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The explosion in a bar in San Miguel: 'If we burned a little more and she less, Lucia would be with us'

2021-04-08T20:34:37.597Z


Dolores, Franco and Agustín shared a table that caught fire due to the fatal recklessness of the waitress. The victim's mother demands Justice.


Javier Firpo

04/08/2021 17:13

  • Clarín.com

  • Society

Updated 04/08/2021 17:13

There is silence at the table at the back of the Feel bar in San Miguel.

Like a certain shyness and nervousness that quickly break down with an order of fruit smoothies and croissants.

It's snack time on a fall Wednesday.

"Good, all good", is the automatic response and in unison from Franco, Dolores, Agustín and Lorena.

The first three are friends with each other and they were friends with Lucía Costa Osores;

the last one is Luchi's mother -as they called

her-

who

died burned six months ago in the Zar Burguers bar

, four hundred meters from where we are now.

Franco Racca (19), Dolores Bustamante (18) and Agustín Díaz (17) wanted to be part of this meeting with Lorena Osores (43).

"

We need the Luchi case to have visibility again

, everything is very quiet, it is not advancing judicially," Franco takes the post.

"I wanted to thank you for being here, I wish other friends who were there that night had come, but it is important that the media help us ask for justice for my daughter, who

did not deserve so much suffering,

" says Lorena, with an undaunted strength.

Lorena is the mother of Lucia Costa, the girl who was burned to death in a San Miguel bar.

Along with her, Franco Racca, Agustin Díaz and Dolores Bustamante, who were with Luchi that night of October 9 Photo: Juano Tesone

Lucia Costa Osores was 18 years old.

She had arranged to meet her friends at the Zar Burguers bar.

"They left her lying around, abandoned, not a bucket of water was thrown at her," says Lorena, her mother, in pain.

Last Friday, October 9, Lucía had organized a meeting with her friends from Our Lady of America parish and they met at the Zar Burguers bar, at 1189 Paunero street, in San Miguel.

At one point in the night, her friend

Dolores goes in search of the waitress, named Priscila Luca, to light the burner stove

, which is fed with alcohol, and which was not completely off.

Using a five-liter jerrycan of alcohol,

Priscila tried to revive the flame, which immediately caused a horrifying explosion

and set the eight friends at that table on fire.

With 80 percent of her body burned and her airways suffocated

, Lucía suffered two cardiorespiratory arrests and died at noon on Saturday, October 10.

Franco and Dolores were hospitalized for 32 and 45 days respectively and Agustín, just one.

Although they have seen each other in marches and separately, it is the first time that Lorena, Dolores, Franco and Agustín have met alone.

"I see the boys well, recovered and I'm happy for them.

I don't think why it was Lucia's turn and not them, at all, I think how Lucia would have thought

, who from heaven is happy to see her friends well, reunited by her. My pain, anger and helplessness are because Luchi is not, at this table, chatting with us. That is why I believe that

now or never is the time to go out and ask for Justice

, something that I do not wish on anyone ... it is appalling to demand justice. "

Lorena's words echo heavily on the table and Franco, Dolores and Agustín point their gazes at the croissants.

It is difficult for them to flow, they feel that there is inequality.

"It hurts us a lot that our beloved friend is not here, I can't stop missing her," says Dolores.

Franco surprises.

"I always think

about why I didn't burn more myself and Luchi less ... I had 40 percent of my body burned and she 80

..., perhaps if we had had 60 each, it would be two other things."

Agustín agrees.

"Yes totally, why was she all hurt and I almost nothing, how unfair life is."

Dolores shakes her head in denial.

"It was a roulette wheel, the flame

went straight to the place where Luchí was, which was the place where I had been a while before

. It's terrible to think that, but it happened."

Lorena listens and observes them.

Everyone reacts as best they can.

Agustín, who was located further away, at one end of a table of eight friends,

curses the moment of "having asked to light the fire

-as he calls the center of the table-, how we did not realize how dangerous they could be ".

There is a simultaneous gesture of denial, which seems choreographed.

"

How they did not throw a bucket of water to put out the fire

, I do not understand how the owner of the place (Carlos Oliverio) did not act as appropriate", chews Lorena, who wears a T-shirt with the face of her daughter and the legend " You deserve what you dream".

