The crime of Agostina Vega It became one of the most shocking police cases in recent years in the province of Córdoba. The 14-year-old teenager had disappeared on May 23, after leaving her home in the General Mosconi neighborhood with a car, and for a week she was intensively searched by family, neighbors, social organizations and security forces. The investigation took a decisive turn when security cameras and different expertise placed the minor in contact with Claudio Gabriel Barreliera former partner of his mother, who ended up being the only one arrested and charged in the case. This weekend, searches carried out in a vacant lot in the Ampliación Ferreyra neighborhood made it possible to find human remains that were linked to the missing young woman.
The case remained under the jurisdiction of the prosecutor Raul Garzonwho maintained from the beginning that Barrelier was the last person who had seen the minor alive. Surveillance camera images showed Agostina Vega getting out of a van and entering the suspect’s home in the Cofico neighborhood. Initially, Barrelier denied any encounter with the teenager and even his defense stated that the person recorded in the videos could be his own daughter. However, with the progress of the investigation and the weight of the evidence, the accused modified his story and ended up acknowledging that the young woman had been at his home.
According to the reconstruction carried out by the prosecution, Agostina arrived at Barrelier’s home apparently voluntarily, although investigators emphasize that it has yet to be determined whether there was deception, manipulation or some type of prior recruitment. One of the main questions remains the motive for the crime. Garzón avoided drawing conclusions and explained that it still remains to establish what happened inside the home, why the teenager was there and if there was the participation of third parties. The seized phones, the testimonies collected and the raids carried out are part of the evidence that attempts to answer these questions.
In addition to Barrelier, the file involves people from his environment who were incorporated into the investigation for the loan of vehicles, telephone communications and suspicious movements recorded during the days after the disappearance. The prosecution also does not rule out expanding charges if elements emerge that indicate collaboration or cover-up. The accused had a record of unlawful deprivation of liberty in a context of gender violence and had regained his freedom months before.
One aspect that stood out about Barrelier is that he is an employee of the Municipality of Córdoba through an outsourced firm, he had participation in political structures linked to local Peronism and was known within the circle of “Los Capanga”, the renowned Instituto brava group. This background raised strong questions about the judicial and administrative controls that allowed him to continue carrying out public activities despite his criminal record.
Linked to the latter, in parallel, audios attributed to Ricardo Moreno, one of the political leaders who was mentioned indirectly due to his links with Barrelier’s entourage. Moreno’s name appeared because the person who served as defense attorney for the main defendant at the beginning of the case, Jorge Sánchez del Biancois his son-in-law and maintains a family and political relationship with the Córdoba leader. Various opposition sectors demanded public explanations after recordings and statements linked to Barrelier’s employment within municipal structures emerged. Political requests were even announced to investigate responsibilities and promote institutional sanctions.
“All of this is advertising. Professionally, it helps me a lot. They know me more than they know me and well, this always has me in the mouths of each of the future clients who are going to come to my studio,” Moreno himself confessed in an audio leaked on social networks and the media, and acknowledged: “I made a kid come to work with a blank certificate of good conduct, he had no criminal record whatsoever and well, then the kid had a snot, what’s my fault? Just like that I made 500 enter the public administration, and well, out of 500, one is within the rules of the game, brother.”
So far, the direct proven relationship between the lawyer and the main accused arises from Barrelier’s political membership in spaces linked to the Justicialist councilor. There is, for now, no judicial accusation against Moreno in the homicide case. However, the dissemination of audios and discussions about alleged political connections deepened the public impact of the case and fueled the suspicions surrounding an investigation that still has several lines open.
While awaiting the final results of the forensic examinations and analyzes of telephones, cameras and biological traces, the prosecution maintains that the file is far from being closed. The main hypothesis continues to point to Barrelier as the perpetrator of the homicide, although investigators are trying to determine precisely how the crime occurred, what the motive was and whether other people participated in any stage of the events or in the subsequent concealment of the body. The magnitude of the case and the brutality of the outcome transformed the murder of Agostina Vega into a symbol of NI UNA MENOS.
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