People began to timidly take to the streets of
Rosario
, which is trying to return to a certain normality after two days of terror, anguish and confinement.
The daily pulse of Wednesday and this Thursday morning tries to hide what the drug traffickers achieved:
paranoia and collective psychosis.
After the last murder (there were four in five days), that of beachgoer
Bruno Bussanich (25)
, on Saturday around midnight, there is not an ordinary Rosario resident, of the many consulted, who does not think differently.
"Now we can be any of us
. "
Central streets, the pedestrian Córdoba, the park that surrounds the Monument to the Flag and the Costanera, for example, are
compelling examples of the undisguisable decrease in movement
.
"Even the tarpon fishermen disappeared," murmurs Aparicio, an imperturbable man holding his rod staring at the Paraná.
"If I don't come, I don't eat, but the emptiness catches my attention. Fear? No, what am I going to have...
Fear would be seeing my son's face if I don't bring him food."
Almost thirty degrees and devastating humidity, the feeling of fear that permeates the street "even though people are pretending to be insanity," Flor Balestra, cartoonist, producer and manager of the renowned Astengo theater, slips in a timely humor.
Reinforcement.
On Wednesday afternoon, the agents who completed the 450 reinforcements announced by Minister Patricia Bullrich arrived in Rosario.
Photo: Juan José García
"Rosario is
the city of restlessness
, it is feeling out in the open and under absolute uncertainty, but people are loving, they are cheering up again, Rosario residents try to be optimistic, they have hope or denial, I don't know," says this woman who Because of his work, he walks the street all day.
Balestra was a trend on social networks for one of his drawings that perfectly summarizes the feelings of a beautiful city marred by drug trafficking: two hands hold a paper that reads:
"
Rosary with R for Russian Roulette
.
"
"I direct one of the most important theaters in the city, the Astengo, and today
a very great feeling of immobility
invades us . Fear, unease, anguish and fury too. I have always managed and been able to carry out plans and projects and today that is unthinkable because the basic thing that is security to go out on the street is not there. But I'm not going to leave, I love Rosario too much."
Bruno Bussanich, the beachgoer who was murdered in Rosario.
The passer-by is in a hurry.
Everything seems to be done at an accelerated pace, however the required Rosario exudes a sense of belonging.
"It is difficult for someone here to openly tell you that they want to leave Rosario, they may think about it, but they are not going to tell you. Rosario's DNA is something genetic, I try to continue working, it is almost seven in the afternoon and I cannot "There is a soul, but it doesn't matter. I need
whoever walks along the pedestrian street to see that I am here, open and reading a book, as if nothing had happened
. "
Joaquín runs the huge El Aleph bookstore, on the Córdoba pedestrian street, and admits that "it's hard for people to get in but we have to get back to it."
The sun sets and the photo looks more like a Sunday night than a Wednesday at sunset.
Shops, businesses and bars decided to lower their blinds before 6
p.m.
"I'm seeing what I'm doing," answers Ángel, leaning out of the door of his maxi kiosk,
watching
the panorama, while his daughter insists that he leave.
"You can make the economic difference at this time and it bothers me to give away the money, because I usually close at ten, eleven at night. And it does surprise me
that there isn't a cana around here
."
In the Municipality area, in front of the Flag Monument, the movement of people is very scarce.
Photo: Juan José García.
The
Clarín
reporter , on his tour, came across a couple of police officers patrolling the pedestrian area on foot, but no more personnel were seen along the Costanera or the Flag Monument.
"That photo (because of that "Bukele" image in a cell block with high-profile prisoners) that appeared in all the media
was a provocation and you can't screw with these guys
. You tried to wet their ears and they responded in the most "brutal," the newsstand continues, trying to find an explanation for the drug violence unleashed.
"If it's your turn, it's your turn, but we can't be locked up, we already had a lot with the pandemic," responds Elda, accompanied by two friends on a bench in front of the Municipality.
"The truth is that I am afraid,
it is the first time in my life that I feel that someone can trigger me
. I am not a fearful woman, but this moment is terrifying," says the 76-year-old woman, who also attributes what It is succeeding the procedure carried out by the Special Penitentiary Operations Group.
"That photo had to be made known, securing the city and protecting society. They rushed."
The "El Aleph" bookstore, on Córdoba pedestrian street, was completely empty on Wednesday at seven in the afternoon.
Photo: Juan José García.
"What catches my attention is the lack of police," Zulema is encouraged, standing up.
"The girls and I agreed to meet here to get some air, because we saw on TV that the minister (Patricia Bullrich) talked about security being reinforced. We've
been here for two hours and we haven't seen a single police officer
, they always do the same thing." with us, a whole circus and then nothing.... Look at the square, the Monument, all desolate, Rosario is so beautiful, how these scourges have destroyed it."
Some runner, two friends saying goodbye in a hurry, a father carrying his son in slippers are the only living sign that expresses movement on the esplanade of the square that leads to the Flag Monument.
"I live across the street, that's why I went down for a walk, to take my son out, but
the atmosphere is ghostly.
Normally at this time there are a lot of people, especially with this heat... people come here to drink mate, "We put on a tarp and stay until nightfall, but obviously
the drug traffickers got their way and are taking revenge
(alludes to the prison photo). I don't know how we're going to get out of this," says Diego, who walks away with his son on his shoulders.
A playhouse for children, on the Córdoba pedestrian street, explains the general fear that exists in Rosario.
