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Election campaign suspended in Argentina following discovery of a body presumed to be missing protestor

Thursday, October 19th 2017 - 07:52 UTC
Full article 28 comments

Major parties running in Sunday’s mid-term congressional election in Argentina suspended their campaigns on Wednesday after a body, thought to be that of a young protester who went missing more than two months ago, was found in a river. Read full article

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  • darragh

    “plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose”

    Oct 19th, 2017 - 11:40 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Marti Llazo

    A body in the river. How very Argentine. Yesterday there were at least two body-in-river events in the national news. The body in the Chubut river was apparently planted there since the location had already been searched at least three times. Where the body was found is an area being occupied by the Mapuche.

    “ ... indigenous rights activist Santiago Maldonado...” What a crock. Santiasco was another terrorist criminal consorting with Mapuche terrorist criminals.

    Did we mention that Chubut is heavily Peronista?

    The judge in the Santiasco case is asking that the autopsy be done under the control of the country's supreme court medical forensics agency, the Cuerpo Médico Forense.

    Right now, trying to drive Ruta 40 through this part of Chubut is done at your own peril, because the governments have failed to control the Mapuche terrorists. Every time I drive north from Esquel I wonder what sort of shite we'll run into. In the past few days the Mapuche have destroyed several vehicles along that sector. Sort of like their Mapuche terrorist brethren on the other side of the frontier.

    http://www.perfil.com/politica/ministro-de-chubut-califico-a-grupo-de-mapuches-como-terroristas.phtml

    Oct 19th, 2017 - 02:15 pm - Link - Report abuse +1
  • Clyde15

    Isn't that were Think lives ?

    Oct 19th, 2017 - 04:36 pm - Link - Report abuse +1
  • ExPat 1987

    There can never be enough argie body floating in there rivers. :-)

    Oct 19th, 2017 - 04:57 pm - Link - Report abuse -2
  • Zaphod Beeblebrox

    This whole case is odd.

    1. This guy was insignificant so why would it be in Macri's interests to abduct him?
    2. I heard that a web site relating to his disappearance was set up before he actually disappeared. Is this true?
    3. The protest about his disappearance has been stoked by Macri's opponents.
    4. The body appears 4 days before the election.
    5. Are 3 and 4 a coincidence?
    6. With the prevalence of cell phones, if he was abducted by security forces why did nobody in his group film it?
    7. The initial reports are that the body was uninjured.
    8. Why the big fuss about this one “disappeared” guy but nothing about the significant number of disappeared under CFK?

    I don't know what happened to the poor guy, but there is neither reason nor evidence that he was abducted by the security forces and the opposition do not have a good track record of honesty. Equally, the opposition does not have a good track record of competency so, if it was all set up to try and damage Macri, any mistakes they may have made (web site? planting the body upstream?) will lead to finding who was responsible.

    I hope that the truth comes out eventually. Ditto Nisman and any who disappeared under CFK.

    Oct 19th, 2017 - 05:51 pm - Link - Report abuse +2
  • Marti Llazo

    What is really quite suspicious is that not only was the body planted upstream in a spot that had already been searched repeatedly, but it's rather close to the illegal Mapuche squatter settlement. And they have lots of skeletons in their closets.

    Oct 19th, 2017 - 06:43 pm - Link - Report abuse +1
  • imoyaro

    I actually had mentioned that Chubut was a peronist stronghold when this story first showed up, to which useful tool Delirium Tremens replied that since the border guards were federal, he didn't think that that would be a factor. Of course he doesn't get that most of them were there during the K regime, and to embarrass the president might have been a possible motive, or that they would be in the pay of the local peronist oligarchs. Gauchito Drink doesn't live in Chubut, he lives in Europe, but tries to maintain the fiction of owning a ranch with horses. ;)

    Oct 19th, 2017 - 09:02 pm - Link - Report abuse +1
  • Bubba

    Things that make you go “HMMMMMM”. The same Mapache that made a statement that he saw, through his binoculars that he does not have, being loaded in a UNIMOG, called in to say he thought he knew where the body was... HMMMM

    Oct 20th, 2017 - 07:59 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Marti Llazo

    Looks like the family has confirmed that the body is that of Santiasco. Conveniently adjacent to the Mapuche stronghold. Conveniently discovered by the Mapuches. Conveniently revealed days before the national elections.

