03/26/2021 17:30
Clarín.com
Cities
Updated 03/26/2021 5:37 PM
The City Government removed a bust in homage to Santiago Maldonado that had been placed on Wednesday in the Plaza de Mayo, during the march for Memory Day, 45 years after the last military coup.
Sergio Maldonado, brother of the young artisan who drowned in the Chubut River while escaping from a Gendarmerie operation, protested against the decision to remove the sculpture and took aim at Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, head of the Buenos Aires government.
"In the County of #Larreta it is not allowed to Plant Memory. In the Country of 30 Thousand, they disappear, they kill you and then they want to erase the Memory. We planted the Bust of Santiago on behalf of All the disappeared / murdered, Femicides / trav . in democracy #SantiagoPresente, "
Sergio wrote on his Twitter account.
In the County of #Larreta it is not allowed to Plant Memory.
In the Country of 30 Thousand, they disappear you, they kill you and then they want to erase the Memory.
We planted the Bust of Santiago in the name of All the disappeared / murdered, Femicides / trav.
in democracy #SantiagoPresente pic.twitter.com/E8PRiTlhcW
- Sergio Maldonado (@vikingomaldo) March 26, 2021
The Buenos Aires government explained that the bust was removed because "
its location was not approved
, as established in article 89 of the City Constitution."
To authorize it, they pointed out, the project must go through the Buenos Aires legislature.
Regarding the fate of the bust, they detailed: "Once the sculpture was removed, the representatives of the Peace and Justice Service Foundation, organizers of the event, were notified. Currently the sculpture
is sheltered
in the offices of the City Government to be delivered."
The tribute to Santiago Maldonado was made by a ceramic teacher from the Fernando Arranz school together with her students, according to the
Lavaca
environment
.
"I want to summarize in Santiago all the disappeared and murdered boys and girls -femicides, easy trigger, forced disappearances- from '83 to date. As is the handkerchief and the 30,000, from '83 to date I group all those disappearances and murders. There is Santiago but in reality there is the name of all those people, "said his brother Sergio shortly after the sculpture was installed.
An image of the sculpture made by a ceramic teacher from the Fernando Arranz school.
The young artisan was last seen on August 1, 2017 in the vicinity of the Pu Lof de Cushamen community, a few kilometers from El Bolsón.
According to the testimony of those who were with him, Santiago was
participating in a protest
that a group of Mapuches carried out demanding the release of one of their leaders, Facundo Jones Huala.
Gendarmerie personnel were transferred to the place to contain the protesters, and confrontation through, were the last moments in which Maldonado was seen alive.
His lifeless body was found in the same place, within the channel of the Chubut River, 81 days later.
In 2019, federal judge Gustavo Lleral closed the investigation based on different evidence, including the forensic report that established that the tattoo artist
drowned
and his body showed no signs of violence.
In 2019 the case was reopened due to a ruling by the Federal Chamber of Comodoro Rivadavia, which ordered to reconsider the death of the young man as a case of “abandonment of person”.
The investigation was once again in the hands of Judge Lleral, who was confirmed by the Federal Criminal Cassation Chamber.
LM