University professor Nahuel Morandini and independent worker Roque Villegas have been living in prison since January 4.
The prosecutor's office of the province of Jujuy, in the northern Andes of Argentina, accuses them of psychologically harming the wife of the now former provincial governor, Gerardo Morales, and of "calling into question" the identity of their two-year-old daughter.
Morandini and Villegas did not know each other, but at the end of December both joked on their social networks that Tulia Snopek had been unfaithful to her husband, who governed the province between 2015 and 2023, with a folk musician.
Snopek denounced them at the beginning of January and now, on the verge of completing the regulatory two months of preventive detention in Argentina, both will face a trial that could leave them in prison for up to eight years.
On December 26, Morandini wrote on his X account - formerly Twitter - a speculation about the carnival festivities in his province.
The 45-year-old environmental engineer, professor at the University of Salta, said that the folkloric band Los Tekis had problems carrying out its traditional carnival party in mid-February because one of its members “teaches him how to play the quena [a Andean wind instrument] to the wife of the former governor.”
A week later, on January 4, he wrote his last tweet: “Well, the cana [police] of Jujuy just summoned me, everything indicates that it is because of my activity here.
Here we are".
He has been in prison since then.
The prosecution argues, according to documents to which the newspaper
La Nación
had access , that that day the rumor began to go viral that Morales' wife had been unfaithful with an instrumentalist from one of the most popular folk groups in the province.
“You throw the pebble and the glass breaks into a thousand pieces,” said prosecutor Hugo Rondón, according to the video of one of the hearings in the case to which
La Nación had access.
The prosecutor stated that Snopek, married to Morales since 2018, suffered “serious stress” due to rumors that later promoted the idea that the former governor's youngest daughter could be the result of infidelity.
“The existential virginity of a child under two years of age cannot be repaired, it will be a complaint, but the damage is irreparable,” the prosecutor said in that hearing on January 5, and then promoted preventive detention.
Arrested along with Morandini was Roque Villegas, 42, an independent worker who works in screen printing.
His crime was to reproduce other posts on Facebook that alluded to infidelity.
The case in which both are being investigated accuses them of psychological injuries aggravated by sexist violence and the crime of “suppression of the identity” of a minor under 10 years of age, a crime loaded with symbolism in Argentina due to the hundreds of babies who were born in captivity. during the military dictatorship and who are still wanted by their biological families.
The penalties for both crimes total up to eight years in prison.
The imprisonment of both men for 48 days has outraged much of the Argentine political spectrum and reached the major national media this Thursday.
The current governor of Jujuy, Carlos Sadir, who assumed power on December 10 as Morales's dolphin, tried to separate his very new government from the case.
“It is a matter that is handled by Justice.
It has to do with the impact on children's rights.
I don't have the slightest participation,” he said this morning in a radio interview.
Morandini's lawyer, Marcos Aldazabal, answered him in
Morales, who was a vice-presidential candidate in last year's elections in one of the formulas of the political alliance led by former president Mauricio Macri, governed Jujuy for the last eight years with a reputation for being severe.
Last June, Jujuy made international news for the repression of protests by indigenous communities, unions and social organizations that were demonstrating against an express reform to the provincial constitution that planned to suppress the right to protest and change the legislation that protects indigenous territories.
At least 170 people were injured with rubber bullets and tear gas during the protests.
After weeks of conflict, some 70 were arrested, many of them without justification, as detailed in the Amnesty International report.
That same June, Morales was the focus of another controversy.
The governor had invited filmmaker and environmental activist James Cameron to visit a solar park after a series of conferences in Argentina.
The next day, Cameron called several media outlets - including EL PAÍS - to denounce that the Jujuy government had "ambushed" him and was using him to "clean up the image of lithium extraction."
After his meeting with Morales, local communities informed the director of
Avatar
and
Titanic
that the mining companies in the area violated their rights to their lands.
“In a conflict between the extractive industry and indigenous communities, I will always be on the side of the communities,” Cameron said in an interview with this newspaper.
Human Rights organizations such as the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) have been seeking for weeks for international organizations to pay attention to the detention of Morandini and Villegas.
“The Jujuy justice system prohibited Nahuel Morandini's relatives and friends from speaking about the case.
He also forced Nahuel Villegas to undergo psychiatric treatment for allegedly committing gender violence.
All of these methods represent the use of criminal law to criminalize freedom of expression,” the CELS denounced in a statement on February 8.
At the end of January, the issue even reached the National Congress.
While the deputies debated, without success, the great law of scrapping of the State of President Javier Milei, two of them denounced the arrest.
Alejandro Vilca, a well-known Jujeño activist and deputy of the Left Front, requested the release of both in “repudiation of the Morales police regime.”
He was accompanied by a Peronist from his province.
“The weakest fell to teach a lesson about what can happen if they talk about what former governor Morales did,” said Guillermo Snopek, son of a former national senator and brother of the former Jujuy first lady who denounces the grievances of both men.
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