On Saturday, March 30, 1996 – in the middle of Holy Week – a group of prisoners from Unit 2 of
Sierra Chica
, in Olavarría, tried to escape from the prison by scaling the wall. They had two rudimentary ladders, daggers and an 11.25 Ballester Rigaud pistol that the famous assailant Hugo "La Garza" Sosa Aguirre had left them as a legacy some time before before being transferred to the Batan prison.
The escape was aborted with gunshots by the prison guards of the Buenos Aires Penitentiary Service (SPB). But far from concluding as a frustrated escape, the episode gave rise to the
longest and bloodiest riot in Argentine criminal history
. It lasted eight days – between March 30 and April 7 – and held hostage a judge, her secretary, 13 prison inmates and three members of the Jehovah's Witnesses congregation who had gone to the prison to visit.
Of the
eight prisoners murdered
by the mutineers, seven ended up dismembered and burned in the prison's bread oven. The eighth died in the hospital. The one they attacked the most was
Agapito "Gapo" Lencina
, a 40-year-old man from Corrientes with a reputation for being a buchón and "ruina guachos" (rapist of young prisoners).
"Gapo" was shot twice in the back while trying to escape from cell block 8. Once in the courtyard, they stabbed him dozens of times and even today Ariel "El Gitano" Acuña – a former prisoner, now a successful YouTuber – maintains that
with his buttocks They made empanadas
which they then fed to some guards.
Drugged with pills that they took from the Health area and drunk on "pajarito" – a tumbera drink made by fermenting fruit peels –
The Twelve Apostles
, as the press mischievously baptized them, decided to move on to a plan B: they began to dig a tunnel from the prison carpentry workshop... and, in the process, they massacred their enemies.
They decided to surrender with the condition of being transferred to the Caseros prison, dependent on the Federal Penitentiary Service (SPF), from where they would try to escape weeks later.
Video
It is 28 years since the bloody riot that ended with 8 deaths, dozens of horrific images and several legends.
For the crimes that occurred during the riot, an unprecedented trial
was held
(the first by teleconference in Latin America) in the Melchor Romero maximum security prison, near La Plata. The sentence, handed down on April 10, 2000, included
six sentences of life imprisonment
, eight sentences of 15 years in prison, and five acquittals. The rest received varied sentences that ranged from 14 years to 6 months in prison.
This entire historic trial was filmed and recorded on VHS cassettes that the Azul Criminal Chamber treasures today. It has just asked the Buenos Aires Supreme Court to digitize them. There are also the 50 original file bodies.
28 years after the Sierra Chica mutiny,
Clarín
traveled to Azul to review them and found a unique document: a complete
album of photos not released to the media
taken in 1996 by the SPB during and moments after the mutiny.
The stairs
Escape ladder. Photo: Reproduction Emanuel Flax
It all started just after 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 30, 1996, when ten prisoners
simulated a fight on the sports field
to distract the guards.
While they tried to calm things down, they took a two-leaf ladder tied with wire and a ladder made of ropes with a hook at the end and began running towards the section of the wall near the armed guard building.
The prisoners came to support the ladder but two guards began to fire
machine gun bursts
at them . They fired with a gun that "La Garza" Sosa's lawyer had brought into the prison some time before.
The weapon and its double
The prisoners hid the weapon on the floor of a cell and covered it with cement. Photo: Reproduction Emanuel Flax
11.25 pistol used in the riot. Photo: Reproduction Emanuel Flax
Replica of the pistol made of wood by the prisoners. Photo: Reproduction Emanuel Flax
Fundamental to the escape plan was the
11.25 caliber weapon
that the prisoners used to go to the wall and then to kill Agapito Lencina. According to Jaime Pérez Sosa, one of those convicted of the riot, it was "La Garza" – a member of Luis "El Gordo" Valor's Superband – who gave it to him before being transferred to Batán.
"I had the honor of being given a 9 millimeter pistol with two magazines and an 11.25 with a magazine and 20 rockets. The 9 millimeter had to go to the Dolores prison and we sent it inside a television. The 11.25 was with which we did the quilombo," said "Jaimito" on the YouTube channel of "El Gitano" Acuña.
When the riot ended, the prisoners handed over all the knives they had (today they are kept in two large boxes in the Blue Chamber). But
the gun was buried and covered with cement
on the floor of one of the cells.
They tried to hide it to use it again. However, the stain of fresh cement gave away the hiding place and was rescued and used as evidence for the prosecution. One detail: the prisoners also made
a replica of that gun, out of wood
. The construction was so detailed that, from a medium distance, it looks like a real firearm.
