four months after the repression, the field is muddy

Monday the 6th were fulfilled four months of the brutal repression of the Buenos Aires Police outside the stadium Juan Carmelo Zerillo of the La Plata forest, the night that Gym y Boca they had to play the match corresponding to date 23 of the Argentine Soccer Super League. The repression was broadcast live on various channels and the repercussions lasted several days on the media agenda. Especially one of its most tragic balances: the death of Cesar “Lolo” Regueiro.

Coincidentally this Monday the Lobo played their first home game of the year, against Defense and Justice. For this reason, after the summer break (including the World Cup) people filled the field again to accompany their team at the start of the season. The coincidence of the date motivated the Regueiro family to propose a tribute before the game the 57-year-old man who fell in the middle of the police shooting and gassing.

A week before, Lolo’s children made the request to the gymnastics leadership. But the leadership of the Wolf informed them that the AFA had not given the go-ahead so that the gymnastics teams and the Varela’s Falcon They will pose before the game with an allusive flag. In any case, the new club authorities agreed with the family to enter the playing field minutes before the initial whistle. Thus, carrying banners that said “Justice for Lolo” y “We will always be”the relatives received the affectionate greetings of thousands of fans that populated the stands and that once again sang “I knew that Lolo was killed by the Police!” y “The one that doesn’t jump is a button!”.

In the last hours it transpired that Gymnastics would receive a fine from the AFA for having allowed the Regueiro family to carry out the tribute. A fact that, if materialized, would be another example of the contempt of the leadership of Argentine soccer for the lives of those who, ultimately, support the clubs and give existence to the AFA itself.

Officials that work… for them

Hours before the game edward aparicioholder of the Agency for the Prevention of Violence in Sport (Aprevide) He had given an interview to the La Plata radio station 221 Radio. There, the official Sergio Berni in it Ministery of security justified (with the excuse of deficiencies in lighting) the “punishment” of Gymnastics by changing the match schedule. Scheduled for 8:00 p.m., in the end it was played at 6:00 p.m.

Aparicio also referred to the death of Regueiro. “We want the fact to be clarified for the peace of Lolo’s family, with whom I always stand in solidarity, they seek justice and we are men of justice”said the official shamelessly. Beyond the words, neither he nor anyone from Aprevide approached the family during the tribute. Nor after.

Aparicio is one of the defendants in the cause that is processed in the Guarantee Court 6 of La Platawhere the crime of “culpable havoc” is investigated for the violent death of Regueiro and the serious injuries suffered by other fans, such as Rodrigo Arballo in one eye and its companion Giselawhich ended with his back riddled with rubber bullets.

On December 28, Aparicio gave an investigative statement before the prosecutor Juan Minucciholder of the UFI 5 and the Buenos Aires capital. As he agreed with his superiors, tried to take off the Buenos Aires Police of the facts. She said he did everything right and spread blame left and right. He blamed the club for overselling tickets and to the fans of generating disturbances outside the stadiumsomething that could never prove.

The other defendants are the commissioner sebastian pereaholder of the La Plata Department; the commissioner Juan Manuel Gorbaranholder of the Ninth Police Station from La Plata at the time of the repression; the official Nahuel Falconwho shot three times against the cameraman of TyC Sports fernando rivero; and the former president of the club, Gabriel Pellegrinowho in December lost the elections at the hands of Mariano Cowen.

It is also worth mentioning that a few weeks ago the Regueiro family changed legal sponsorship. They are no longer represented by lawyers Marcelo Pena y Julian Rimada. Instead, last week the case was formally taken up by Dr. matias vidalwho is already working on the review of the file and the collection of testimonies and evidence.

Lolo’s relatives are satisfied that Vidal agrees with them to fight for that the cause change the cover and go from “culpable” havoc to “intentional”. Not only because the expectation of sentences for those guilty of Regueiro’s death would be much higher, but because it would make it clear that It was not negligence or “recklessness” (as the prosecutor himself insists) but rather specific intentions to cause harm, not only to Regueiro but to the thousands of people present. In addition, with this change in qualification, it could be investigated other criminal responsibilitiesboth between police peers and “up” at the political level.

