Actor Sentenced in Brazil in Rape Case that Sparked #MeToo Movement in Argentina

Trigger warning: sexual assault, sexual violence against a minor

Sexual and gender-based violence against women in Latin America remains a prominent issue that has yet to see much improvement though some progress is slowly being made. The 2009 alleged rape of a 16-year-old by Argentine-Brazilian actor Juan Darthés who was then 45, ignited the #MiraComoNosPonemos movement in Argentina and after more than a decade he’s serving prison time. The telenovela star Juan Darthés has been sentenced to prison for six years by a Brazilian court, the Buenos Aires Herald reported. The former heartthrob was accused of raping and sexually assaulting co-star Thelma Fardin in a hotel room in Managua, Nicaragua during a press tour. Recently judges announced they had overturned the 2023 first instance acquittal of Darthés, born Juan Pacífico Dabul, and sentenced him for the rape. According to the terms, Darthés’ sentence will be served under the ‘open regime’ scheme. He will be able to work but must return to sleep in jail every night. The incident allegedly occurred during the promotion for Patito Feo, an Argentine telenovela, and in 2018 she came forward after other female colleagues spoke up against Darthés. Following, the sentencing, the now 31-year-old Fardin released a statement in a press conference held at Amnesty International headquarters in Buenos Aires:

“This ruling has to be a message of hope for anyone suffering any kind of abuse. Even if you think it’s hard, even if the person is powerful and has many tools at their disposal. There is a possibility of reparation in the judiciary, as is my case today. And above all, there is a possibility of reparation that involves all of us as a society, which is what we all have to continue building from a place of empathy.”

The #MiraComoNosPonemos movement, which has more than 200K posts on Instagram, denounced assaults against women in the workplace similar to the #MeToo movement in the U.S. The phrase can be loosely translated as “See how we look” or “Look at what you do to us” and references a phrase he allegedly said during the attack. Fardín shared that he began kissing her neck while they were in the room and she asked him to stop, but instead he grabbed her hand and made her touch his erection, saying: “Mirá como me pones (roughly: “Look at what you do to me”).”

Darthés, who was born in Brazil, was acquitted in May 2023 after the judge ruled that the investigation had not confirmed that Fardin had been penetrated — a requirement for conviction under Brazilian law at the time of the assault. This requirement was changed in 2010 and the ruling at that time acknowledged certain aspects of the sexual assault had been proven, the Herald reported. Darthés rarely speaks publicly about the case and continues to deny the allegations. The judicial process involved Argentina, Brazil and Nicaragua and had 11 witnesses, who all testified virtually, the Buenos Aires Times reported.

This case isn’t just a major win for Fardin, it’s also a sign of some progress being made in such cases. In a study released in 2022 by Argentina’s Ministry of Women, Gender, & Diversity, 17 percent of women interviewed in Argentina said that they had experienced sexual abuse and 74 percent said it happened before they had turned 18 years of age. The study interviewed women across 12 provinces in the country and found that 45 percent who are or were in a relationship said they had suffered some type of gender-based violence in the home. Despite these numbers, 77 percent of respondents said they had not made a criminal complaint after the act. Furthermore, only 15.5 percent of reported sexual assaults end in a conviction in Argentina, according to the Argentina’s Specialist Fiscal Unit in Violence Against Women. In Brazil, the figure is around 1 percent, according to the Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA).

“Thelma was subjected to nine examinations: three in Nicaragua, five in Argentina, and one in Brazil, dedicating every moment to digging into her private life and family. Instead of looking at the body of evidence, the judiciary looked for cracks in her testimony,” Paola García Rey, joint director of Amnesty International Argentina, told the Herald.

“If you have someone who tells you their story, who is next to you and chooses to tell you their pain, empathize. Don’t ask them why it took so long for them to speak up: justice also has to be built by every one of us and we have a responsibility in that sense,” Fardin said during the press conference.