MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

At least one peddler killed in clash with Argentine Border Guard

Over 51 kilos of cocaine were seized from the smugglers, Gendarmería said on its website

One person was killed and at least three others were wounded in a clash between peddlers and Argentina's Border Guard (Gendarmería Nacional - GN) near the town of Orán in the northern province of Salta bordering Bolivia.

According to local media, the traffickers tried to seize the GN 28 de Junio on Route 50, one of the contraband's main passages, so the law enforcement troops defended themselves. Other outlets, however, said that the coca leaf dealers were attacked in an episode resulting in the death of a man identified as Martín Gómez, aged 27, after which residents set up road blockades in protest, as videos that went viral on social media would corroborate.

Contradicting reports mentioned that the victim was named Arnaldo Ariel Gareca, 26, who had been taken by the peddlers to the Aguas Blancas hospital. Gareca was identified as a “passer of coca leaves”. Meanwhile, the results of the autopsy are still awaited to determine the cause of death. No bullets were found in his body nor any signs of asphyxiation.

“Around three o'clock in the morning, about 20 people were detected in the vicinity of the sector called La Isla, on the banks of the Pescado river, with several packages,” a witness quoted by Infobae stated. The group fled into the bush and left some 22 bags open, one of them was proven to contain cocaine. “When the uniformed officers were lifting the load, they surrounded them and were attacked with stones,” the sources went on. The Public Prosecutor's Office explained that after being dispersed at first, a larger group arrived on foot and in vehicles with their faces covered and no clothing from the waist up.

“In Oran-Aguas Blancas, violent drug traffickers attacked the Gendarmerie because they can't stand the fact that their business is over. They wanted to cross illegal shipments through clandestine passages and, when they were intercepted, they responded. But it was clear: not a single gram of drugs will pass through our borders,” Security Minister Patricia Bullrich wrote on social media. “The gendarmes stopped the attack, controlled the situation, and secured 22 suspicious packages. They are finished,” she added.

Gómez's widow admitted that “my husband was a coca leaf smuggler” but “not a drug trafficker.” Coca leaves dealing is not illegal and the families insist that their loved ones should not be treated as criminals as Bullrich did.

According to other outlets, all three people who sustained gunshot wounds were taken to the San Vicente de Paul hospital in Orán. Local official Adrián Zigarán told Radio Nacional Salta that those responsible for the incident were a group known as “chancheros,” who smuggle coca leaves, but also cocaine, across the border. Oran reporter Samuel Huerga explained that the chancheros usually share part of their profits with GN officers.

“Once the situation was controlled, the uniformed officers began to inspect the bags of contraband and found 49 ”bricks“ with 51 kilos [and] 107 grams of cocaine along with 216 kilos of coca leaves and 6,350 packets of cigarettes,” Gendarmería said on its website.

Weeks ago, Bullrich and Salta Governor Gustavo Sáenz launched Plan Güemes to tackle drug trafficking in Aguas Blancas. (See also: Argentine PNA to patrol Bolivia-bordering river )