Drug terror in Rosario. When politics and reality run along paths that only sometimes crossBy Germán de los Santos and Hugo Alconada Mon

ROSARIO.- Three vans, four vans, four trucks, seven patrol cars and a bus were placed on the shoulder of the highway that connects Buenos Aires and Rosario. Identified with Gendarmerie logos, they did not enter the bleeding city. They waited for the arrival of the Minister of National Security, Patricia Bullrich. For the cameras. For Instagram.

The anecdote is that: an anecdote. But he eloquently graphs the dimensions through which politics and reality run, which sometimes connect, and sometimes do not. This is how President Alberto Fernández announced, on March 7, 2023, that he would send the Argentine Army to Rosario as part of a mega federal operation – the eighth in ten years – that promised to provide a solution to the security crisis in the largest city. of Santa Fe, harassed by the expansion of drug trafficking and the violence of organized crime. And a year later, Javier Milei’s government announced the same thing, even knowing that the armed forces cannot intervene in matters of internal security and can only assist with logistics, at most. That time and this time, the objective of the Casa Rosada is to show “initiative” before society.

An example? They announced the sending of an armored car from the Gendarmerie to the hottest streets of Rosario. Many may not remember it, but they had already sent it in 2017. It is the Spartan, a tactical support vehicle. The gendarmes have three and they also walked the streets of Buenos Aires during the G-20 meeting, at the end of November 2018.

Now a “Crisis Committee” is also announced to address the drama in Rosario after the murders of two taxi drivers, a trolleybus driver and a service station beachgoer, as in 2023 a “Unified Command” was also announced to address what was happening in the third most populated city in the country. Why had it been ordained then? For a drug attack on the family supermarket of Antonela Roccuzzo, Lionel Messi’s wife.

At that time, Mayor Pablo Javkin (who continues to head the Executive in Rosario) already described these shootings that aim to cause shock in society as a “narco-terrorist attack.” A year passed… This week, when she launched the reinforcement of the federal deployment operation, the Minister of National Security, Patricia Bullrich, promised not to let “Rosario be a land of narcoterrorists.”

Experts work on the shot glass of the supermarket belonging to the family of Antonela Rocuzzo, Lionel Messi’s wifeMarcelo Manera

Another example? The authorities announced a reward of 10 million pesos for anyone who provides information about the beachman’s hitman. Whoever reads these lines should know that drug traffickers offer more dollars (and cash) to corrupt elements of politics, justice, the police and the Santa Fe penitentiary service, as emerged from multiple investigations that took place in Rosario in recent years.

The State – municipal, provincial and national – must begin to provide the services and cover all the needs that it claims to provide, but that are scarce on the streets. There are areas where drug lords are the ones who provide security, food and employment. Does that sound like a lot? Máximo Ariel “the old man” Cantero, historic leader of the Los Monos gang, managed the “Gauchito Gil” community kitchen with his partner, in the Vía Honda neighborhood. When they arrested him, the neighbors insulted the police for ghosts, not the drug dealer.

The requirements

The deployment of gendarmes, prefects and federal police runs, therefore, on a weak track. Why It is not about quantity in the deployment, but about qualityagree the security experts consulted by THE NATION. Of course, the more uniformed people walking the streets, the better; But that will not be enough to regain control of the Rosario neighborhoods, far from it. Much more will be needed.

First, it will require adding qualified personnel. That is to say, experts in intelligence, communications and criminalistics who dedicate themselves full time to unraveling how criminal groups operate on the ground, intercept their communications – with due prior judicial authorization – and advance towards the middle and higher links that transmit and give orders, rather than focusing on those who execute those directives. We must also go after those who launder their profits. And for the corrupt people who, from politics and the Judiciary, protect criminals.

To advance on medium and large fish, however, budgetary and technological resources are required that do not exist today. Politicians celebrate that they will send “smart” boats to Rosario, but remain silent about the grotesque computer failures that the security forces face. An example? The opening and analysis of a cell phone seized in an anti-drug operation can take up to eight months. Yes, eight months. Another example? Licenses for several computer programs used by security forces expired in December. And that, without forgetting that some forces have not updated the softwares with which they must fight criminal clans that use the most current technology.

Promising the landing of 100, 500 or 5,000 troops – or whatever number – also entails other problems. Among them, the security forces have finite personnel. There’s no more. If they send gendarmes or prefects to Rosario, they weaken other hot zones in different parts of the country. It’s the dilemma of the short blanket. In fact, it happened recently. Many of those deployed to control the street protests in front of the National Congress had returned from Rosario. They returned them to the Capital and now they are taking them back.

Does it seem exaggerated? So whoever reads these lines knows that a joke is circulating at this time in the gendarmes’ WhatsApp groups. They summon “retired personnel”, given the need to go to Rosario, with the following requirements:

• Know how to use a cane (anti-riot, not for walking)
• Being able to remove the weapon from the holster without the shot escaping (or the weapon falling)
• Being able to hear commands (even if you use headphones)
• Being able to tie your boots without taking off your bulletproof vest;
• Being able to remember instructions
• Do not take more than 10 medications daily
• Be able to walk to the bathroom (which may be excepted if you wear a diaper).

Humor, as on so many other occasions, strips away reality. In particular, when the deployment in Rosario of 100 or 10,000 troops faces another atrocious challenge. “It is enough for someone to send a kid with an old revolver and two bullets to make a mess“, he recalled THE NATION a general commander of the Gendarmerie, retired after decades of service and many, many streets. “Of course you have to prevent that kid from making a mess, but just as important or more important is to go after the guy who gave him the order.”.

Germán de los SantosHugo Alconada Mon

Themes

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