    Oct 21st, 2017 - 12:39 am - Link - Report abuse +1
  • Enrique Massot

    “This whole case is odd,” candidly notes Zaphod Beeblebrox.

    You bet it is.

    However, I haven't read anyone in this forum to state or comment on the situation that ended up in Santiago Maldonado's disappearance and, as perhaps will revealed tomorrow, his suspicious death.

    The whole episode revolves around a police repression campaign seeking to discourage Mapuches from claiming ancestral lands within a 2.2-million-acre property acquired in Patagonia by Luciano Benetton, the Italian billionaire businessman co-founder of the Benetton Group.

    Santiago Maldonado was a friend visiting the Mapuche community, and was with a group of them chased by Gendarmeria (border police) after seeing up a road blockade. The Mapuches crossed the Chubut River to escape the police, but Maldonado was caught by the security forces, never to be seen alive again.

    After his disappearance, the Macri government denied any involvement of Gendarmeria and advanced several hypotheses (Maldonado had been injured in an attack to a Benetton employee, Maldonado was in Chile or seen in several Argentine provinces, etc. etc.) which collapsed one after the other.

    It's difficult to establish now how the body showed up at this point, before the election. Some point to cracks appearing to form between security forces.

    Zaphod includes in his interesting questions that “I heard that a web site relating to his disappearance was set up before he actually disappeared.”

    I will let the intellectual honesty of the readers weigh the argument.

    Oct 21st, 2017 - 01:28 am - Link - Report abuse -2
  • Marti Llazo

    Santiasco was a criminal in cahoots with the interloping terrorist Mapuche. The same Mapuche whose recent ancestors came over from Chile to terrorise the previous inhabitants and seize their territory. The same Mapuche who were thrown off the land that they had stolen. The same Mapuche who today continue to attack and terrorise people and destroy vehicles along that section of Ruta 40 in Chubut, just as they have been doing over on the Chilean side of the frontier for many years. No matter what Ridiculous Reekee thinks or how he wishes to spin the matter. We are dealing with a manga of criminals in this part of the patagonia, and Santiasco was just another of those many criminals.

    Oct 21st, 2017 - 02:31 am - Link - Report abuse +1
  • Enrique Massot

    @ML

    “...a criminal in cahoots with the interloping terrorist Mapuche.”

    That is exactly what the Macri government has been trying to feed Argentines, either directly or through his friendly concentrated media. Another case of blaming the victim and a show of the disgusting arrogance of characters such as Marti, always ready to side with the rich and the powerful no matter what the argument may be.

    Santiago was “...another of those many criminals.” Come on, Marti. Readers will be very interested in the backing you can provide to sustain this allegation. Don't forget to mention the heinous crime that made Santiago deserve to be disappeared and executed without a trial.

    Oct 21st, 2017 - 03:14 am - Link - Report abuse -3
  • imoyaro

    My money is on the cops, who were previously working for Kamerad/Komrade Rique's beloved Narcokleptocracy, and no doubt getting money on the side from the Peronist oligarchy, and maybe even Benetton as well. They had every reason to lie to the government when inquiries were made. There are damn few honest cops in Argentina, and the years of Kirchner corruption put paid to what few there were.

    Oct 21st, 2017 - 04:39 am - Link - Report abuse +1
  • Think

    Hay mujeres y hombres que intuyen que la violencia ejercida contra Santiago guarda proporciones inversas con sus cualidades superiores como ser humano...”

    “There are women and men that sense that the violence exerted against Santiago is inversely proportional with his superior qualities as a human being...”

    https://www.lahaine.org/mundo.php/santiago-maldonado-final-y-principio

    Oct 21st, 2017 - 09:59 am - Link - Report abuse -4
  • imoyaro

    You been drinking whiskey again, Gauchito Drink?

    http://www.adramgooddrink.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Cut-Spike-Whiskey-Tasting-2.jpg

    Oct 21st, 2017 - 10:16 am - Link - Report abuse +2
  • Marti Llazo

    That reekie won't recognise the criminal nature of his indicted Kirchnerist friends is amply demonstrated. That he would also support the Mapuche terrorists and their criminal cohorts here in the patagonia thus surprises no one.

