and Roses', stated that during these days, an 'important debate' will take place in the workshops on the 'subordination of the country to imperialism' and its consequences, such as the labor reform proposed by Milei.
'Women suffer the most because those who were registered will be in a worse situation, and those who worked in the informal sector will do so in even worse conditions,' she added.
Meanwhile, women and diverse groups from different parts of the country will hold the 'Cristina Libre Plaza', a space for encounter and collective expression of popular feminism within the framework of the 38th Plurinational Meeting of Women, Lesbians, Transvestites, Trans, Bisexuals, Intersex, and Non-Binary People.
The event will take place at Costanera and Bajo Puente General Belgrano, at Playa Aratzaty in the provincial capital, which they defined as 'the first meeting of women and diverse groups with former President Cristina Kirchner, imprisoned and proscribed'.
During the event, the words that the former president will send especially for those present at the meeting will be shared.
This edition of the Women's Meeting is taking place in Corrientes because it is one of the provinces most affected by gender-based violence, femicides, and human trafficking.
In September of this year, the Supreme Court published a report from the National Registry of Femicides in the Corrientes territory, prepared by the Women's Office of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.
The survey, carried out by the Statistics Office and Registry of Universal Trials and Collective Actions of the Judiciary, found that in Corrientes, during the year 2024, 'four judicial cases of direct femicides were registered, with a total of five direct female victims, six identified active subjects, and one linked femicide, whose victim was a man'.
The provincial rate is 'one direct femicide for every 117,217 women', with an average age of the victims being 31 years old, and all of Argentine nationality. Post-crime behaviors included 'suicide, confession followed by suicide, flight, and in three cases, the disposal of the victim's body'.