All embarrassed

There are various sources that agree that from the outset the provincial officials, from different areas, have been seeking that the case splash as little as possible to the management of Kicillof and Berni (much more in this election year). Among other things, at Minister of Justice and Human Rights Julio Alak he has had the task of “probing” (through emissaries) witnesses and other people related to the case. The objectives are two: to know what do they have to say and try buy their wills with promises of all kinds. In some cases it appears to have been successful.

Meanwhile, in the judicial corridors it is said that Prosecutor Minucci intends to close the instruction as soon as possible (even if there is still evidence to be sought) and bring the case to trial before the middle of the year. It would be a “record” in the Buenos Aires Judiciary and not precisely because it had arrived soon at the truth. It was also heard Judge Agustin Crispo (and more than once) say how much he regrets having received this “hot” cause, knowing that various springs of power are submerged in it.

From the family they define it without laps: “The field is very muddy”. Sergio “Lolito” Regueiro says before the query of The Left Daily that in these four months those responsible for the death of his father “had time to do everything to cover. Assuming that my old man had been shot, how was he going to know who was the one who shot if they never seized the weapons What did they wear that night? What concern did they have about how she died if We ended up handing over the shirt so they could analyze the blood stains What did he have?”, he asks angrily.

Regarding these blood stains, just this week the Prosecutor’s Office informed them of the results of the analysis carried out on the garment by the La Plata Expert Advisory. It was confirmed that it is human blood (as expected). Now the Judiciary must determine if, as is logically suspected, it belongs to Regueiro. In a further show of deliberate procrastination, still no family member was called to give a DNA sample.

The family also repudiates that from the environment of Sergio Berni try to install the suspicion about those who wanted to save Lolo while the Police fired a few meters away. They intend to accuse, particularly, those who applied rehabilitation maneuvers. “They want to blame the firefighter who did CPR on him, a boy with thirty years of profession, it is unbelievable”protested Lolito.

“We know that on Monday on the field they were aparicio y Perea, two of the defendants. Here there was a death due to repression and they continue in their duties as if nothing had happened. How many deaths would there have to have been for them to be removed from their posts? They collect their salaries without a problem and we continue to cry for my dad. Aparicio always played the committed one, but we don’t want to have anything to do with him,” adds Lolo’s son.

Everyone serves their game

On Tuesday the 7th, the former president of Gymnastics presented a written defense to the Prosecutor’s Office. Everything for avoid difficult questions. There he requests his dismissal and blames the “brutal police repression”which sets up a “very serious case of institutional violence”.

For Gabriel Pellegrinothe Buenos Aires acted “illegally” (he used prohibited weapons for these events), but at the same time he says that you don’t know who gave the order to repress It also calls for an investigation to be made as to whether the repression was the consequence of a “police intern”although he does not give names. Along these lines, based on testimonies from police officers who testified in the file, he accuses the Ministry of Security of being “accommodating” with his subordinates.

The ex-president of the club also supports the idea that there was no “culpable” havoc but “intentional”, since thousands of fans were “intentionally” repressed. Consequently, he evades all responsibility for what he is accused of: the overselling and overdelivery of tickets. But the Regueiro family continues to suspect him, starting with his attitude towards them, such as recounted by Lolito in November in an interview with this newspaper.

For the moment, the change of authorities in the club was well received by the family. They appreciate that the new president was not only present at the wake but, once he took over as head of the institution, Cowen made himself available to the Prosecutor’s Office to provide the documentation that is required regarding the facts.

The family insists that it is worrisome that the defendants in the case continue leading their lives as if nothing had happened, while the file moves little and only at the initiative of the victim’s own loved ones. It is worth remembering that The Prosecutor’s Office rejected the request of the Provincial Commission for Memory to be accepted as an institutional complainant. Something that objectively favors Kicillof and Berni.

“The time that passed helped them to erase many things and on top of that the prosecutor refuses to take many measures that we ask of him”, denounces Sergio while continuing to demand truth and justice for his father. And he finishes: “There should already be people in prison here, but instead they are all still working”.