Photo: Juan José García.
Sensitive and alarmed, people generally avoid contact at the slightest question, except for those who insist on not wanting to change their habits.
"We are here every afternoon to chat and drink mate on the Costanera,
it is a tradition that was not interrupted on Mondays or Tuesdays,"
share Alberto and Marcela, a couple who lives on the outskirts of Rosario.
"The destiny is set, or you think we are going to be saved because we don't come here
. We try not to talk about it, to enjoy the landscape, the river and chat about other things," they say, relaxed in a chair.
"What draws attention is the lack of police. Shouldn't there be one here, right on the Costanera?" he insists.
Fifty meters away, another family on a
picnic
completes the group of "bold ones" who decide to turn a deaf ear to the prevailing unrest.
"We are afraid, obviously, that's why we'll leave in a while, but we needed to get out, because we've been locked in since Sunday," says Sofía, mother of two young daughters.
The cartoonist Flor Balestra was a trend on social networks for her eloquent illustration.
"I
didn't send them to the garden or to school, because it scares me
, I'm going to wait for this week to pass, I prefer them to be with us."
Sofía works in a clothing store and since Monday she has not been there.
"The owner told us not to go, to come back on Friday."
Reinforcements landing
Clarín
's tour
covered the southern area of Rosario, where the Tablada neighborhood is located, one of the hottest, about seven kilometers from the center.
"There were several murders here last year, you have to
be careful and avoid going down some small streets, because you won't get out
," says Mónica, while sweeping the sidewalk of her house.
"Yes, you can see police around here. Two of them just walked by and a patrol car is coming around. I hope it's not just for a couple of days and because the journalists are there," she longs.
The chronicler walks cautiously and asks an agent "if it is possible to walk down this street."
Fear is heightened for those who do not know the neighborhood or the hot areas.
You reach
Ayolas Avenue, "the one that divides the central Rosario from the more marginal one."
A few blocks away there is more movement and also a police presence.
"There are several schools," says a father on a bicycle going to look for his son.
The school exits are points chosen to reinforce security.
Photo: Juan José García.
At the door of the Justo Germán Deheza school, where kindergarten, primary and secondary schools operate, activity returned on Wednesday after two days without classes.
"I'm a little nervous, waiting for my daughter to come out.
They told us that the protocol would change, so we're waiting
," says Antonella, who is waiting for her daughter.
After a while a teacher is seen opening the door of the institution and shouting "Renata."
The mother approaches and the girl leaves.
This is what she does with each minor.
Tour of Rosario, the city of restlessness, as some neighbors call it.
Photo Juan José García.
Four police officers are attentive to the students' departure time.
First the kindergarten ones, then primary school and, finally, secondary school.
"We are here because this
is an objective to be reinforced
and the school authorities expressly asked us to be present. We want to bring peace of mind to the student community," says an agent who cannot give more details.
A patrol car from the Unified Command of Federal Forces slows down and circles Ayolas Avenue, marking territory.
The arrival of reinforcements to complete the 450 agents that Minister Patricia Bullrich had announced.
Photo Juan José García
The
Clarín
photographer receives a message:
"
The Gendarmerie reinforcements are arriving
.
"
We found out and headed to the Cerámica neighborhood, where the General Martín de Güemes Special Rapid Deployment Group is located, about half an hour from Tablada.
In the detachment, from outside, an intense movement can be seen after the arrival of forces.
Secrecy reigns and a guard orders us to wait outside.
A few minutes pass and the press can enter the detachment.
"A number of reinforcements have just arrived that total the 450 people that make up the federal forces that Patricia Bullrich announced," they report from the Ministry of National Security.
"This reinforcement, added to the members of the Gendarmerie, Prefecture, Federal Police and PSA, adds up to a garrison of
2,000 troops, who will be dedicated to citizen security tasks
in the different neighborhoods of the city."
"We want Rosario to recover peace and order without taking even a step back," said the Ministry of National Security. Photo: Juan José García
"As we have been doing since the first days of January within the framework of the Bandera Plan, we will continue working
in exclusive areas of intervention of the federal forces
, and now, to the two in which we were already working, one in the northwest that includes the Ludueña and Empalme Graneros neighborhoods and the other in the south with Tablada, Las Heras, Barrio Municipal and Villa Manuelita, two others will be added, one in the area of the Triángulo and Moderno neighborhoods and the other that includes Vía Honda and Barrio Banana and surrounding areas,” said the Undersecretary of Federal Intervention of the Nation, Federico Angelini.
The national official, at the time of receiving the agents, stated that "there will also be fixed points in charge of federal forces in other sectors of the city of Rosario,
strategically chosen as a result of the investigation tasks
carried out by the joint command , with a single objective according to the precise instructions of President Javier Milei and Minister Bullrich:
that Rosario recovers peace and order without taking even a step back."
Members of the four forces arrive at the Rosario detachment with the objective of confronting drug trafficking. Photo: Juan José García
It was detailed, on the other hand, that the Armed Forces will have trucks, vans and personnel transfer vehicles and the assistance of helicopters provided by the Air Force and the Argentine Army, in addition to the incorporation of patrol cars from the Santa Cruz Police. Faith, plus the vehicles of the federal security forces that are already working in the city.
"
Early on Thursday, the new work scheme will be deployed in the territory,
as planned by the Ministry of National Security and the Ministry of Security of the Province of Santa Fe," they stated.
Rosary beads. Special delivery