Social and human rights organizations, left-wing parties, and relatives and friends of Maximilian Kosteki Y Dario Santillan carried out this Sunday a new public demonstration to demand that “politicians and masterminds” be sentenced Of the call “Avellaneda Massacre”occurred 20 years ago.
The march took place from the Avellaneda train station to the Pueyrredón Bridge, which connects that district of the suburbs with the city of Buenos Aires, in commemoration of the murders of the young popular militants two decades ago, on June 26, 2002, at the hands of the Buenos Aires Police, in the midst of protests over the social crisis.
In that place there was an act where a common declaration of the organizers was read and then Leo and Alberto Santillán, Darío’s brother and father, and Vanina Kosteki, Maximiliano’s sister, spoke.
Everyone remembered the solidarity and social and political commitment of both and there were criticisms and accusations against Eduardo Duhalde, President of the Nation at that time, and Felipe Solá, who was governor of the province of Buenos Aires.
Alberto Santillán maintained that “there are 20 years that we keep fighting for justiceI haven’t had my son for 20 years and I see how the intellectual authors continue to walk around all the television channels, protected by the political and police apparatus.
“Justice must be done not only for Maxi and Darío but for all those who have fallen into the hands of the State,” he emphasized.
The leader of the Polo Obrero Eduardo Belliboni recalled, in a dialogue with La Izquierda Diario, that “a state crime was committed 20 years ago” and for this reason “the material perpetrators who remain unpunished must be tried.”
“This is extremely topical with the recent offensive against the piquetero movement, jointly by the parties of the bourgeoisie. They have joined in a campaign against the piquetero movement because we oppose the adjustment and the agreement with the IMF,” Belliboni pointed out. .
Along the same lines, Silvia Saravia, a referent of Barrios de Pie, expressed that the slogans of the demonstration “have to do with the request for justice but also with the vindication of the struggle of that moment, very similar to the one we are having today, in a context where stigmatizing to the picketers for denouncing what is happening in our country: inflation, poverty, job insecurity that make a country increasingly unfair”.
The leader of the Left Front, Cristian Castillo, recognized “the dignity” of Alberto Santillán, Darío’s father, who, he said, “maintained the unyielding struggle during all these years.”
They were also the leader of the MST Vilma Ripollthe referent of the PO Trend Marcelo Ramalthe national deputy of the Left Front Myriam Bregmannthe leader of the New MAS Manuela Castañeira, the Buenos Aires legislator alexandrina barry and the national deputy Alexander Vilcaamong others.
Before there was a vigil at the Pueyrredón Bridge waiting for the main act for the 20 years of the “Avellaneda Massacre”.
Social organizations are concentrated in the Pueyrredón Bridge for the main act for the 20 years of the #MassacredeAvellanedain which the leaders Maximiliano Kosteki and Darío Santillán were assassinated by members of the Buenos Aires Police after an intense repression pic.twitter.com/uBIedcSxou
—Telam Agency (@TelamAgency) June 26, 2022
During the morning, militants from different political organizations cut off the two accesses of the Pueyrredón Bridge to the Capital from Avellaneda: Hipólito Yrigoyen and Bartolomé Miter avenues.
On Saturday there were activities that included the traditional Torchlight March from the former Avellaneda station, which has been named after the two murdered youths since 2013, and culminated with the popular vigil.
The documentary filmmaker Patricio Escobar screened a short film that works as a preview of the second installment of “The crisis caused 2 new deaths”a film that analyzes the role that the media had on that day.
“The murder of Darío Santillán and Maximiliano Kosteki was a repressive operation prepared by the Security Council of a cabinet of national unity made up of Peronists and radicals,” denounced left-wing leader Néstor Pitrola in a statement.
On June 26, 2002, Kosteki and Santillán were assassinated in the vicinity and in the hall of the Avellaneda station of the Roca Railway, after a brutal repression in which the security forces fired lead bullets at those who had taken to the streets to protest. for “decent work, food and work plans”, in the context of the economic and social crisis of that time.
Former members of the Buenos Aires Police Alfredo Fanchiotti and Alejandro Acosta, perpetrators of these murders, were sentenced in December 2005 to life imprisonment.
