An investigation is underway to determine the circumstances in which five people died of suspected drug overdoses at the Time Warp electronic festival on the weekend.
The five victims, aged between 20 and 25, are thought to have taken so-called ‘Superman’ pills laced with the powerful drug PMMA during the rave, held at the Costa Salguero complex. Another five people were hospitalised, including one minor, with three remaining in a critical state today.
Time Warp Argentina (Photo via Time Warp)
Various witness testimonies confirmed that drugs were widely available at the event, the third time the international festival has been held in Argentina. A bus travelling to the event on Friday night was stopped in La Plata by police, who found a variety of pills, cocaine, LSD, and marijuana.
Beyond the decision of the victims to consume drugs, the investigation is focused on how and where the drugs were sold to festival goers. It is also analysing whether the organisers took all the necessary measures to ensure to safety of partygoers, and if this in turn was properly controlled by security forces and city authorities.
While those responsible have stated that everything was conducted as required by law, witnesses have reported overcrowding, high temperatures, insufficient access to water, and long queues to purchase bottled water.
The Investigation
The case was first picked by local prosecutor Sandro Abraldes but then passed on to the Federal Courts due to the hypothesis that the deaths were caused by drugs.
There were also immediate suspicions over the role of the Navy Coast Guard that has jurisdiction in the area. Abraldes confirmed that the Coast Guard had said there were no drugs on site, adding: “They said they had performed controls through the night and not found anything. We couldn’t continue the investigation with so many dead youngsters and with a security force that I don’t have full confidence in, at least with regard their actions that night.”
The case is now in the hands of Federal Prsoecutor Federico Delgado and Judge Sebastián Casanello. At Delgado’s request, Casanello first ordered the arrest of Adrián Conci, president of the company Dell Producciones S.A. that organised the event. Delgado cited evidence of the “organised sale of drugs” and other irregularities such as access to water in the venue.
“The organised selling of drugs, the regulation of this ‘market’, the overcrowding, and the heat put those responsible for the event as also responsible for the incidents,” read the prosecutor’s statement. “The level of this responsibility – as well as the responsibility of any other people – will be determined as the investigation continues, but there are enough elements to warrant his [Conci’s] immediate arrest.”
Casanello also ordered several police raids, including in an office of the Coast Guard and the City Government Control Agency. And Prosecutor Delgado today requested the judge summon several coast guard officers, one public official, and those responsible for private security at the event over a possible “co-operation” between them to permit the sale of drugs on the site.
In addition, Casanello rejected a claim by the Security Ministry that judicial employees in his court had ordered the Coast Guard “not to bother the youngsters while they were having fun” at the event.
The city government says that it had performed all the necessary checks before an event like Time Warp.
On Monday, Deputy Mayor of Buenos Aires Diego Santilli stated that the organisers had correctly licensed the venue for the event and complied with all city controls.
“All the control measures were applied before and after the event – the records at the opening were completed by all the organisms that had to be there, and at 3am another check was conducted,” said Santilli, who added that the security inside the venue was not the responsibility of the city government while acknowledging that “chemical drugs are evolving faster than the State”.
Santilli also stated that the government had checked the attendance of 10,900 people, below the official capacity of 13,000.
Meanwhile, the Association for Environmental Lawyers (AJAM) and the City Law Observatory (ODC) questioned the licensing of the Costa Salguero premises for music festivals, saying in a statement that it should be prohibited according to existing city norms. The groups also noted that the company Telemetrix S.A. was paying the city government a “derisory” fee to license the Costa Salguero complex, far below the market value of the area.
The Fallout
While the formal investigation continues, the deaths have reignited a wider debate about nightclub controls and the availability of drugs, especially at electronic festivals. Though few are surprised that drugs were being consumed at an event like Time Warp, there are diverse views on whether to blame the tragedy on the negligence or complicity of the organisers and authorities, the individuals themselves, or a deeper cultural problem and ineffective drug policies.
Some, including Prosecutor Delgado, have drawn parallels with the Cromañón nightclub fire that killed 194 youngsters in 2006. Though the circumstances this weekend were markedly different, they point to the common ground of how lax controls and corruption among the relevant authorities contributed to the tragedy.
City legislator for the Frente Izquierda, Patricio del Corro, said the latest tragedy was “a product of corruption in a system where businesses and the government only look to boost their profits at the cost of security for youngsters.”
Del Corro was among the opposition legislators to criticise the city authorities for failing to enforce the proper safety measures after an audience with the head of the Government Control Agency, Matías Álvarez Dorrego.
“He couldn’t answer any of our questions,” Del Corro told La Izquierda Diario. “The event had only 10 medical workers, two ambulances, and one station. How could that number be sufficient to attend an event where according to their own count there were 10,000 people.” Del Corro also highlighted witness accounts of there being just one water dispenser for the huge crowd.
In the broader policy debate, President Mauricio Macri has made eliminating drugs-trafficking one of the three pillars of his government, and Security Minister Patricia Bullrich has unsurprisingly taken a hard line on the topic.
Bullrich told Radio Mitre: “My view is that we have to be more strict and work with parents, who must also be more strict. We are prepared to be, but many times we come up against a culture that says we cross a line if we are too strict.”
However, others in the government took a different stance, with Buenos Aires Health Minister Ana María Bou Pérez saying that there should be a society-wide discussion about the “decriminalisation” of certain drugs.
“In other societies there are NGOs that control the purity of pills before entering this type of party,” said Bou Pérez. “It’s a decision taken by other societies, and we would have to see if we agree with this other way of combatting [drugs]. We must not forget that this is a crime here.”
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