The author of the shots during a state protest in San Martín de los Andes turned himself in last night at the first police station in Neuquén, was charged today with attempted murder and was detained after being placed in preventive detention.
The image of the aggressor, identified as Pedro Jofré, had been portrayed by the photographer Federico Soto of the newspaper La Mañana Neuquén, who was unharmed by one of the shots he fired amid the bullfights and clashes between two sectors of the state union in front of the municipal building. of San Martin de los Andes.
The cover of the case against the trade unionist is that of “attempted homicide aggravated by the use of a firearm.”
The demonstrators of the Association of State Workers (ATE) mobilized yesterday morning to the gates of the municipality “to demand the mayor Carlos Saloniti, the payment of the bonus of a municipal worker.”
Through a statement, ATE had reported that “on July 26, ATE Neuquén filed a complaint and requested a meeting with the Minister of Women and Diversity, María Eugenia Ferrareso, in the face of gender violence and persecution that exists about a municipal worker whose SAC was withheld for no other reason than her union militancy and her status as a woman.”
While the demonstration was taking place, a confrontation began for which ATE blamed “the Saloniti mob ” and, in a new statement, stated that “members of the internal board of the municipality attacked three women trade unionists.”
Meanwhile, the chief prosecutor of San Martín de los Andes, Fernando Rubio, initiated a criminal investigation after the disturbances and judicial sources confirmed that there were three people delayed, to whom Jofré now joins.
“In principle, there is at least one woman injured as a result of a firearm shot and remains hospitalized in the city hospital,” reported the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
In addition, he revealed that “he received six complaints of injuries and people attacked in the context of the riots, two of them local journalists, who recorded the moment in which the shots were fired.”
The investigation is coordinated by the prosecutor Rubio with the participation of legal assistants Ignacio Oyuela, Inés Gerez and Lucila Maggiora.
For its part, the National Board of Directors of ATE repudiated in a statement “absolutely” the “violence exerted by the gang led by the Secretary General of ATE Neuquén (Carlos Quintriqueo)”.
The statement, released yesterday afternoon, is signed by the general secretary of ATE, Hugo “Cachorro” Godoy, who assured that unionists, close to Carlos Quintriqueo, “began to destroy municipal facilities” as part of a protest and then ” one person pulled out a gun and started shooting.”
He also stated that Elena Cabezas, a municipal worker, “was injured in the hip along with other people who were at the scene.”
After showing solidarity with the injured people, the ATE national board of directors once again targeted Quintriqueo for “the well-known violent practices” that “characterize” him.