From one day to the next, Argentina found itself with an unforeseen tragedy, that of the two twins who lived in Catalonia. One died, the other has serious injuries and fractures. In the midst of stupor, prudence: the local media have been insistently talking about a double suicide attempt, but there are no definitive conclusions about something like that. Prudence that is redoubled given the age of the protagonists -12 years old- and the serious presumption of harassment by a sector of their classmates at the secondary school in Sallent (Barcelona), a town of 7,000 inhabitants.
Site 0223 is one of the usual sources of information in Mar del Plata, the main tourist center in Argentina. There they lived, until less than three years ago, Alana and Leila. The story in 0223 bristles the skin.
“On Tuesday, February 21, the twins woke up early, at 7:00 a.m., in the apartment where they lived two years ago with their family in the municipality of Sallent, on the outskirts of Barcelona. At 7:30 both should have taken the bus (bus) that would take them to school but they lost it, and decided to walk. In the afternoon one of the girls had an appointment with the psychologist but she never arrived: around 3:00 p.m. they threw themselves into the void. Alana died instantly and her sister Leila is still hospitalized with a reserved prognosis at the Parc Bofarull hospital in Sabadell. Before jumping in, the girls left a letter where they explained their reasons. “I want to leave here because I am not happy and the rest of my life seems to be going to be the same’, read a section of the manuscript, according to what Gustavo Fabián Lima, the girls’ grandfather, revealed to 0223.
The sisters’ young grandparents had never flown out of Argentina nor did they have a passport. In record time, a series of donations allowed them to pay for the flight to Spain. The passport was processed at the same Ezeiza airport, from where they flew to Europe.
The Argentine media pointed to two parallel aspects of the story, both very present in the statements of the girls’ relatives. On the one hand, Alana’s decision to be considered a man and for her to be called “Ivan”. On the other, the ridicule of many of her classmates for her Argentine accent and for not speaking Catalan.
Many Argentines who emigrate to Spain do so without being aware that in certain regions of the country their native language will not be enough for daily life. They ignore, for example, the implantation of Catalan or Basque in many towns and cities. When they encounter that reality, they suffer, especially school-age children.
Some choose to return home, unable to adjust to the need for a new language in a country they chose precisely because of the ease of sharing the same language. It happened, for example, to María Sol, Lionel Messi’s sister, who ended up returning to Rosario many years ago.
According to 0223, the grandfather of the Argentine sisters “denounced that their classmates from the Llobregat institute they attended made fun of them for being foreigners and not knowing how to speak Catalan and that Alana was also bullied for being transsexual. Recently, she had requested a her classmates to call her ‘Iván'”.
“He wanted to be called Iván and his companions called him Ivana. Sometimes you don’t need a bullet to hurt,” the grandfather graphically summarized.
Página 12, a center-left newspaper, dedicated an editorial note to the matter: “It should be clarified that there is only evidence of the victim’s desire to be treated as a man through indirect sources, which is why the name was not changed, although this newspaper always respects the way in which transsexual people wish to be called and in case more details are known, the name is open to be modified”.
The same newspaper spoke with other relatives of the Argentine sisters. “The twins’ grandmother stated that the bullying that her granddaughters suffered began in elementary school. And she pointed out that those problems deepened when they went to secondary school.” “The parents spoke with the school, but nothing was done,” said the woman.
A second cousin of the young women added details: “They were two very good girls who did not mess with anyone, but there was a group that laughed at them because of their accent. They were having a hard time and, in fact, they had time to go to the psychologist But their parents were not aware that the situation was so dire.”
The godmother of the sisters referred to the “horror” of the parents upon learning of the viralization by certain students of the photos of the fall that led to the death of one of them.
“Parents of school students wrote to us on Instagram warning that photos of the girls were going viral among the boys when they fell. It’s all very horrible,” Bárbara, the godmother, told 0223.
Before flying to Spain, the girls’ grandfather spoke to local media again. He said that the fact that her granddaughters spoke in “Argentine” was key to the events.
“The Argentine language bothered them, it’s something primitive for me.” And Alana’s request to be called Ivan. “There everything broke out more, because he cut his hair and dressed as a man. It is seen that it is a crime not only there in Spain, everywhere. Now I understand LGBT boys, before it didn’t even cross my mind, Today that I am living it, I understand them”. The grandfather added that the doctors register an improvement in Leila’s condition.
Clarín, the main newspaper in Argentina, spoke with Oriol Ribalta, 28 years old and mayor of Sallent representing the Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC). He obtained seven councilors and the other six are distributed by Junts (four) and those related to the CUP (two).
The correspondent in Spain tells him that there are residents who say that those who come to Sallent “from outside” do not have it easy: “They suffer.” The mayor denies it. “No. We have been a welcoming people for many years. We are not aware of any rejection of any kind. From the moment you come to live here and the reception and language services open, there are resources of all kinds. In this case, for them, the language was not a problem. We deny it.”
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