The message was as laconic as it was chilling to the point of going through the spinal cord of Argentina: “Messi, we are waiting for you“. The threat came from a narco group of those who increasingly have a presence in rosary beads, the player’s hometown, located in the province of Santa Fe, to which he usually returns periodically. Everything has happened at dawn and it is the only thing that is talked about in this country. Two young people arrived on a motorcycle at one of the supermarkets of the former Barcelona player’s in-laws. In addition to the obituary, written nervously, they stamped 14 bullets against the entrance to the business of Antonela Roccuzzo’s parents. In addition, they warned that the Rosario mayor, the social democrat Pablo Javkin “is a narco” and, therefore, “he’s not going to take care of you“.
As expected, the fact has caused a strong impact in the political sphere. Mauricio Macri’s former Security Minister and right-wing pre-candidate for president, Patricia Bullrich, demanded the resignation of the minister of the branch, Hannibal Fernandez. The Government asked the opposition not to politicize an episode related to a long-standing problem such as the security crisis in one of the three most important cities in the country and also the main port through which the world market is accessed.
“Are the narcos winning? That seems to be the feeling that remains, we have been in this situation for 20 years,” lamented Fernández. The minister assured that President Alberto Fernández “is taking care of himself because he is very concerned about the situation” in a city that during the first decades of the twentieth century was called “the Argentine Chicago” due to the presence of small-time mafia groups that, compared to the present, seem to refer to children’s tales.
“The drug traffickers have won,” admitted Aníbal Fernández when talking about the attack on the Roccuzzo family’s supermarket*
“Typical fact of Rosario 20 years ago & rdquor ;, visible by the message to Messi. The PEN works to change what “cannot be reversed in 20 minutes& rdquor;https://t.co/6z0OljH5qT— Aníbal Fernández (@FernandezAnibal) March 2, 2023
“The country does not need commentators, you need ministers to beat drug trafficking & rdquor ;, Bullrich said in relation to Fernández’s comment. The candidate is an unabashed supporter of the hard-line policy implemented in Brazil by the far-right Jair Bolsonaro.
The presence of Messi and the Roccuzzo family, owner of a supermarket chain in that city for four decades, it becomes, for these hours, a turning point. Hitmen have become a serious thing. Not only because of the violent way of territorial dispute for drug retail. It is the homicide rates that are frightening at this point because they do not correspond to what happens in other Argentine provinces. The numbers are already those of the most conflictive Brazil due to a number of factors: “the average age of initiation of consumption in vulnerable neighborhoods is 10 years old. Those 13-year-old boys are shooting for a bag of cocaine. That is the life they live and want to live,” reported the governor of Santa Fe, Omar Perotti.
The Rosario mayor did not remain silent either. “It is so treacherous that I doubt everything. Even that they are criminal gangs,” he said, questioning the hypothesis of drug trafficking with influence in prisons, courts and the media themselves. The bosses behind this escalation are members of the Cantero clan, founder of the Los Monos group. Some of their bosses are barely 24 years old.
QUIT NOW!
The country does not need commentators, it needs ministers to beat drug trafficking. pic.twitter.com/S5BT9dTaJO
— Patricia Bullrich (@PatoBullrich) March 2, 2023
claim for federal assistance
Related news
“It is very clear that it is easy to hurt Rosario and that there is no concrete help. How far is the president from here, half an hour? I am the mayor of the city, I do not manage the security forces and when I asked, they didn’t let me,” complained the mayor. Rosario is located about 400 kilometers north of the city of Buenos Aires. Javkin is part of the opposition alliance Together for Change led by Macri. “Drug trafficking must be fought decisively,” the ex-president intervened from social networks.
Rosario is not only the cradle of Leo Messi, Lionel Scaloni, Angel di Maria and Cesar Luis Menotti, but also the cradle of great writers and artists. But the view that people have of the city has been marked by violence for years. In the last two months alone, almost 60 people have lost their lives, most of them young, and with the aggravating circumstance that they die very close to their homes because they are enrolled in the fights between gangs. In 2022 there were 287 fatal cases there, the Public Security Observatory has reported. It is the place in Argentina where more people have been murdered.