MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Former Macrist advisor seeks political asylum in Uruguay

Rodríguez Simón will not return to Argentina voluntarily.

Fabián “Pepín” Rodríguez Simón Monday, a former legal advisor to the City of Buenos Aires run by former President Mauricio Macri's Cambiemos alliance, has requested political asylum as a refugee in Uruguay, it was reported.

Pepín, who is also said to have been the man behind the scenes for then Justice Minister Martín Garavano during Macri's tenure (2015-2019), has sent a letter to the Government of Uruguay asking to be protected under “the terms of the Geneva Convention and other international norms.”

Rodríguez Simón announced that he will not return to Argentina “until persecution against me ceases.” He also explained: “I have well-founded fears that if I did, I would be unduly deprived of my freedom,” he said.

He added that “businessmen Cristóbal López and Fabián De Souza, with the collaboration of lawyer Carlos Beraldi, denounced me for my participation as an advisor to the Government of the City of Buenos Aires,” he explained.

He then specified that said the complaint was linked to his actions towards having ”the gambling licensees in this district (the horse racing track and the two casino ships) paid the Gross Income tax that they owed since 2003.“

He insisted that it is ”a process plagued by procedural irregularities,“ in which he was unable to ”exercise my right to defence in court.“ In mid-March, ”lawyer Beraldi asked that I be summoned to give an investigatory statement,“ he said.

”The judge in the case, (María Romilda) Servini de Cubría, did it immediately, without specifying what crime I was charged with and, also at the request of Beraldi, I am prohibited from leaving the country, despite the court knowing that I was in Uruguay,“ he said.

Pepín also denounced an alleged ”very intense media campaign of defamation and discredit“ against him in outlets run by the Indalo Group, which is owned by López y Sousa.

Rodríguez Simón also quoted relevant politicians from within the ruling Frente de Todos coalition, who have warned that he would be jailed in Argentina. He named former Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández, Deputies Tailhade, Moreau, Valdez, Justice Minister Martín Soria, former Judge Norberto Oyarbide, and lawyers Graciana Peñafort and Gregorio Dalbón.

”My detention, no matter how illegitimate, would allow these powerful businessmen closely linked to the government to symbolically repair their impunity. There is nothing pleasant in exile, nothing,“ he explained. ”Justice as a tool for Cristóbal López and De Sousa to persecute me and deprive me of my freedom for my legal political activity on behalf of the Government of CABA is what led me to request asylum as a political refugee in Uruguay,” he added.

The case against Rodríguez Simón began in 2019 when both businessmen denounced pressure in the form of alleged tax evasion charges to sell the Indalo Group to people close to the Macri's Cambiemos alliance.