The tombs of the former President of the Nation Carlos Menem and his son Carlos Menem Jr.
were vandalized in the Islamic Cemetery in the town of La Tablada
, in the La Matanza district.
According to the Islamic community,
at least one hundred plots were attacked, some of them even desecrated.
Among the vandalized graves are
that of Carlos Saúl Menem and his son.
As for the former president's plot, as explained by Adalberto Assad, the head of the Argentine Islamic Arab Association,
the speakers that were there and recited fragments of the Koran were stolen from that place.
"Dr. Menem's grave was not desecrated, on the contrary, today we put up a new flag, because it fades due to the sun and rain. The thing about the speaker is true. We have speakers in which the holy Quran is heard when relatives visit , and a pair of speakers were stolen," Assad explained in conversation with LN+.
Through a statement, earlier the Association had detailed that the Argentine flag had been taken from that sector.
Assad also said that the Riojan's relatives contacted him after the first images of the attacks on the cemetery were released.
The president of the entity warned that
the area "is no man's land"
due to the settlements that are in the vicinity and commented that years ago the Gendarmerie took care of the cemetery, but "they took it out of there because they needed it in other places."
At least 100 graves in the Islamic Cemetery were vandalized.
"We have a night caretaker. But,
it is very difficult to control what happens in the 6 hectares
, especially at the bottom, which is where these people access," said Assad.
He anticipated that he would contact the municipality of La Matanza to request greater security and assured that if the Province built the planned social housing in the vicinity of the cemetery, "the area would calm down much more."
Regarding the damage to the tombs, the entity explained that
the criminals took bronze frames
and destroyed different marble structures of the tombs.
ENOUGH OF VANDALISM IN THE ISLAMIC CEMETERY
At least 100 graves in the Islamic Cemetery were vandalized, desecrated and robbed on the night of February 13 to 14, including that of former president Carlos Saúl Menem and his son Carlos Menem Jr. pic. twitter.com/H9cld8CN4y
— Arab Argentine Islamic Association (@ArabeIslamica) February 15, 2024
The Islamic community called for reflection.
"These attacks are not the first that we have suffered on the property and cannot be taken lightly in the case of a place of such spiritual and symbolic importance," the Association stated.
The complaint for the vandalization of the cemetery was filed at the San Alberto neighborhood police station.
The Investigation and Trial Functional Unit Number 8 and the Guarantee Court 5 of the La Matanza Judicial Department are involved in the investigation.
Former president Carlos Menem died on February 14, 2021, at the age of 90, after being hospitalized at the Los Arcos Sanatorium due to a urinary infection.
His body was laid to rest in the Blue Hall of Congress and then taken to the Islamic Cemetery, where his son Carlos Menem Jr. also rests, who died in 1995 when he was 26 years old, when the helicopter he was driving between Ramallo and San Nicolás crashed.
After the aircraft crashed, the pilot Silvio Oltra, who accompanied the former president's son, also died.