This is a story of awkward words and deeds.
The words are
pathetic
.
The facts,
dramatic
.
The theme is the drug tragedy in Rosario.
The same, again?
Yes, but
getting worse.
Among all the words -many and from different sources- we will choose those of the unusual counterpoint between the governor of Santa Fe, Omar Perotti, and the Minister of National Security, Aníbal Fernández, both belonging to the PJ.
After a string of new attacks with bullets and crimes, Perotti sent Fernández to say:
"He still does not understand the situation."
Fernández replied:
"Not having knowledge of what is happening is delicate
. "
He was not talking about himself but about Perotti.
That is to say: the governor and the Minister of Security tell the public that
the other does not understand or does not know what is happening in Rosario
.
It is implicit that the accuser does know.
Rosario's drama would then be reduced to two officials who understand and know perfectly well what is happening with drug trafficking in the city, but they cannot solve it because the other does not understand it or does not know it.
What are you talking about?
What Perotti says he understands is that the Nation must deal with the drug issue, because
"Argentina cannot allow these things to happen in its territory."
He said it while he was changing his Security Minister for the fourth time, a measure that he repeats from time to time and that -with results in sight- generates anything but stopping the shooting attacks.
Since the beginning of February, there have been bullets every day.
In some cases, the policemen hide: a young man shot down the front of a police station passing through the street
alone, on a bicycle,
and continued on his way as calmly as if he were going to buy bread.
Nobody said anything to him.
What Aníbal Fernández says that he does know is to send gendarmes (there was talk of 2,600 when in the Province they swear that there are only 500 there) and reaffirms that they are
financed by the Nation
.
That is to say, he reproaches Perotti for spending money in his province,
as if Santa Fe were Brazilian.
If there are 2,600 gendarmes, there will be
less than 900
on the streets in each 8-hour shift.
If they are 500, they add up to only 165 per turn.
In a row one by one,
they do not even cover the length of the Monument to the Flag.
Two months ago, a gendarme was arrested in Villa Gobernador Gálvez -a town in Gran Rosario- for lending his car to a gang that assaulted a municipal vehicle and took 600,000 pesos.
How do we tell that gendarme?
In which turn?
Another piece of information: the transfer of public money that the thieves ended up taking was done, strangely and contrary to what always happens,
without police custody
.
There seems to be a joint effort by a member of the federal force with another from the provincial force that was not precisely to take care of Rosario.
Do the agents who commit crimes -or those who remain static in the face of crime- act individually or are they part of a system?
Aníbal continued the game with Perotti until Friday:
"He doesn't understand security,"
he said.
Since Aníbal took over as Néstor Kirchner's minister in 2003, he has had direct responsibility for Argentina's security (as minister or as chief of staff) for
11 of the last 20 years.
In 2003 the total number of crimes in Argentina was 1.2 million.
The latest official report published, pertaining to 2021, brings that figure to 1.8 million.
50
percent more
(the population grew 20 percent).
In 2003, when Aníbal took office, there were 109 murders in Rosario.
In 2022 (Aníbal Minister of Security), the crimes were
288, the majority with the stamp of drug trafficking.
The Rosario population increased 33 percent in that period.
Murders
(increasingly linked to drug gangs)
, 164 percent.
Would that be "understanding" Security?
And the intelligence services?
90 percent of the crimes in Rosario occur in 12 percent of the territory.
Is it so difficult to prevent narco actions in such a small radius, with the leaders managing everything from the prisons that depend on the national government?
Is there political will to do it?
Aníbal said that Santa Fe has to settle with its Police, something similar to what he had told the governor of Río Negro when they asked him for help due to the terrorist attacks by Mapuche groups.
If drug trafficking or terrorism are provincial problems, what is the national Ministry for?
What would Aníbal Fernández's job be, exactly?
The new Rosario crisis came hand in hand with an extremely serious event: a street artist was murdered by a gang to
use the body as mail.
The
message was a piece of paper in the pocket of the corpse.
The victim had no criminal record or anything to do with any of the gangs.
He was randomly killed to be just that:
a messenger corpse.
The narco method of killing at random to terrorize civilians is used in Mexico - it was strengthened in the northern state of Tamaulipas - and
has just arrived in Rosario
.
In addition to putting custody of judges and prosecutors -as announced this Monday-, is anyone watching this?
While the officials talk, everything gets worse.
The gangs' response to the futile exchange between Perotti and Fernández came on Sunday, with
37 shots at a cantobar that killed a policeman and a customer
.
And it continued this Monday, with
more bullets against another police station
and a message for two prison guards.
In the city where officials are accused of not understanding, the only ones who understand everything are the drug traffickers.