The Pachanga came: Customs seized 500 Vilma Palma vinyl records that were trying to enter the country as personal luggage

“Nostalgia” takes the most diverse forms: customs officers discovered 500 vinyl records from the Vilma Pampa group in the luggage of two men who had come in a van from Uruguay. The story goes back to Prague and reaches the Argentine borders.

As reported by the organization that runs Michael Guillermo “Due to their quantity and variety, it is presumed that they were imported for commercial purposes, which prevents them from entering luggage.”

In a press release, it explains that “the value of the seized goods amounts to approximately 5 million dollars; they also brought in $28,500″.

“Specialized agents from the General Directorate of Customs-AFIP were carrying out transit controls at the Gualeguaychú-Fray Bentos international border post, when while inspecting a white van coming from Uruguay, they had a huge surprise,” the official said. agency belonging to the AFIP. .

“In the luggage of the two people who entered Argentina, there were no less than 483 vinyls, with the precision that they were all from Vilma Palma and Vampiros, the emblematic group of the early 90s”.

Vilma Palma e Vampiros (or simply Vilma Palma) is an Argentinian rock band founded on September 20, 1990 in the city of Rosario (Argentina) by Mario “Pájaro” Gómez, Gerardo “Largo” Pugliani and Jorge Risso.

The record company Barca Records offered them a National contract, with which they were able to publish their first album titled Vilma Palma e Vampiros (also called La Pachanga) (1991), whose sales exceeded one million copies sold, becoming gold record. , and double platinum and the song “La pachanga” became a big hit for the time, both in Argentina and in several Latin American countries.

According to Customs, “the discs are estimated to be worth around 5 million pesos, well in excess of the $300 per person allowance for land revenue.”

“Now, due to the unusual number of copies of only two albums from the catalog of the mentioned band from Rosario (Vilma Palma e Vampiros and 3980), customs personnel have warned that they are imported for commercial purposes, which prevents their entry through the baggage system”.

For this reason, it is specified, the agents “removed the vinyls and asked the occupants of the vehicle — one person from Argentina and another from Uruguay, with permanent residence in our country — if they were bringing other thing, be it goods or foreign currency. They received a negative response.”

Thus, “customs officers thoroughly inspected the vehicle and, indeed, found $28,500.” It should be remembered that USD 10,000 is the maximum amount of foreign currency that, per person, can be brought into Argentina without having to declare.

In this way, “the customs officers also seized the money and intervened before the Federal Court of First Instance of the city of Gualeguaychú, in charge of Dr. Hernán Viri”.

“Customs specialists indicated that the discs were bought in the Czech Republic and from there transferred to Spain and then to Uruguay – but, strikingly, they bear the legend Industria Argentina.”

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