After the arrest of Marcelo “Teto” Medina, suspected of being part of an illicit association denounced for fraud, reduction to servitude and labor exploitation, several people approached the premises of the The Reason for Living Assistance Centerlocated in the Buenos Aires municipality of Berazategui, and gave their testimony about the work carried out by the community intended for the rehabilitation of people with addictions that the driver promoted.
“Everything I hear is terrible ridiculousness, because what is said is not true at all”commented Cristian to the chronicler of LN+ present on the spot. The young man specified that he had already been “discharged” and that his stay in the center lasted 14 months, a period of time in which, according to him, he “learned to live” and “to be a person”. “I wanted to take my life and here they gave it back to me”he indicated.
Meanwhile, another woman, who introduced herself as the mother of one of the internees, flatly denied that her son had been a victim of forced labor. “His evolution is magnificent”, held. And he defined daily life on the grounds of La Razón de Vivir as “a family dynamic”especially on days when family members are allowed to enter the place: “Today I can come with food to have breakfast with him and we share all day.”
“Sometimes I am there from 11 in the morning until 6 in the afternoon and I never saw anything happen. They are all very loving. Everything here is talking, there are dynamics of chatting, singing, hugging, “said the woman. And she detailed the “therapy” carried out by Medina “once a week”: “They all sit around and ‘Teto’ talks to them, tells them that they have to make an effort, that they have to talk to their mothers”.
“After the talk, he makes each of the boys talk and there they can talk about the weather or food, but nothing about consumption. He encourages the boys so they can get off drugs and teaches them that they have to work and talk to their mothers.”, he added.
In that sense, he denied that his son had ever been forced to work. “My son never made an arrangement, he never made a piece of furniture, he only once made a cardboard or sang,” the woman said, later adding that “They give each family the possibility of paying as much as they can”.
For his part, the father of another of the inmates was surprised by the judicial operation that was carried out on the Berazategui property. “We were not aware of anything, because every time we came the treatment was always good”he indicated, although he later acknowledged that he is unaware of the daily functioning of the community, since he visited his son “every 20 days.”
Not all the testimonies that were made publicly known were in favor of the La Razón de Vivir community. “Document letters, complaints, various presentations and @MunicipioPilar never listened to us … now Teto Medina is in prison”a woman who recognizes herself as one of the complainants in the case wrote on her Twitter account.
“Will they close the addiction center that he had in Del Viso or is the bribery stronger? 4 years denouncing and they did nothing, “said the complainant. And in another tweet she added: “You know the number of complaints we filed in Pilar for the Teto Medina clandestine addicts center and they never gave us a ball.”