Young woman raped by six men: “It was only five months later, when I saw the video on the internet, that I knew what they had done to me”

Santiago, Villa Gonzáles.- "It was only five months later, when I saw the video on the internet, that I knew what they had done to me." With those words, filled with pain and helplessness, a 21-year-old woman recounted the nightmare that marked her life in March of this year, when she claims she was drugged and raped by six men in Villa González, province of Santiago. The night began with plans for fun and music at a nightclub with a friend. But what seemed like a moment of leisure ended in tragedy. According to the victim, after having an alcoholic drink, she lost consciousness and woke up in a hospital, with no memory of what happened.

Read more: Family and neighbors demand arrest of six men accused of raping a 21-year-old woman in Villa González

Without knowing how she had gotten there, the most heartbreaking thing was discovering, months later, that what she had experienced was recorded in a video that circulated on social media, exposed, violated, and stripped of her dignity. The young woman told investigators that she did not know any of the men who appear in that recording. However, the community identified them as Álvarez, Guaro, Ferere, Contreras, Fonso and Bebé or Chichí. These are the names that now appear in the file being investigated by the National Police, in conjunction with the Department of Gender and Intrafamily Violence of Santiago. For the moment, there are no confirmed arrests, but the investigation remains open, while the young woman tries to recover from the brutal blow of an assault that not only left her physically marked, but also exposed her to a second violence: that of seeing her privacy spread as a spectacle on social media. The case has sparked outrage in the community, which has taken to the streets to protest, and fuels a painful debate in the country about the vulnerability of women to sexual violence.