In Argentina, another disturbing trend has developed as femicide and other violence against women rises in wake of recent government cuts. The heartbreaking story of Fernanda Soledad Yramain, murdered in October 2025, reveals a nightmarish truth. As femicide rates continue to increase, protections and resources for victims continue to decrease. During the current administration of President Javier Milei, important rollbacks in gender rights initiatives have occurred. This decision has struck a chord among activists and family members of victims.
From the beginning, the Milei administration has made some controversial moves. One of their main pledges is to take femicide, as an aggravating factor, out of the penal code. This decision has garnered international outrage as Argentina faces an increase in femicides and overall violence against women. In December 2023, Milei closed the undersecretariat in charge of protection against gender violence. He closed the women’s ministry, prompting national fear for the protections that gender-based violence survivors have enjoyed in recent years.
In November 2024, Argentina was in the limelight as the sole country to vote no on a UN General Assembly resolution. This resolution, which sought to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls, emphasized these grim developments nationwide. This position has raised questions among many advocates about the government’s willingness to protect women’s rights.
In January 2025, the government of Tucumán did an about-face. They closed four of seven prosecutorial offices that had been investigating gender-based violence and sexual abuse. This decision could not have come at a more crucial time. Since the beginning of 2025, the women’s organization MuMaLá denounced an alarming 15% increase in femicides in the first four months of 2025 compared to the first four months of 2024.
Fernanda Soledad Yramain’s family did not stay quiet in the light of these systemic failures. They filed a formal complaint against the police in Tucumán for their treatment of Soledad and her case. In an interview, Soledad’s aunt, Sandra Yramain, told how her niece had been stalked through threatening messages by her ex-boyfriend, Francisco Timoteo Saldaño. Only a month before her death, Soledad had broken things off with Saldaño. She had turned to local police for help a total of four times before the murder without successful protection or intervention.
Ultimately though, even with all her precautions and planning, Soledad was killed in horrifying fashion. “They said that ‘these things take time’,” Sandra Yramain lamented, expressing frustration over the police response. Soledad’s close friend Daniella Viscarra, who graduated with Soledad as class valedictorian, remembered Soledad’s debilitating fear for her life. She was certain he would murder her.
These stats about protection orders paint an ominous picture. In adobe family courts between January and September 2024, family judges in Tucumán issued 4,856 protection orders. By comparison, as many as 7,549 were issued in 2023 under the legislation. This striking drop has prompted fears that existing protective measures are insufficient.
Mariela Belski, executive director of Amnesty International Argentina, emphasized that Argentina currently lacks a dedicated institution to prevent, punish, and eradicate gender-based violence. “For the first time in nearly 40 years, Argentina has no dedicated institution to prevent, punish and eradicate gender-based violence,” she stated.
Legal expert Soledad Deza expressed these same concerns when emphasizing how recent reforms have made it difficult to discredit victims’ stories. She said, “The victims’ words are suddenly swimming against the tide of the new Milei administration’s narratives trying to delegitimize their credibility. Yet these narratives have opened the floodgates to a new level of hate and challenge. Deza further noted that the police in Tucumán have ceased investigating the need for protection orders altogether: “Worryingly, the police in Tucumán have stopped investigating why protection orders are needed in the first place.”
Luciana Belén Gramaglio underscored how critical support initiatives for victims can be. “To prevent the risks faced by victims from worsening, support programmes are necessary, and these have been eliminated,” she said.
The implications of this action by the government are dire. Indeed, many believe that the government is abandoning those who are under attack when it most matters. Belski added, “The government is turning its back on women facing violence.” Myriam Bregman highlighted that these actions follow a political line aimed at cutting already limited protections for women’s rights.
This is why advocates are speaking up to oppose the major rollbacks in women’s protections. Sandra Yramain is such a great aunt, hoping her niece’s tragic death will inspire real change. “I only hope that her death was not in vain,” she said.
This crisis is underscored by the global context. According to UN data, globally, a woman or girl is killed by their intimate partner or family member every 10 minutes. Argentina’s plight brings attention to the global femicide epidemic. This should alarm us and raise immediate questions about how best we can and should protect our most vulnerable populations.