Argentina: controversy after the murder of a former Kirchner collaborator

The murder of the former secretary of the current vice-president and ex-president Cristina Kirchner sparked a controversy in Argentina, where the opposition called it a "crime of extreme institutional gravity" even if justice does not find for the moment no political motive. The body of Fabian Gutiérrez, 47, was discovered on Saturday half-buried, wrapped in a blanket and showing traces of beatings on the head and a knife wound in the throat in the courtyard of a house in El Calafate , 2,700 km southwest of Buenos Aires.

The investigating judge, Carlos Navarte, said he had "no clue pointing to a political cause" . Four suspects were arrested, and it was on their indications that the body was discovered, alongside a television set and a HiFi system stolen from the victim's home. According to the judge, one of the suspects, aged 20, had an emotional relationship with Fabian Gutiérrez, a wealthy man who had a second home in El Calafate.

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Ms. Kirchner's former secretary was charged in 2018 in a rigged public procurement case in which entrepreneurs, former civil servants and the former president are also involved. Former Liberal President Mauricio Macri's Opposition Coalition Together for Change described the murder of Fabian Gutiérrez as a "crime of extreme institutional gravity" and considered that there was "a possible connection between this death and crimes federal authorities ” , with reference to the corruption case in question.

In statements to Radio Millenium, Argentine President Alberto Fernandez called this insinuation of the opposition "miserable" and "worthy of scoundrels" .