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User:Flipwared/Death of Luis Espinoza

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Death of Luis Armando Espinoza
DateMay 15, 2020 (2020-05-15)
LocationMonteagudo, Tucuman, Argentina
TypeHomicide
CauseBullet wound
Police brutality
Participants
List
  • 9 Tucuman Province Policemen[1]
    • José Morales
    • Rubén Montenegro
    • Miriam González
    • René Ardiles
    • Víctor Salinas
    • Carlos Romano
    • José Paz
    • Gerardo González Rojas
    • Claudio Zelaya
  • 1 municipal security guard [1]
    • Fabio Santillán
OutcomeDeath of Luis Espinoza on May 15, 2020 (2020-05-15)
Protests, social media criticism on police brutality[2]
Arrests10
Accused10
Charges

Luis Armando Espinoza, a 31 years old argentinian citizen, died during a police raid in the northern province of Tucumán, in the context of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Once his body was found, an investigation (Luis Espinoza case) revealed that he was wrongly suspected of engaging in an illegal horse race, shot to death; and then moved to a police precint. While there, he was covered in plastic and a rug, and -inside a car trunk- moved to the neighboring province of Catamarca, where he was dropped into a ravine.[3]

The public opinion traced similarities between this murder and the Santiago Maldonado case.[2][4][5][6][7]

On June 2020, the UN launched an investigation on the crime, through the OHCHR.[8][9]

The Victim

[edit]

Luis Espinoza was a 31 years-old rural worker, from the town of Melcho, Tucumán, father of six. He had seventeen brothers.[10] [11]

Arrest and Death

[edit]

On May 15, 2020, while in Argentina there was an ongoing nationwide quarantine because of the Covid-19 Pandemic, Luis Espinoza was found by police on the northern town of Simoca, Tucumán, where an illegal horse race was taking place, also violating the quarantine. The victim was riding a horse along his brother Juan in the vicinity of the race, when nine police officers and a municipal security guard arrived to end the illegal event.[10][1]

At least four police officers had a struggle with Juan and, when his brother Luis tried to defend him, he fell of his horse and ran; being later shot at his back with a police service gun. The bullet entered through his left shoulder blade, piercing his lung.Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page).[1] He died in some moment between the shooting and the moving to the police precint.[3]

He left the precint inside the car trunk of Rubén Montenegro, deputy commissioner, and he was transported 75 miles to the border of the Catamarca province, where he was dropped into a ravine.[12]

Meanwhile, on May 16, 2020, Luis' family tried to file a police report for the disappearance, in the very same precinct where his dead body was taken. The policeman declined the chance to file a report before 72hs time of the disappearance.[3][10] After several days, the policeman declared having made a silence pact and informed the location of the body.[13][10] It was found in La Banderita, Catamarca, on May 22, 2020 inside a 492 ft. depth ravine.[10][14]

Once the corpse was found, an autopsy and balistics report established that the bullet causing the deadly wound came from a police service gun, a Jericho 941 (an israeli tactic .9mm pistol) that belonged to José Morales, one of the accused policemen.[10][15][16][10][17][18]

The usage of this weapon by the Tucuman security forces had been under question two years prior to the Luis Espinoza case, since it is not a common weapon for security forces in any other area of Argentina. This resulted in a criminal case for fraudulent administration against the province civil servants, which was dismissed.[19][20][18]

Indictements

[edit]

Several security forces members were accused for Luis Espinoza's crime, under the crimes of forced dissapearance followed by death and kidnapping.[1]

  • José Morales
  • Rubén Montenegro
  • Miriam González
  • René Ardiles
  • Víctor Salinas
  • Carlos Romano
  • José Paz
  • Gerardo González Rojas
  • Claudio Zelaya
  • Fabio Santillán (municipal security guard)

