“It’s strange that you no longer remember when you worked at Crónica TV and ‘being with the people’ you often called me to come to your program because you were ‘very interested’ in the situation of the poorest, the retirees, the slums… At that time you spoke to me with affection and closeness, although it is also true that I felt, more than once, that you were using me. Now I am no longer Father Paco for you, but the ‘fuma’ Paco’. I shouldn’t explain to you, because you know, that I was born in Malaga, that when I arrived in Argentina back in 1987 there was no drug that we call ‘el paco’ and that that is the nickname given in Spain to those of us called Francisco”, is the first fragment of the open letter that the Father Paco Olveira dedicated to the journalist Esteban Trebucq.
The priest belonging to the collective Group of Priests in Option for the Poor (OPP)a sector of the Argentine clergy founded in 1986 that defines itself as heir to the Movement of Priests for the Third World (MSTM) and who adopts a politically active stance, targeted the La Nación+ journalist. In several sections of his television program in recent weeks, Trebucq referred negatively to Olveira, both for his active militancy against the libertarian government in various mobilizations and for his affinity for Kirchnerism. An aspect that the priest did not miss and decided to respond openly through a letter.
“Lying, in addition to being a sin according to the Judeo/Christian commandments, is often also a crime of slander and slander: this is what happened when, after my arrest at the retiree march on Wednesday, November 12, you said with total impunity that ‘how could they not take me to prison if I had thrown stones and hit a female police officer?’ priestly and martyr’s color – where Bishop Enrique Angelelli was embroidered, whom the newspaper El Sol defamed by calling him “Satanelli” and who finally ended up assassinated by the military dictatorship. Or do you also believe, as the newspaper La Nación said and whom you now serve, that Angelelli died in a traffic accident?” the priest continued.
Concluding the letter, Paco Olveira said: “I was on the verge of losing my life a few days ago, in the bus that overturned going to Mar del Plata, and I would not have written these lines to you; but I would still have died with a clear conscience. More than one libertarian showed his sadism and cruelty on the networks, lamenting that more kukas had not died. For them it was not enough that two companions, of those essential ones, are no longer with us. Are you between them? Maybe Maybe yes, maybe not. What is certain is that with your “journalism” of hate you continually create new Satanellis who “do not deserve to live.” Nobody changes so quickly, or when you were in Chronicle you were a perfect hypocrite or now you receive good bills that calm your conscience.
Born in Malaga in 1964 and naturalized Argentine, Paco Olveira was ordained in 1989 after training at the Villa Devoto seminary. For decades he has carried out his religious and social work in vulnerable neighborhoods, living austerely, and presides over the Isla Maciel Foundation, which functions as a soup kitchen and community assistance center. A group that promotes liberation theology, with an interpretation of the Christian message oriented towards the preferential option for the poor, social justice and commitment to the popular sectors.
On the other hand, the link between Father Paco and Kirchnerism was always public and explicit. He has participated in demonstrations called in support of retirees and in defense of distributive policies. In 2022, after an attack against then Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Olveira was part of a delegation of religious people who met with her, a gesture that reinforced his notoriety as a priest close to that political space.
His activism is not without controversy. Recently, a few weeks ago he was arrested, and then released shortly after, during a demonstration of retirees in front of Congress, accused of throwing stones at police officers. The religious denied having committed violence, and stated that his presence was due to his pastoral commitment and defense of social rights.
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