Dolores, Franco and Agustín remember "the worst moment of our lives. Everything was running, screaming, confusion, not knowing where to go, what to do," Agustín slides.

"I was on fire and a woman tore my shirt off and I think it saved my life," says Franco.

"Something similar happened to me, someone took off my jacket that was on fire."

Dolores and Franco remember the screams of Lucia, lying on the ground.

"She asked us to help her, it was desperate, she repeated our names, and we couldn't do anything, we were engulfed in fire."

"We do not want Luchi's case to be one more and end up in a box. We are going to fight for the memory of our friend until those responsible pay," Franco, Agustín and Dolores agree. Photo Juano Tesone

Franco shows

the aftermath of the burns, graft in his arms and legs

, a red tongue in his neck.

Dolores does the same with her left hand, which was seriously compromised and has marks on her neck and chest.

Agustín is the one who took it the "cheapest" one, although when he shows the photos of how he was 24 hours after the explosion, it is incredible that his body has absorbed those marks.

Believers,

young people don't blame God

.

"We don't wonder why God wanted this, no ... But you do get a lot of mixed feelings like why did we go to that bar, why did we call the girl to turn on the centerpiece, all unanswered questions" , Dolores breaks, with a lost look.

"We used to go to the Plaza Muñiz from here in the neighborhood and

Luchi told me 'don't forget to bring the guitar', because I play and she sang religious songs, her favorites

, and we had a picnic in the open air," recalls Agustín " .

The talk is messy, sometimes there are silences or short sentences.

Serena, Lorena listens, she doesn't want to get involved, but she says that "

Luchi was a very believer, I don't know who she inherited it from,

but she was very committed to Jesus, to the Virgin Mary and to her missionary task. We also

talked about death with Luchi, she told me 'Mommy, fully enjoy every moment

, we don't know when we'll leave this place, that's why we always greeted each other, there were reasons to kiss and hug each other ".

He pauses, seeks comfort.

"She enjoyed it but had her whole life ahead of her."

Franco (19), shows the graft of his right arm.

"I've got used to having them, my legs too, luckily it doesn't make it impossible for me to do sports," says the young man who plays volleyball.Photo Juano Tesone

After being discharged in November 2020, Franco had to continue his recovery at home, with his arms and legs bandaged.

Dolores, Franco and Agustín admire Lorena's strength, her guts.

And they are coupled with the memory of their friend.

"She was always the one who united the groups, the one who organized the outings,

the one who told you 'it doesn't matter if you don't have money, come have a drink and we'll see, but come on'

", Franco slides.

"Always promoting the social, telling us how much he missed us and any excuse was good to see each other. With me he would get together to walk and have some mates, but with other friends he would ride a bike, on rollers and also go out for a run," adds Dolores.

"We were friends but really, there was nothing else -there are mischievous smiles-, what's more, sometimes he told us that he liked a boy, he

always said he wanted to have a boyfriend but seriously,

" Agustín remarks.

Lorena listens and smiles for the first time at the description of her friends.

"She is also so flirtatious, always impeccable ... That her hair, makeup, hands, nails, immaculate clothes, neat and beautiful is she.

Sorry to speak in present tense, but for me Luchi is here with we

, I feel her close ... On April 12 she would have turned 19, what a crime, God! ".

"We also feel her with us, she is here," adds Franco, who puts his arm on a man to Lorena. 

Dolores (18) shows her left hand, which was in serious danger.

"The hospitalization was difficult, it was long, but unlike Luchi, I had the opportunity to recover." Photo Juano Tesone

The girl brings some sodas, the young men rearrange themselves, sigh, loosen their shoulders.

It shows in them a certain discomfort but also an internal need to make the memory visible and that the court case is not diluted.

"I need you very much, to accompany me so that I am not abandoned, so that those responsible go to jail. But

without you, it will be difficult. I know that everyone has their times and that what they have lived was a nightmare ...

".

Lorena insists with her request that it tastes like plea.

"Count on me, Lore," Franco tells him, angered by the inaction of the Justice.

