Hear
22 years after the murders of the piqueteros militants Maximilian Kosteki and Darío Santillán, leftist groups honored them with a mobilization at the Pueyrredón Bridge, in Avellaneda. The tragic outcome of the protest shook the government of Eduardo Duhaldewho would hand over power 11 months later to Nestor Kirchnerand that of the then governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Felipe Solá.
Santillán (21 years old) and Kosteki (22 years old) were murdered by police officers during a protest that took place on June 26, 2002, starting at the Avellaneda station and in Plaza Alsina, in the same town. From those points, the protesters headed to the Pueyrredón Bridge.
Due to the murders, in 2006 the Oral Criminal Court No. 7 of Lomas de Zamora, made up of Elisa López Moyano, Roberto Lugones and Jorge Eduardo Roldánthe commissioner was sentenced to life imprisonment Alfredo Fanchiotti and the cape Alejandro Acosta. In Justice, the files that were opened to try to determine political responsibilities in the events did not advance. The police officers Carlos Jesus Quevedo, Mario Hector de la Fuenteand Felix Osvaldo Vega They were sentenced to four years in prison for concealment. Gaston Sierra, Lorenzo Colman and Francisco Celestino Robledo They received suspended sentences.
In the protest of June 26, 2002, activists from groups such as the Movement of Unemployed Workers (MTD) demanded increases in the Heads of Household plan, the creation of genuine jobs and the delivery of food to soup kitchens.
After trying to climb the Pueyrredón Bridge, the picketers encountered a police cordon. The troops repressed and the protesters retreated, throwing stones. The troops fired. On the premises of the Carrefour supermarket, Kosteki was hit by a bullet and walked to the Avellaneda station to take shelter. Although he did not know him previously, Santillán saw him and stayed with him. The police arrived at the scene and, as Santillán was leaving, they shot him in the back. The two deaths generated a political crisis that accelerated the time for the departure from power of Duhalde, who had assumed power in January 2002 after the resignation the previous year of Fernando de la Rua and the fleeting passage through the presidency of Ramon Puerta, Adolfo Rodríguez Saá and Eduardo Camaño.
Alberto Santillán, Darío’s father, placed responsibilities on Duhalde and Solá. “365 days a year we shout and demand justice for the political ideologues who carried out the Avellaneda Massacre and for whom we paid with the blood of Darío and Maxi, plus the 33 wounded by lead. I’m talking about Eduardo Duhalde, who continues to have power in the suburbs, and Felipe Solá, who seems like he would not have been the governor of the province.”stated the father of the murdered piquetero to the media Plots. He indicated that he feels angry because Solá “is still in power,” and stressed: “He has always stated that we have to act stupid. Not only does he act stupid, but also Justice acts stupidly and also almost the entire political arc.”
THE NATION
