It's naive to think that the government 'is in charge' of the Gendarmeria as much as it is naive to think they are in charge of the police. The institutions here are still rife with sectarian divides and it's my belief that a few para paramilitaries (read Gendarmeria) made a fatal error with Santiago Maldonado as a way of hitting the Mapuche but it blew up in their faces and his body was carefully hidden in the hope that nobody could pin the crime on them.
Full control? I totally agree with you BUT politically they are in charge and like it or not this government changed the tone to clearly differentiate itself from the previous one by using the repressive forces in conflicts. I don't seem to remember a murga being shot before as it happened under this government's tenure for instance:
http://www.lanacion....-de-bajo-flores
Repressive forces are out of control and there's a tacit approval given by the government:
https://www.cronica....71019-0043.html
In this very same case Noceti not only planned (there was a meeting with the provincial police of Chubut that told him he was on his own with his approach) and ordered to go BEYOND the Law applying flagrancy where there was none, so while I understand and agree with your point (I think I have mentioned in the first page that once they unleash these beast they can't control them) it doesn't change the fact they are politically and criminally responsible for ordering the operation. Are you aware that the gendarme in charge suddenly decided to take a toilet break of 2 hours?
The government's reaction was naive also, Patricia Bullrich in particular, bearing in mind the emotion attached to anyone who disappears - ref the long forgotten Julio Lopez. I suspect that they had an idea what happened and decided to play it down, which also backfired.
Here you are being extremely naive, covering a crime isn't being such, it's another crime that they will eventually have to answer for. If Noceti lives in the mid-term he will end up in prison for not only giving the orders but cover the whole thing up. Julio Lopez might be forgotten by some but he's certainly not forgotten by his son, you can read his statements comparing previous and current government behavior.
Huey, can you post a link to the video proof you mention showing Maldonado fleeing from police shooting? Or is it that the proof is that 4 minutes are missing from a police video (ala the Mary Woods, secretary of Nixon, erasure of Whitehouse tapes) of the police action. Sorry, but my Spanish is not sufficiently fluent to comprehend the subjects discussed in the linked news reports.
There's graphical evidence and the government was aware of that from the beginning:
https://www.pagina12...tiago-maldonado
And there are witness accounts, why they would make them up? The guy has been found dead since all the government campaign denying his presence in the highway. And this wouldn't be the first time at all, you can Google caso Carrasco (torture went too far, after a month the body appeared in the middle of nowhere, it was proved that it had been kept in the military facilities for over 20 days), Ezequiel Demonty (tortured and forced to jump in the river despite not being able to swim), Luciano Arruga (hit by a car trying to escape from the police forces that had kidnapped and tortured him) or Gaston Duffau (tortured, murdered and covered according to Clarin:
https://www.clarin.c...Jxl41AA6Yg.html), they have a long history of this kind of behavior.
There are other videos where you can see how they were firing bullets and using shotguns:
https://www.youtube....h?v=iUO6ycsabiw
https://www.youtube....h?v=T3b5JJMbhdA
Gendarmeria said first there were NO videos recorded you know, a bit fishy, isn't it? Gendarmeria first said they never reached the river ... this has been proven FALSE too in gendarmes statements.
"Ayer, Zoilán también declaró cómo escuchó que uno de sus pares gritó: “
¡Acá hay uno!”. Detalló que era en un sector del río que él no veía y que quien hablaba era el cabo Carlos Peloso, que les indicaba a otros compañeros dónde estaba uno de los miembros de la comunidad en las aguas del
Chubut. El relato deja en evidencia algo que ya había empezado a delinearse en las anteriores declaraciones de otros gendarmes, que se produjeron esta semana, y que da cuenta del avance de la fuerza en el territorio, más allá de donde habían asegurado inicialmente.
http://www.perfil.co...dicciones.phtml
"Les dimos corchazos para que tengan"
http://www.lapolitic...om/nota/108492/
It seems to me that Gringoboy has hit the nail on the head. What is key is that the K Klan is trying their damnedest to make it appear that the Macri administration (and Macri himself) is responsible for the death of Maldonado in lieu of some rogue cops/gendarmerie when at worst the certain individuals in the Police Dept or administration clumsily dealt with the fact of the death after the event. As Gringoboy inferred, the attempt by the K Klan to tar Macri with the same horrifying brush of the last junta is demagogic horseshit.
First they are responsible like it or not, I'm afraid there's no need to make any effort and the Law in Argentina says so, this is a desaparicion forzada. Second how could you disregard the cover up? This is another crime in itself and there's plenty of proof about it (Noceti asking Gendarmeria to wash the vans used in the operation is in writing, there are cell phone conversations recordings too, etc.).
One should wonder why there so much willingness to defend the government actions, they didn't side with the family from the first day, they didn't suspend the accused, instead the spread false information and even provided a phone number to report people talking about Maldonado's in schools. They covered the whole thing up or don't you remember the crazy theories?
It's clear that the government didn't plan to kill Santiago Maldonado BUT they order the illegal operation (something nobody can deny) that resulted in his death so they are responsible.
Are you trying to stir up a hornet's nest? Please let sleeping dogs lie.