On May 20, 2020, judge Mario Velázquez order the pre-trial detention for the lenght of six months for six of the ten accused.[21] The prosecutor had requested a 12-months remand.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e Inesta, José (2020-06-09). "El crimen de Luis Espinoza en Tucumán: las pruebas que comprometen a los policías detenidos" [Luis Espinoza crime in Tucumán: the evidence that implicates the policeman under custody]. Todo Noticias (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. Retrieved 2020-06-09.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ a b "PRO condemns institutional violence in statement". Buenos Aires Times. Buenos Aires: Editorial Perfil. 5 June 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  3. ^ a b c Cavanna, Joaquín (2020-06-07). "Crimen de Luis Espinoza: dos de los policías acusados hicieron controles de cuarentena mientras otros llevaban el cadáver a Catamarca" [Luis Espinoza crime: two of the accused policeman did quarantine controls while others took the body to Catamarca]. Infobae. Buenos Aires.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ "Nora Cortiñas: "El caso de Luis Espinoza es muy similar a lo que pasó con Maldonado"". La Izquierda Diario - Red internacional (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  5. ^ ""No les interesa qué pasó con Santiago ni que no haya más Ramonas"". La tinta (in Spanish). 2020-05-28. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  6. ^ "¡Alerta coronavirus! El Gobierno decretó la "emergencia sanitaria" en Argentina" [Coronavirus Alert! The goverment declared sanitary emergency in Argentina]. El Intransigente (in Spanish). 2020-03-12. Retrieved 2020-06-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ "Desaparición, muerte y violencia policial en Argentina: ¿qué ocurrió con el trabajador rural Luis Espinoza?" [Dissaparence, death and police brutality in Argentina: What happened with the rural worker Luis Espinoza?]. RT en Español (in Spanish). 2020-05-27. Retrieved 2020-06-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ "La ONU busca recabar datos sobre el crimen de Luis Espinoza en Tucumán". Agencia Télam (in Spanish). Télam. 2020-06-27.
  9. ^ "«La APDH se reunió con representantes de Oficina Regional para America del Sur del Alto Comisionado de la ONU para los DDHH sobre el caso de desaparición forzada y asesinato de Luis Espinoza - APDH" [The Permanent Assembly for Human Rights met with representatives of the OHCHR Regional Office for South America on regards of the kidnap and murder of Luis Espinoza]. Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos (ACNUDH) (in Spanish). Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Retrieved 28 June 2020. {{cite web}}: line feed character in |trans-title= at position 40 (help)
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Lopez, Fabian. "Tucumán: confirmaron que Luis Espinoza fue asesinado con el arma reglamentaria de un policía" [Tucumán: Luis Espinoza death confirmed to be caused by a policeman service weapon]. La Nacion (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. Retrieved 2020-05-30.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) Cite error: The named reference "ln28" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  11. ^ "Uno de los policías detenidos fue el que le disparó al peón rural" [One of the arrested policeman was the rural worker shooter]. Perfil (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. Retrieved 2020-05-30.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ "Desaparición, muerte y violencia policial en Argentina: ¿qué ocurrió con el trabajador rural Luis Espinoza?". Russia Today. TV-Novosti. 27 May 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  14. ^ Meyer, Adriana (26 May 2020). "La desaparición forzada de Luis Espinoza en Tucumán: "Tiene todos los condimentos del terrorismo de Estado"". Página 12. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  15. ^ "Uno de los policías detenidos fue el que le disparó al peón rural". Perfil. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  16. ^ "Identificaron al autor material del crimen de Luis Espinoza". El Litoral. 28 May 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  17. ^ "Impulsan una reestructuración y profesionalización de las fuerzas policiales". Télam. Agencia Télam. 30 May 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  18. ^ a b Druetta, Eugenio (4 December 2020). "Manzur compró armas a Israel por 9 millones de dólares y denuncian sobreprecios". Perfil (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Editorial Perfil. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  19. ^ López, Fabián (31 May 2020). "Manzur busca contener el escándalo provocado por un asesinato policial". La Nación. Buenos Aires. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  20. ^ "Dos legisladores radicales denunciaron a Manzur y a Maley por la adquisición de armas". San Miguel de Tucumán. 31 December 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  21. ^ López, Fabián (20 June 2020). "Prisión preventiva para nueve policías por el asesinato de un trabajador rural". La Nación. Buenos Aires. Retrieved 20 June 2020.

  [[Category:Trials in Argentina]] [[Category:2020 in Argentina]]

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