Rosario is world-famous for being where Messi was born, but for years Argentines have identified the city, located 300 kilometers from Buenos Aires, as the epicenter of drug trafficking in the country.
Insecurity and high crime rates linked to drugs and gang disputes are not a new phenomenon in Rosario, but the inauguration in December of the new governor of Santa Fe province, who has declared war on the mafias , the radical Maximiliano Pullaro, has unleashed a terrifying response from the narco, reminiscent of the methods used by his Mexican, Colombian or Brazilian partners.
Four random murders, with no intention of stealing, have caused alarm in the city and throughout Argentina, to the point that far-right President Javier Milei is considering a legal change to be able to deploy the army on the streets. The murders were committed with firearms between Tuesday and Saturday of last week: two taxi drivers, a trolleybus driver and a gas station worker.
The weapons that were used in the first three crimes belong to the Santa Fe police, where many of the officers are in the pay of the narco or act as his hitmen. The murders of the two taxi drivers were apparently committed by the same person who, in both cases, left a sneaker as a mafia message. At the gas station, the perpetrator of the crime left a threatening note that more or less matched a banner that appeared on a bridge in the city on Saturday: “Pullaro and Cococcioni [Minister of Justice and Security of Santa Fe] got into with our children and relatives, the deaths of innocents, taxi drivers, colectiveros [bus drivers], scavengers, merchants will follow”. The note from the service station, signed by gangs from several neighborhoods in Rosario, added some demands: “We don’t want cellphones (…), we want our rights, to see our children and family.”
The four murders were the first response of the criminals to the plan that Pullaro put in place after assuming the Government of the province and which was staged on March 5 by showing images of a search of phones and prohibited items in the prison of Santa Fe de Piñero, where the prisoners were crammed in the style of the Salvadoran Bukele prisons.
The day after this prison search, the first of the four murders took place. When taking office, Pullaro said he intended to “attack the sale of drugs and restore social peace” and added: “We will put an end to the home office of criminals from places of detention”, referring to the fact that the leaders criminals continue to run businesses from prisons.
The murders have generated panic among the Rosarians. Threats multiply and diversify over WhatsApp and target even football associations or clubs, which has led to extraordinary personal protection measures being taken.
Milei, assisted by his Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, who advocates a tough hand against crime, ordered the deployment of federal forces – Federal Police, Gendarmerie and Prefecture (naval) – and intends to send soldiers to patrol the streets of Rosario , something prohibited by law due to the sinister role played by the armed forces during the repression of the dictatorship. The president wants to change the law so that soldiers can carry weapons and carry out police duties. At the moment, military vehicles and helicopters have already been sent, which act as logistical support for the federal forces.
Rosario, with only 1.6 million inhabitants, including its metropolitan area, has the highest rate of violent deaths in Argentina, a country that has one of the lowest murder rates in Latin America. According to the Santa Fe Public Security Observatory, in 2022 there were 19.84 homicides in Rosario per 100,000 inhabitants, almost double the provincial average rate and almost five times more than the Argentine average, which is 4. 2.
More than a decade ago, drug trafficking began to seize control of the city, which is disputed by thirty gangs, now united in their power in the State, the most important of which is Los Monos. Gangs that operate locally but are also at the service of the Mexican and Colombian cartels, who use the waterway from Paraguay to the Atlantic via the Paraná River and its ports – which constitute the world’s largest agro-export node – to remove the drug destined for Africa and Europe.
