On this day 27 years ago, January 25, 1997, the criminal gang “The Horneros” He murdered José Luis Cabezas. The murderers of the NOTICIAS magazine photographer responded to the mysterious and powerful businessman Alfredo Yabrán, who had given the order to his security chief, Gregorio Rios.
They shot him in the back of the head twice, and then set his body on fire, inside the Ford Fiesta that NOTICIAS had rented so that the photojournalist could cover that summer season. It became one of the most painful and emblematic police events in the history of Argentine journalism, but today his murderers are free.
Gustavo Prellezothe former commissioner of the Buenos Aires Police and author of the two shots that killed Cabezas, has been free since 2010 when the Chamber of Appeals and Guarantees in Criminal Matters Chamber No. 1 granted him various prison sentences: he was able to serve part of his sentence in his house, until he was granted parole in 2017, when he had not yet served his sentence.
He graduated as a lawyer and enrolled in the professional college of Quilmes, although the rejection of his colleagues caused his enrollment to be vetoed. He then managed to get accepted into the Federal Capital, despite the fact that a formal complaint was filed.
Silvia Belawsky, Prellezo’s ex-wife, was also convicted during the trial. In her case, she was not found guilty of the murder, but she was found guilty of making a false report for the theft of the car that her then husband then used to commit the crime. She served her sentence and has lived in La Plata since then.
Gregorio RiosYabrán’s security chief, was granted house arrest in 2006. Seven years later, his sentence was served.
Horacio Braga and José Auge They also continue with their lives in La Plata. Braga served as a prosecutor, worked in the NGO “Directed Social Reintegration”, in charge of helping prisoners rebuild their lives after prison, and also in the Kirchnerist textile cooperative Kbrones. Auge re-emerged last year, along with Fernando Burlando in a spot that nominated him for governor of the province of Buenos Aires. The lawyer had been one of the defenders of that gang in the trial that investigated Cabezas’ death.
Alberto “The Hare” Gómezthe commissioner responsible for freeing the area for the Cabezas crime to occur, was arrested in 2020. He was captured by the police in possession of war rifles, knives, ammunition and telescopic sights, all without a carrying permit.
The case did not advance, and he was released despite the fact that it is a non-releaseable crime. According to a source consulted by NOTICIAS at that time, this would have been possible thanks to the power and contacts that “La Liebre” still maintains. Despite his sentence to life imprisonment, he spent less than 15 years in prison.
Aníbal Luna, another of the police officers convicted of the crime of José Luis Cabezas, put his life back together in General Madariaga, although his movements raise many suspicions. Terranova, the chemical company where he worked, signed an agreement to keep a plot of land in the new industrial park.
However, in the Buenos Aires city there are those who point out that Luna himself is the owner of the company and that the initial investment would have been thanks to money from the Yabrán family. Despite having been released – he was the last of Cabezas’ murderers to be freed – social ridicule persists: the municipality of General Madariaga, where he lives and where the photographer was murdered, declared him persona non grata.
Sergio Gustavo Gonzálezmeanwhile, had been released in 2005, but returned to prison in 2015 for a case linked to drug trafficking.
As to Sergio Camaratta He was released in 2006, but returned to prison in 2012, after his sentence was revoked. He died three years later.
A similar fate suffered Hector Retana, who died in prison in 2001 from cardiac arrest after suffering from an illness.
Alfredo Yabran He could never be tried, since five days after Belawsky’s testimony that motivated his request for arrest by the Federal Judge of Dolores, José Luis Macchi, he committed suicide in one of his stays in Entre Ríos. On May 20, 1998, cornered, the then all-powerful businessman chose to shoot himself in the mouth with a 12.70 caliber shotgun rather than face justice.
by RN
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