Wednesday May 10, 2023 | 1:29 p.m.
Yesterday morning, the second day of the trial for “the Monte massacre” took place, in which four young people -among them the 22-year-old missionary Aníbal Suárez- died in May 2019, after a police pursuit of shots and a crash in the Buenos Aires city of San Miguel del Monte.
On the second day of oral debate, it was the turn of the relatives of the four victims that day to testify.
Those who gave their testimonies were the parents of Camila López (13), Danilo Sansone (13) and Gonzalo Domínguez (14), as well as the brother of Aníbal Suárez (22), who died after colliding with the trailer of a truck while two patrolmen they were chasing the Fiat 147 in which they were traveling.
Susana Ríos, Gonzalo’s mother, opened the second of the ten hearings scheduled for the debate in the Criminal Oral Court 4 of La Plata that has as defendants the former Buenos Aires police captain Rubén Alberto García and the officers Leandro Ecilape, Mariano Ibáñez and Manuel Monreal.
Regarding the latter, sources of the case reported that he withdrew from the courtroom after asking not to stay to listen to the testimony of Susana and the relatives of the victims.
It is not a minor fact that it was that policeman who did not want to listen to Gonzalo’s mother, since according to what the prosecutor Mariano Sibuet detailed in his opening statement, that May 20, 2019 Monreal fired “at least 4 shots and one of them hit the left leg of Gonzalo Domínguez”.
“When Gonzalo was murdered, they murdered me. That is why I ask the jury to recognize that this was institutional violence. My son was murdered with treachery. I need justice for Gonzalo and his friends, ”Susana claimed at the beginning of her statement.
sad story
When asked how she found out about the sad episode, Ríos stated that “it was half past 4 and I think that at that moment a sixth sense as a mother woke up in me. I heard the ambulances. I approached the hospital that was full of people, but I didn’t dare to go in,” the woman claimed.
In addition, she added that when she returned home, she stopped a motorcycle with two people, one of whom was Danilo’s brother, and they asked her if she was Gonzalo’s mother.
When affirming the question of the young people, Ríos mentioned: “they told me that he passed away. He hugs me very tight. And I say: “Is he alive?” And that’s where they accompany me to the hospital. I ask: ‘What happened? And they signal me to shoot,” said the woman.
And he continued: “Two doctors treat me and one tells me that there is an unrecognized body. When I enter the room there are four covered bodies. They uncovered his feet and I managed to see (Gonzalo’s) feet and I asked them to show me his face, “she explained, mentioning that she” was devastated and wanted to see it. They uncovered his face and I see it with a very strong blow.
Then, already in tears, she recounted the consequences of that sad day: “Of five brothers who were, for them it was their baby. They left a family torn apart,” she stated.
“For 4 years I have been guarded by the Federal Police 24 hours a day. My life changed dramatically. I was left alone. There was no reason to shoot. After my son was shot, they continued shooting for at least 3 kilometers, because I took the time to walk that path, ”he stated in his closing testimony.
“It was a hunt”
For his part, Danilo Sansone’s father defined the event as “a hunt” and that his family will not be happy again after what happened.
Juan Carlos’ testimony was the one that most moved all those present in Room A of the judicial offices. He even made one of the twelve jurors cry, who attentively listened to his story.
“It was a hunt. We will never be happy in my house again. It is very ugly what I am living. Look where I am: asking for justice for him,” Sansone exclaimed through tears.
“I wanted to kill myself more than twice for my son. Now I go ahead for them. I don’t know what happened that night, I fired him from my house well and they returned him to me in a drawer all covered up. He was an angel, “continued Juan Carlos, who, at the end of his story, had to be assisted by a mental health specialist since he said he felt” very sick.
Then it was the turn of his wife, Gladys Ruizdía, who affirmed that they killed their son “without mercy and in cold blood. So that this does not happen again, I demand life. They ruin lives, they ruin families. They killed me while I was alive, ”the woman completed with a broken voice and indicated that she has been in the custody of the National Gendarmerie (GNA) for four years since she reported having received several death threats.
Along the same lines, Yanina Zarzoso, the mother of Camila López (13), said that she is “afraid” of the police and recounted how she found out about the death of her daughter.
“Rocío Quagliarello’s mother (the only survivor) called me at three in the morning and told me that the girls had had an accident. I thought she had fallen off the bike. So I was thinking about it. She was angry and was thinking that she had to challenge her. But in the hospital I found out the worst news that could have been told to me in my life, ”she recalled.
Hugo Suárez, brother Aníbal, another of the fatal victims and owner of car 147 in which they were traveling during the event, was also summoned to testify.
“My brother worked, he was a handyman, he worked with my uncle. He was working all day. He had recently bought the car, ”he commented.
As he recalled, “Hannibal was happy because the bride was pregnant. He was very happy that he was going to be a father, he told me that he had to work more. He had a motorcycle that he traded for the car. He was waiting for the change of address to be able to finish the papers for the car, ”he closed.
It should be remembered that the trial will continue until May 17, when the dozen jurors must define whether or not the defendants are guilty of having committed the crime classified as “aggravated homicide due to abuse of duty as a member of the police forces qualified by employment of firearms, and violation of the duties of a public official.”
The San Miguel del Monte massacre
The so-called “San Miguel del Monte Massacre” occurred at dawn on May 20, 2019, when members of the police station of that Buenos Aires city pursued a Fiat 147 along the highway 3 collector in which four teenagers were traveling. , three 13-year-olds and one 14-year-old, along with a 22-year-old.
On the day of the incident, the five boys were listening to music when Buenos Aires police officers began to chase them for no reason and, according to the records of the municipality’s security cameras, to shoot them, since they observed a policeman in
the place of the escort of the patrol, with half a body outside and in a shooting attitude. As a result, the car in which the young people were traveling collided with a trailer parked on the road.
