MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine businessman found dead in Uruguay River

Schneider used to live in Uruguay but his body was found on the Argentine shore of the river.

Argentine businessman Eugenio Schneider, who owned a successful sandwich restaurant near Paysandú in Uruguay, was found dead on the west side of the Uruguay river shore Saturday. His body was identified Monday by his family. He was 81.

The Gualeguaychú Prosecutor's Office “determined that Mr Eugenio Schneider's death was due to drowning,” and the body had “already been handed over to his family” for his memorial, it was announced.

Last Thursday, Schneider had lunch at his own ”La Pulpería“ restaurant and then went to the riverside. At around 5:00 pm, his family reported his disappearance to the authorities.

The Argentine-German businessman was in charge of the Casa Blanca meat processing plant as well as the highly acclaimed ”La Pulpería” sandwich restaurant in addition to a network of butcher stores across Montevideo.

Besides his businesses, Schneider had made a name for himself as a writer (he authored two books and was a pupil of Jorge Luis Borges') who befriended presidents and had had a Nazi father.

Schneider had purchased the meat processing plant while it was ruined and brought it back to today's estimated worth of about US $ 35 million. He had even survived COVID-19.

Casablanca is a small town of 400 inhabitants 17 kilometres from Paysandú. Schneider used to own the entire location until the State bought it from him.

Although Schneider had used to swim naked, he had not been doing it later after having COVID-19.

Another fact that caught the attention of those close to him was that when he left his house, Schneider had left his belongings there, such as an agenda that he always carried with him.

The Casa Blanca meat processing plant (Fricasa) accounts for 3.5% of Uruguay's slaughter and has around 630 employees, in addition to supplying to its own 18 stores.

Casablanca residents have lived “in his houses” without ever paying rent, but their lives depended heavily on Schneider's mood, it was reported. Schneider himself had recognized in an interview that ”the people who work for me are afraid, but only of me.”

“They are not afraid of life; they fear me to the point of believing that if I am gone, everything will fall apart.”