    Oct 21st, 2017 - 02:28 pm - Link - Report abuse +1
  • Zaphod Beeblebrox

    Reeko,

    “However, I haven't read anyone in this forum to state or comment on the situation that ended up in Santiago Maldonado's disappearance and, as perhaps will revealed tomorrow, his suspicious death.”

    Apparently he drowned and there were no other injuries. The witness who said he saw him attacked by the police now admits that he lied and actually he said he was trying to help Maldonado to cross the river when he told him to continue without him. When he turned around Maldonado disappeared. This was the same guy who phoned the police to let them know where to look for the body and claimed the $2m reward.

    “The whole episode revolves around a police repression campaign...”

    No, as Marti says above, the police were there to try to prevent illegal actions by the invading Mapuches and their supporters.

    “Santiago Maldonado was ... caught by the security forces, never to be seen alive again”

    Actually, the evidence now points to him getting into trouble while wading a river while involved in an illegal activity and his “friends” did nothing to help him or raise the alarm when he disappeared. Instead they invented a story about a police attack.

    “After his disappearance, the Macri government denied any involvement of Gendarmeria”

    ...which now seems to be the truth.

    “... and advanced several hypotheses ... which collapsed one after the other”

    Well, they knew he wasn't attacked so something else must have happened. Maybe they rejected the “he slipped while wading the river and drowned” theory because they didn't believe that his “friends” wouldn't have tried to save him?

    “It's difficult to establish now how the body showed up at this point, before the election.”

    An attempt to damage Macri's campaign by spreading fake news maybe?

    “I will let the intellectual honesty of the readers weigh the argument.”

    A key witness now admits he lied about the police attack and there were no injuries to the body. I rest my case.

    Oct 21st, 2017 - 10:48 pm - Link - Report abuse +1
  • Marti Llazo

    @reekie: “ .....Maldonado was caught by the security forces, never to be seen alive again....”

    ZB is on top of things.

    The result of the autopsy so far are pointing to hypothermia and drowning. You know, the sort of thing that happens when you jump in the Chubut river this time of year. Or rather, when some out-of-town city kid (who hasn't the foggiest understanding of the conditions here in the patagonia) tries to cross one of these rivers after his participating in criminal activity. Local media are reporting the temperature in the Chubut river at the time at about 2 to 5 degrees C.

    There are about 50 specialists involved in the autopsy, including those approved by the Santiasco family. The reports released to the media, as ZB indicated, show no evidence of violence.

    The earlier appearance of the body having been planted has been explained by the forensic specialists: drowned bodies often sink, and over time bloat and surface.

    Leading us to remember once again that reekie is simply full of shite.

    Oct 22nd, 2017 - 12:06 am - Link - Report abuse +2
  • imoyaro

    I can just hear the crowd chanting now...

    ¡Rique, Payaso! ¡VOS SOS EL MENTIROSO!

    Oct 22nd, 2017 - 01:48 am - Link - Report abuse -1
  • Marti Llazo

    Our Mapuche terrorist friends -- which ridiculous reekie can't seen to understand for what they are -- arrested today with Molotov cocktails in El Bolsón.

    One of them was the brother of Facundo Jones Huala, leader of the Mapuche “resistance” group responsible for the confrontation that resulted in Santiasco's drowning.

    Watch reekie's friends at work in El Bolsón today (watch as one of the little hooligans catches himself on fire):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAB1z66Bsrs

    Oct 22nd, 2017 - 04:12 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • imoyaro

    Reminds me of an acquaintance years ago, who used to say as he left the house, “Don't spontaneously combust!”

    https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/uncyclopedia/images/4/4c/80505074.gif/revision/latest?cb=20100209021540

    Oct 22nd, 2017 - 10:18 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Think

    Anglo turnip MartiLlazo links us above to a Youtube video and says...:

    “Our Mapuche terrorist friends........ arrested TODAY with Molotov cocktails in El Bolsón. ”
    Then he repeats..:
    “.....El Bolsón TODAY......... ”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAB1z66Bsrs

    I say...:
    Strange...
    I remember that Demo...
    AFAIR... it was on the 1st.of September 2017..., some 52 days ago...
    Lets check the Youtube video description..., shall we... ?
    Juppp..., I remembered correctly...:
    “Published on 1 Sep 2017 Fragmento de ”Metadata“ emitido el Viernes 1 de Septiembre de 2017.”

