Angel Verón, the leader of a social movement in the province of Chaco who was injured in an episode of police repression on 24th September, died yesterday in Perrando hospital in the provincial capital amid claims that his injuries were the result of police violence.
Verón, head of the No to Evictions campaign from the Unemployed Worker’s Movement (MTD), passed away at 0.30 from a generalised infection, according to his family’s lawyer Marcelino Levia.
He had been in hospital for almost a month and was kept handcuffed to his bed, a measure that Francisco Turraca, Chaco’s human rights prosecutor, has labelled unnecessary.
Angel Verón remained handcuffed to his hospital bed until his death last night (photo: Mandela Centre for Human Rights)
“There wasn’t justification for him to be handcuffed, he wasn’t a danger to staff,” Turraca told radio Vorterix. “I knew Verón personally because this was [his] third complaint against police officers. We’re trying to move forward in identifying who apprehended Verón.”
Verón, 42, lead a protest on 24th September to demand the provision of grants, tools, and materials for the construction of homes, promised during Governor Jorge Capitanich’s election campaign.
In an effort to disperse the demonstration, which blocked kilometre 997 of National Route 11, Chaco police chased protestors with rubber bullets and clubs. Verón and his brother Rogelio were then detained in his house and family members did not know of Verón’s whereabouts until the following day when authorities informed them that he was in hospital in a critical condition.
Turraca lamented that he could not collect testimony from Verón. “The medical examiner visited the hospital but Verón never fully recovered consciousness,” he explained.
According to Turraca, police claim that Verón “fell and injured himself” during their pursuit, opening up a wound from a recent surgery which later got infected and caused his death, while his family insist that it was the police beatings which caused the reopening of the wound and subsequent infection.
Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernandez today rejected claims of police brutality. “It’s not me who’s saying it, it was the actual victim who said it to hospital staff: the wound in his abdomen had nothing to do with the discussion he had with Chaco police,” he told reporters. “He arrived at the hospital with a case of septicaemia which unfortunately caused his death.”
“I’ve spoken to Capitanich about this issue. This was a man who had blocked route 11 50 times and had never had a problem with police. Governor Capitanich wasn’t there.”
After news of the death, Capitanich’s government sent a wreath to his family which relatives and friends then burnt outside of the funeral home to which Verón’s body was taken.
Rolando Núñez, coordinator of the Mandela Centre for Human Rights, said, “Jorge Capitanich’s government and his repressive police force beat Angel Verón to death for demanding the fulfilment of campaign promises on work and housing materials.”
Turraca noted, “[Verón’s] wife has declared herself a witness and this week we’ll be calling for other witnesses. The police position from the start has been to try and distance themselves [from Verón’s death].”
The post Chaco: Social Movement Leader Dies After Altercation With Police appeared first on The Argentina Independent.