The disturbing visit that the widows of five Argentines killed in New York received in Rosario

Gonzalo Sánchez

02/03/2020 - 10:00

• Clarín.com
• Society

Never again the days were the same in Rosario. After the attack, recovering the routines became a challenge. They were hard years in which five women and all their children had to take refuge in an intimate world full of absences. They created a safe circle to fight against the nightmare and appealed to the love of close beings to resist. Little by little, while the cause for the crime of their husbands advanced in the United States Justice, all together they were building the courage that allowed them to get here: to the doors of the trial, which will be carried forward in May.

It will be when they travel to New York to face the murderer of their husbands. Sayfullo Saipov, 31, a native of Uzbekistan, a legal resident of Patterson, New Jersey, married, father of three children. Homicide confessed in the name of Allah. A lone wolf, in the words of the FBI experts who several times came to Rosario to give them the belongings of their dead men and talk with those torn women about the implications of the judicial process.

On the afternoon of October 31, 2017, Saipov rents a white van at Home Depot (a market for home arrangements) and goes hunting. It crosses with the 10 friends of Rosario who celebrate 30 years of graduates walking through the big apple and launches with the vehicle turned into a lethal weapon. Kill five Rosario and three other cyclists. A policeman shoots him. The murderer is arrested. Soon, he confesses that he would have continued killing if he could. A request for the death penalty raised by the New York attorney general's office now weighs heavily on him.

The widows of Hernán Mendoza, Diego Angelini, Alejandro Pagnucco, Ariel Erlij and Hernán Ferrucci coined a phrase that they always repeat before starting to speak: "May love overcome hate." That first of all and then they accept that what they are looking for is the corresponding Justice, "the highest possible Justice." A year ago, Ana Evans, widow of Hernán Mendoza, told Clarín : "There is something that must be repaired in order to move forward." Days go by and they know, in their intimate jurisdiction, that a new crucial moment is approaching.

Sayfullo Saipov, the murderer of Rosario's friends.

The only strategy they have is to tell the truth: climb the stairs of the Tribeca courts, sit where appropriate, dominate the inner pulse and speak to a jury about who their husbands were, those innocent men that we can be any of us. There is no other scheme designed as a strategy - Why should there be? - and do not wonder what can happen. But a few days ago, a strange visit, in the middle of the Santafecina calm, disturbed them in a special way.

The wives of the murdered Argentines, during the act that took place in Rosario after two years of the attack.

Two women from North America, who spoke fluent Spanish, knocked on the doors of their homes. The envoys were presented as employees of the Official Ombudsman. It is the body in charge of the defense of the murderer Saipov. It was mid-January and because it was the time of rest they could not make direct contact with any of the widows. Most of them were on vacation with their children. But those sent did show up and left their cards to family and relatives. They spent a few days hanging around Rosario and its surroundings. "It's strange. We know that there is a judicial system and we respect it. But it struck us that they said they were friends or acquaintances of ours: informality is not explained and only allows us to think of some kind of strategy to mitigate the terrorist's grief." explains Evans.

Juan Felix Marteau, the Mendoza-Evans family lawyer.

"Everything lived, the way in which they presented themselves and lies alters and worries us. It puts us at a very vulnerable point," he adds. "What those who represent the murderer of our husbands so far from home suddenly ring a bell and we have it at the door is a frightening sensation that is very difficult to describe. What do they look for? What else do they want from us? life in a cruel and cowardly way. They already caused us the greatest pain and suffering, "he closes.

The Tribeca bike path where the killing was committed.

The "visitors" left their cards. Claudia Ahumada Degrati "forensic and clinical Physiology" and Monica Giner "chief Investigator - Office of the federal Public defender". Clarín managed to speak with Degrati: "Our visit was strictly a link to make us available to families. We represent the Official Ombudsman but we cannot communicate anything officially. I can only say that these types of trips are frequent and part of our work processes "the woman explained.

But times are accelerating. The Saipov trial is scheduled for late April. The assassin's defense has already shown a strategy to mitigate the death penalty request that weighs on him. Days ago, they requested the annulment of the first statements made by Saipov after being arrested ("If I could, I would have continued killing in the name of Allah") . In addition, they raised as a possible nullity factor that the jury would act under pressure due to tweets from the president of the United States, Donald Trump, with an express request for capital punishment .

Asked by Clarín , Félix Marteau, legal representative of the Mendoza-Evans family, said: “The visit, made surprisingly, without formal notice about its objective, in the homes of the families of the victims of the attack, by two representatives of the defense of the accused, caused disturbance in my represented. "

"One of the officials sent me said that they just wanted to get in touch with family members to find out how they were and if they needed anything. It is obvious that this will be expressed at the public hearing that begins on April 19 of this year in the Court Federal of NY What hides this visit is the attempt to find mitigators to the harsh sentence that awaits the defendant, so we repudiate that practice, ”he concluded.

GS