    Geeeeee....
    Them Anglo Turnips don't even know what date it is today...
    Poor sods...

    Oct 22nd, 2017 - 11:14 am - Link - Report abuse -3
  • imoyaro

    Looks like they were busy though, taking over and vandalizing the city hall, as well as smashing a publicly displayed bust of San Martin, and let's face it, who could have a problem with that?

    http://www.lanacion.com.ar/2074381-activistas-mapuches-continuaban-con-la-toma-de-la-municipalidad-de-el-bolson

    Oct 22nd, 2017 - 11:32 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • DemonTree

    “Watch reekie's friends at work in El Bolsón today”

    “Published on Sep 1, 2017”

    Lol. A good lesson in how not to throw a Molotov cocktail though!

    Oct 22nd, 2017 - 03:13 pm - Link - Report abuse -2
  • Marti Llazo

    So very sorry, tinkle, there have been so many molotov bomb and other attacks by your terrorist friends in El Bolsón recently that maybe it's appropriate to correct the record and show the long series of dates and attacks.

    Perhaps you could use your newfound translation skills to cover some of the more recent news, starting with “Atacaron con bombas molotov un edificio de Gendarmería en El Bolsón -
    Manifestantes identificados con la RAM lanzaron explosivos al Escuadrón 35. Detuvieron a un hermanastro de Jones Huala.” Or the parallel note, “Caso Maldonado: atacan un edificio de Gendarmería en El Bolsón - Unos 200 activistas tiraron piedras y bombas molotov.”

    Or maybe you could summarise the note that covers the possible prosecution and penalties for all of those Mapuche “witnesses” who gave false testimonies, “Caso Santiago Maldonado: las penas por falso testimonio a las que varios testigos quedan expuestos.” (NB: Having been caught in their lies, the most Peronist action now would be to take to further violence..... right on cue, a video....“Argentina: Protests over killed activist turn violent in Buenos Aires”..... )

    Oct 22nd, 2017 - 03:20 pm - Link - Report abuse +1
  • imoyaro

    @ML

    What Gauchito Drink doesn't get is that it is all Art. The assault on the city hall and its occupation by hooded artists is known as “performance art.” The “murals” painted on the outside of the building, and even the bust of San Martin displayed by the city, is known as “ephemeral art.,” meant to be destroyed after a suitable time of display, said “murals” being painted over, and the bust violently smashed. The video you posted is the Argentine version of “Burning Man,” an art festival held up in the states, which was being held at the exact same time, (Aug. 27 to Sep. 4 this year.) I had no idea that Patagonia was such a “hotbed” of artistic activity!

    Oct 22nd, 2017 - 06:48 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Marti Llazo

    Not sure how good Reuters might be on this call but it's worth a read, and then another look tomorrow when most of the results are in:

    “Macri’s Cambiemos, or “Let’s Change” coalition, should get the most votes in races in the top five population centers of Buenos Aires City, and the provinces of Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Santa Fe and Mendoza, said Ignacio Labaqui, Buenos Aires-based analyst for emerging markets consultancy Medley Global Advisors. The areas account for nearly 66 percent of Argentina’s electorate, according to voter registration data. No one party has won all five in a mid-term vote since 1985. ”

    Local media are also giving Cambiemos “a slight lead” in some interesting races. But then Kretina's bloc is claiming the same.

    Too early to tell.

    Oct 23rd, 2017 - 12:23 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • imoyaro

    I'm monitoring results as they come in here...

    https://www.infobae.com/resultados-total-pais-elecciones-2017/

    I'm amazed at how high the percentage of votes counted is, it was a lot slower during the PASO.

    Oct 23rd, 2017 - 01:08 am - Link - Report abuse 0

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