The Buenos Aires Minister of Transportation, Jorge D’Onofrioassured today that, together with his Security counterpart, Sergio Bernithey are going to “continue building bridges” to talk with the companions of the murdered bus driver Daniel Barrientos despite the attacks and stoning they received when they approached the protest that they were carrying out for the crime at the intersection of General Paz and route 3 this afternoon.
“People are very upset by the death of the compañero. We are going to try to continue building bridges,” said D’Onofrio, who was with Berni on the scene of the demonstration of the drivers who were demanding justice for the homicide of the bus driver in the Buenos Aires town of Virrey del Pino, La Matanza.
According to D’Onofrio, the Buenos Aires Security Minister “wanted to make himself available, say that one of the suspects was already detained and that the investigation was already underway.” But when he arrived at the workers’ rally, he acknowledged that “the situation got out of hand.”
In addition, the Bonerense official revealed that, before Berni’s arrival, he was already in the place holding conversations with the bus drivers, and that, when the Minister of Security arrived, he went to look for him “to hold a joint meeting.” , but it was impossible to realize it.
“I was with him, and I must say that the vast majority of the delegates began to understand that it was barbaric (hitting the minister with punches and throwing blunt objects at him), that they could not get carried away and we were able to stop that madness a bit,” D’Onofrio reconstructed the moment in which Berni was attacked with shovels, stones and punches by the protesters who were concentrating at the intersection of Route 3 and General Paz, where the co-workers and relatives of the murdered driver held a court of transit in demand of justice.
D’Onofrio assured that it was “impossible to speak” in this context and that the governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Axel Kicillof, asked him to make himself available to the workers. “My intention was to see not only how I could improve but also to give a hug to the colleagues of the dead worker and to the family. Unfortunately we couldn’t. We have to continue working and solving these issues,” he pointed out.
In turn, he maintained that “there are many versions” about what happened and pointed out that “Normally those who are going to rob buses are the worst on the criminals’ food scale because you are going to steal something where there is no collection: just a poor passenger or the driver”.
“Anything could have happened, he got scared or had cold blood and wanted to see him dead. That will be determined by Justice,” he said about the homicide, adding: “This time Justice has to put on long pants because the drivers themselves They told us that, on other occasions, with the murder weapon and everything, the criminals were free”.
Due to the crime of the bus driver, the UTA is also carrying out a strike on the bus lines in the western zone of Greater Buenos Aires (GBA).