The backyard
The prison yard was the scene of the key moments of the riot. Photo: Reproduction Emanuel Flax
Unit No. 2 of Sierra Chica is an old prison, its construction dates back to 1882. Its pavilions are arranged like
rays that converge in an open-air patio
where there is a control center in the middle.
In that circle, similar to a square, with grass, flowers, lanterns and dogs sleeping in the sun, several of the most significant episodes of the riot occurred and some of them were captured by the camera of a prison agent who captured the images from the box in the perimeter wall of the prison.
In these photos, attached to the file, you can see the commotion, the lying bodies, the attempts to stop the riot, and the fistfights.
A tunnel to freedom
Tunnel hole dug in carpentry area. Photo Reproduction Emanuel Flax
The tunnel is 20 meters long and one and a half meters in diameter. Photo Reproduction Emanuel Flax
"On the day of the bondi (trouble) I entered the tunnel and it was not a 22-meter tunnel as was said.
For me it was about 40 meters.
It faced the wall and at the end it had bars, but they were like straws and the mesh was cut with the faca. I went out and told the boys what I had seen but they told me not to go back in because the firefighters were throwing water and I was going to drown."
The testimony is from Jaimito Pérez Sosa, sentenced to life for the riot and still imprisoned. He gave it to his partner "El Gitano" Acuña on his YouTube channel. "Jaimito" talks about one of the least explored chapters of the case: the second escape attempt through a tunnel that ripped out the carpentry of the prison and attempted to pass under the perimeter wall. According to the sentence – to which
Clarín
agreed – "it was one and a half meters in diameter, two meters deep and 20 meters long."
The prisoners had put up a fan to relieve those digging and had also pulled a cable for lighting.
The remains in the oven
Seven dismembered bodies were cremated in the bakery oven. Photo Reproduction Emanuel Flax
Remains of bones and teeth extracted from the oven. Photo Reproduction Emanuel Flax
In the sentence handed down by the Dolores Court, dozens of testimonies were gathered that confirmed that the dismembered bodies of Agapito Lencina and his "ranchada" were
taken in bins to the prison bakery and cremated in the main oven
(there are three in total).
The testimonies, both from prisoners and guards, speak of a
sweet and penetrating smell
that made everyone sick. It was also found that the oven had operated at
850 degrees
, a much higher temperature than that used for cooking.
More than three empanadas
Ariel "El Gitano" Acuña, one of
The Twelve Apostles
, maintains that a few empanadas were made from the buttocks of Agapito Lencina. However, this in particular was never proven in the record.
There are versions that say that some of the empanadas cooked by the prisoners during the riot were filled with human flesh. Photo Reproduction Emanuel Flax
"We didn't make many, but a few. I gave them to the guards and told them:
'You're eating a empanada de agua,'
" says Acuña.
The story of the empanadas has a certain part: the prisoners made a large quantity of empanadas and distributed them among relatives who were on the street attentive to the development of the riot. There are also testimonies that say that it was among those empanadas that were those made of human meat.
Clogged sewers
After the resumption of the riot, human remains were found in the sewers. Photo: Reproduction Emanuel Flax
The tests determined that it was human viscera. Photo: Reproduction Emanuel Flax
"The photographs were taken in the intramuros area and specifically in the sewers where the viscera were seized, which were sent to the corresponding laboratory in order to determine their origin, whether human or animal," says the commissioner's report. 1st of Olavarría which appears on page 1,620 of the file.
Later, in the same body of the case, there is the analysis in which it was determined that, as suspected,
the viscera found in the prison sewers belonged to humans.
Judge Malere
Judge Malere leaves with the rest of the hostages on April 7. Photo Reproduction Emanuel Flax
The prisoners allowed an injured prison guard to be exchanged for two of his companions. Photo Reproduction Emanuel Flax
Part of the photographs included in the file were taken from the sentry box located above armed guard No. 2. Due to the height, they allow us to see key situations of the mutiny, such as, for example, the moment in which a wounded guard is exchanged for two companions. and also at the moment in which all the hostages walk towards the door once the end of the mutiny has been agreed upon.
In front of the entire group is Judge María Mercedes Malere who remained
kidnapped and in custody from the first day
.
The 12 apostles surrendered and were transferred to the Caseros prison in the Federal Capital. Photo Reproduction Emanuel Flax
A trip to the Caseros prison would await the Twelve Apostles, the unit of the Buenos Aires neighborhood that no longer
exists
.
Also dissimilar fates: some died – sick or murdered –, others remain imprisoned, others were freed by the 2x1 and fell again... the least rebuilt their lives. All of them, however, remained in history as the protagonists of the horror riot.
Sierra Chica. special envoy
MG