Mauricio Gerónimo: from the Mathematical Olympics to jail as a 'narco councilman'

Virginia Messi

04/08/2021 6:00 AM

• Clarín.com

• Police

Updated 04/08/2021 6:00 AM

Mauricio Gerónimo (34) always presented himself publicly as the victim of a political plot, an armed maneuver to overturn the important number of votes that led him to be a councilor for Salvador Mazza, in the province of Salta, after serving in the military for more than a decade. in local Peronism.

Claiming his innocence, in 2016, he sent videos to the media after being a fugitive accused of escorting

a shipment of 267 kilos of cocaine

.

Now he repeated the same thing during the oral trial that is being followed in Salta and that may conclude on Friday.

And he held the same position in an interview with

Clarín

.

But in addition to defending himself, in recent days, Gerónimo went on the counterattack: he denounced the federal prosecutor Ricardo Toranzos and a group of gendarmes who participated in the operation "February Blanco", as the seizure of the 267 kilos was called.

Their defense attorney, Lucas Bianco, accused them of ideological falsification of a public instrument, false testimony and illicit association.

In the telephone conversation from the Güemes prison, where he is being detained, Gerónimo

was sure of his acquittal

.

"The court allowed me to attend the hearings in person, after swabbing. At the trial it

was crystal clear that I have nothing to do with drugs,

" he told this newspaper.

Gerónimo is confident in a situation that, despite what he says and repeats, is not presented as favorable.

Stage 2

The trial against him is stage 2 of a case for which

six people

have

already been sentenced 

-to sentences of between 9 and 14 years in prison, including Jesús Gerónimo (Mauricio's brother) and the former councilor of Salvador Mazza Alejandro Maurín.

Even that ruling was already confirmed by the Criminal Cassation Chamber, in September 2018.

That doesn't seem to affect the former councilor, who

is

currently

studying law in jail

.

"I am an economics technician, I like numbers, I did well when I dedicated myself to the cell phone trade. I like to use my mind," he proudly declares and puts an interesting colored sandwich: "I am one of the few people who brought a Skip a medal for a National Mathematics Olympiad. I

​

won a bronze medal in 2000, when I was in high school, "he says.

Former Salta councilor Mauricio Esteban Gerónimo.

-You can tell for sure.

But in this case there were already convictions ...

-Look, although we are talking about the same cause I am based on my judgment, not on that of others.

I was able to witness the hearings, hear the witnesses and know what I was accused of.

And what I saw was what I always suspected: they put me in a cause that I have nothing to do with.

That is why we filed a complaint against the prosecutor and the gendarmes.

Everything was crystal clear at the trial.

-You always talk about a plot, what plot?

-It is a political question.

In 2015, when I decided to run for councilor for the first time, I had a very good choice: I came out in second place to very little of the one who was then mayor and had the entire municipal apparatus in his favor.

I had a reference who at that time was with aspirations to the Interior.

Being very close to him, who supported me in the campaign, our enemies by hurting me also hurt him.

-Who are we talking about?

-From the national senator for the province of Salta Sergio Leavy.

Partly it was because of him and partly because of my confrontation with the person who is still in my town today as mayor (Rubén Méndez).

He is a person of great economic power, of great political power.

He knew where to enter me.

I don't have another explanation ... I didn't do anything wrong to anyone, except the prosecutor, whom I didn't even know.

-Were you a cell phone purse on the border with Bolivia?

-In 2006 I opened a small store.

It went very, very well.

It was just the moment when cell phone technology had changed.

Living in the border area, with the exchange rate that existed at the time, with Argentina that had been devaluing the currency ... I did very good business for Bolivia.

I opened another branch and started incorporating other commercial activities in the border area.

All legal, I paid my taxes, I had four blank employees.

I opened a merchandise wholesale, I opened a pig farm.

-But being in Salvador Mazza drug trafficking passes very close.

-Unfortunately, those of us who live on the border always see drug trafficking closely.

Logically, I always said it: we are all great and each one responds for their actions.

As the saying goes: small town, big hell.

You know who is who and I cannot judge a person if they make a bad decision or choose a bad path.

I always made my life, I lived from my business.

-Let's suppose that he is indeed innocent.

They never offered to make money with drug trafficking?

-No one ever faced me as a councilor on this issue.

Many times I saw things but I always respected what others do.

I dont get in.

I did things well, within the law.

I believe in Justice and I will come back stronger than ever.

-What is your relationship with Alejandro Maurín, the former councilor who has already been convicted in the case?

-We military in the same group, the Juan Domingo Perón.

But in 2015 we split up because he had his aspirations and I had mine.

We were rivals.

Because of that division we did not win the quartermaster.

Alejandro Maurín.

-His brother Jesús was sentenced to 9 years in the same trial as Maurín.

They found him nearly $ 600,000 in a car.

How do you explain that?

 -That I would have to ask my brother.

-It's not an answer.

-I cannot answer for the actions of others.

-He said he got the money from you.

-No, no, he didn't say that.

You are not very well informed of the cause.

I know what he testified and if he was convicted, he was tried for his actions.

-Maybe I'm wrong. What did your brother declare then?

-I did not see your statement on the subject of silver because they did not ask me about the issue of silver either.

I know they took silver.

Nor did I ask what happened to his silver.

These were difficult years, I had to ask for guarantees.

Former Salta councilor Mauricio Esteban Gerónimo.

-Let's go back to the dollars.

Weren't they in his car?

-The car was ... I had sold it to my brother.

-Although he is already convicted, you are incriminating him.

-No, I'm not.

I say that the things that he has done - or that Justice believes that he is guilty - is a matter of Justice.

I am facing a trial where I have been accused of many things but they have not been able to provide concrete evidence.

-Why did he run away?

-When the event happened, on the advice of my lawyer, we waited for the raids to pass and see what was in the case.

The next day I sent the lawyer to find out but they did not let him see the file because there was a summary secret.

15 minutes after my lawyer says this, I see Minister Patricia Bullrich at a press conference accusing me of drug trafficking with a name and surname.

What guarantees could I have?

-Is it true that you fell in Bolivia on your birthday because they traced your contacts with your family?

-Yes, they arrested me on April 30, 2019, it was my birthday.

I was in a very difficult situation.

Living the way he lived was tough.

I have a family, I have children, a 14-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman. I was tired of the situation that was happening.

-They say that it is not easy to live on the run.

-No, no, logically it is not easy to live on the run.

Besides, I never had enough money to say “well… I don't care, one day I'm going to come back.” I missed my children, I missed my people.

-What do your children say about your detention?

 -Logically, they went from having a father who was the highest figure in the town, who all the people always spoke well, to appearing on the cover of all the newspapers as a trafficker.

I had to change my son from school.

When it all happened, my daughter was a month away from turning 15 and I missed it.

I lost a lot of things and no one is going to give them back to me.

-In this case "February Blanco" there is still a defendant who needs to be tried: the Bolivian businessman Wilson Maldonado Balderrama.

He is accused of being the supplier of the drug.

Do you know it?

-Not in sight.

-It is said that you are very intelligent and that you are even a "chemist" who knows how to cook base pasta.

-I wish I was a chemist, but to do good things.

I am a technician in Economics.

I do my thing, I like numbers.

I am doing a law degree.

I entertain.

I really like to use my mind.

The truth is that I always excelled.

EMJ