"The situation is desperate, because

we see that nothing is being done, but on the other hand it is what always happens in this country

, how many cases there are like Luchi's that the earth swallows him up. Lawyers don't want to mess with people from the bar, which seems to have come power ".

Lorena adds: "The cause is dirty and there is no progress on a political issue. I feel that

the doors are closing on us from all sides

, so we appreciate this space."

Agustín (17) was only hospitalized for one day.

"When I saw how he was the next day after the explosion, I couldn't believe it ... Nor can I believe that now he has almost no marks." Photo Juano Tesone

Agustín shows a "publishable" photo of how he was days after the explosion at the San Miguel bar.

"There are others that impress even me."

"We are going to be there and we are going to call all the friends who were and those who were not

to make marches and the necessary noise

," says Agustín.

Dolores looks at Lorena and confesses: "I tried many times to communicate with you after I was discharged so that you could count on me but it

didn't end up encouraging me, I didn't know what to say to you

."

Lorena extends her hand in gratitude.

Franco apologizes in advance for a horror flashback.

"On Saturday April 10, the next day, when I was transferred to the Burning Institute, there were no beds available, until one was vacated." In the midst of my serious but lucid picture,

I found out that the bed that was left free It is the one left by Luchi, who had just died

... I heard the screams of a desperate woman ... "." It was me, "Lorena overlaps." Was it you?

Franco is surprised.

"Well, in my condition, all bandaged up, I heard 'the girl from San Miguel died ... I wanted to get up and go find my friend," his eyes fill with tears.

Dolores is the person who had the most bond with Lucia in her last hours

.

"I stopped by her house that Friday night, we tried on clothes and I accompanied her in her ritual of getting ready. She tried on a dress, went downstairs and asked her mother how it fit, so we stayed for about two hours until we went to the bar, "smiles reappear.

And due to fate,

Dolores and Lucía shared the ambulance heading to the Larcade Hospital

.

March to demand justice for the death of Lucia Costa Osores in the bar Zar Burguers, in San Miguel Photo Juan Manuel Foglia

On October 14, a march - led by Lorena Osores - was held in front of the Zar Burguers bar, in San Miguel, to demand justice for Lucía Costa.Photo Juan Manuel Foglia

"We were each on a stretcher - there was also Thiago, another injured friend - and

she told me all the time 'please, call my mother, call her, call her,' she

said desperately. I couldn't see her face because the doctors They were doing first aid and they had placed an oxygen mask on her. I

tried to get closer, touch her hand, but one of the SAME doctors would not allow it

. I tried to calm her as much as possible, she asked me for help until we arrived and we separated ".

Dolores talks staring at a window while Lorena doesn't take her eyes off her face.

"It's incredible, they started and ended the night together,"

says Luchi's mother, who regrets not being called a while before to assist her daughter.

"Other mothers like Franco's came to the bar but

I found out about this tragedy when my daughter was in the hospital

. I couldn't even get my daughter's phone back, which, can you believe! You don't know where it is. They must be there. a lot of memories of my daughter that I need to recover. "

To top it all, there was something striking and moving: on February 20 Lorena and her friends

received a message from Luchi's cell phone

: "Lucía left the group" of families in which we are all, "she said, which caused palpitations to all. "I can't believe how that connection was not found, I actually understand that there is no will," says Lorena.

Lorena apostille.

"In tragedies like this, time is essential.

The ambulance took about forty minutes, and the first one they took was Priscila

-the one who generated the fire and the explosion-, who was not serious as Luchi was. I explain, I can't believe it. "

Agustín is known to Priscila, and he was also admitted to her side.

"The scene was striking, the two internees, in the same room, told me that he

did what his bosses had instructed him to use alcohol, but he did not understand how it had happened

. He saw her very sad, he cried all the time."

Priscila Luca is indicted along with the owner, Carlos Eduardo Oliverio and a manager of the premises named Ramírez, in a case titled "wrongful death", although

the lawyers for Lucía's family are working to change it to "intentional homicide

.

"

"If she -for Priscila- does not collaborate, she will be the most affected, because the owner, Oliverio, has help from politics, surely he is going to save himself, so I think that this little girl should be clear, because in the statements she made he managed his boss. "

GS

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Source: clarin

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