William Acosta, CEO of Equalizer Investigations for FinGurú
Introduction
Imagining the pain of so many families is not enough to understand the magnitude of what occurred in September 2025, when Brenda, Morena, and Lara became victims of the most extreme horror that can affect a society. Three trusting girls, friends, daughters, and neighbors, went out one night seeking fun and ended up caught in the lethal web of drug trafficking. What followed exposed not only the cruelty of the gangs but also the fractures of the state and institutional indifference (El País, September 24, 2025).
The Events: Chilling Chronology
Friday began like any other, but it turned out to be fateful. The girls accepted an invitation and got into a white van in front of a YPF station. No one knew they wouldn’t return. The hours that followed were filled with desperation, reports, and searches. Days later, the police and the community faced a painful truth: the bodies had been buried, dismembered, in a house in Florencio Varela. This torture not only occurred but was also broadcasted on social media as a warning within the drug circuit (Agencia Presentes, September 24, 2025).
Detentions, Profiles, and Drug Power
Investigations led to the detention of four people very close to the house: Magalí Celeste González Guerrero, Miguel Ángel Villanueva Silva, Iara Daniela Ibarra, and Maximiliano Andrés Parra. Prosecutor Gastón Duplá charged them with aggravated homicide, illicit association, and concealment, while the mastermind —“Pequeño J,” a Peruvian drug trafficker linked to Villa 1-11-14— remains a fugitive, demonstrating the transnational reach of the criminal structure (Yahoo Noticias, September 25, 2025).
This was not an ordinary settling of accounts: the organization responded with exemplary cruelty to the alleged theft of drugs, using public violence as punishment and warning for its own ranks. What was least expected was that money, favors, and complicities would allow such actions to go unchecked for so long (Infobae, September 25, 2025).
The Social Mourning and Calls for Justice
Parallel to the investigation, family members and neighbors bid farewell to Brenda and Morena in a caravan that traveled through La Tablada before reaching Las Praderas, in Lomas de Zamora. The grandfather of the victims, Antonio, represented the collective feeling by promising that the family would continue to demand justice. Lara’s case was mourned separately, but the wound was shared by all: society as a whole was confronted by the tragedy and the lack of responses (AM del Plata, September 25, 2025).
Feminist and human rights organizations called for marches, making visible the institutional abandonment and the growing vulnerability of adolescents and young people in contexts where drug violence mixes with feminicide (Agencia Presentes, September 24, 2025).
Corruption and Complicity: The True Social Cancer
Drug trafficking in Argentina is not an isolated threat; it grows under the shelter of institutional and political complicities that allow its expansion. Numerous studies and diagnoses show that organized crime flourishes where corruption prevails, where laws are manipulated, and where electoral financing ends up tied to dirty money. It is not an exaggeration to say that the strings that move the real puppeteers of crime are activated from the offices of power (INECIP, 2016).
The lack of real audits, the weakness of controls, and the blockage of independent investigations make impunity seem the norm instead of the exception. If one day honest audits were to be developed deeply, many responsible parties —currently hidden— would be exposed. It is this metastasis of corruption, the power behind the power, that guarantees the survival and might of drug trafficking (DW, June 17, 2025).
International Drug Trafficking and the Demand for Profound Change
What is certain is that drug-related violence is brutal, but corruption —silent and persistent— is the cancer that allows its advance. A large part of political campaigns, institutions, and economic circuits are affected by drug financing or money laundering. Social mathematics do not lie: if there were a will to investigate and oversee thoroughly, not a few criminals and accomplices would be uncovered in the highest echelons. Real transformation can only emerge from audits, investigations, and severe sanctions, accompanied by concrete international action and federal transparency policies (Ministry of National Security, March 28, 2025; Argentina.gob.ar, April 13, 2025).
Open Reflection
The case of Brenda, Morena, and Lara struck at the heart of everyone. Beyond the pain, the challenge remains not to resign. Drug trafficking and corruption must not be destiny: change begins where society and justice unite, where memory transforms into demand, and where truth, no matter how uncomfortable, illuminates even the darkest corners of power.
References
El País (2025, September 24). A triple feminicide at the hands of drug traffickers outrages Argentina. https://elpais.com/argentina/2025-09-24/un-triple-feminicidio-a-manos-del-narco-indigna-a-argentina.html
Agencia Presentes (2025, September 24). Justice for Lara, Morena, and Brenda: there will be another march on Saturday. https://agenciapresentes.org/2025/09/25/triple-femicidio-feminismos-y-diversidades-pidieron-justicia-por-lara-morena-y-brenda-en-flores/
Yahoo Noticias (2025, September 25). Who are the twelve arrested for the triple feminicide in Florencio Varela? https://es-us.noticias.yahoo.com/qui%C3%A9nes-doce-detenidos-triple-femicidio-160938990.html
Infobae (2025, September 25). Five books that show why drug trafficking has successfully adapted to Argentina. https://www.infobae.com/cultura/2025/09/25/cinco-libros-que-muestran-por-que-el-narcotrafico-se-adapto-con-exito-a-la-argentina/
AM del Plata (2025, September 25). The last goodbye to Brenda and Morena, case update. https://amdelplata.com.ar/triple-femicidio-en-florencio-varela-el-ultimo-adios-a-brenda-y-morena/
NECIP (2016). Drug trafficking: politicians, judges, and members of the security forces create networks of complicity in a growing scourge. https://inecip.org/prensa/inecip-en-los-medios/narcotrafico-politicos-jueces-y-miembros-de-las-fuerzas-de-seguridad-arman-redes-de-complicidad-en-un-flagelo-que-crece/
DW (2025, June 17). Organized crime and its power in Latin American institutions. https://www.dw.com/es/el-crimen-organizado-y-su-poder-en-las-instituciones-de-am%C3%A9rica-latina/a-72955815
The Ministry of National Security (2025, March 28). Resolution 399/2025. https://www.boletinoficial.gob.ar/detalleAviso/primera/323069/20250328
Argentina.gob.ar (2025, April 13). The Ministry of Security will implement information exchange tables to strengthen. https://www.argentina.gob.ar/noticias/el-ministerio-de-seguridad-implementara-mesas-de-intercambio-de-informacion-para-reforzar
About the Author:
William L. Acosta is a graduate of PWU and the University of Alliance. He is a retired police officer from the New York police, a former U.S. Army soldier, and the founder and CEO of Equalizer Private Investigations & Security Services Inc., a licensed agency in New York and Florida, with international projections.
Since 1999, he has led investigations in narcotics, homicide, and missing persons cases, as well as participating in criminal defense at both the state and federal levels. A specialist in international and multi-jurisdictional cases, he has coordinated operations in North America, Europe, and Latin America.
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