Two artists left without paying for the hotel and were arrested as terrorists

The detained Chilean couple had participated in Córdoba activities parallel to the Language Congress and had been persecuted after finding a suspicious device in the room.

CÓRDOBA.- Gabriela Medrano Viteri and Felipe Zegers were arrested by officers of the airport security police and the National Gendarmerie in Palermo. They are accused of leaving an explosive device in a hotel in that city, where they went to participate in parallel activities in the city.

International Congress of the Spanish Language (CILE).

They were transferred to this city and housed in the courthouse while waiting for an investigation. A major preventive operation was carried out there and the Explosives Brigade blew up the suspect device in a controlled manner. In the city of Buenos Aires, anti-terrorist groups have mobilized. However, the controversy was immediate when it was learned that it was renowned Chilean plastic artists and that the "cable box" did not contain any explosives and could be part of an installation exposed to the Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities.

"Anything can be, the justice investigation," he said.
THE NATION a judicial source when asked if the two Chilean citizens were artists who were in Córdoba, where they participated in an artistic intervention. The case is in charge of the federal judge of Córdoba Hugo Vaca Narvaja and the file will be forwarded to the Cordoba federal prosecutor Graciela López de Filoñuk.

The sources of the investigation explained that the cause had started when the hotel called the police of Cordoba because the couple had withdrawn without paying the accommodation costs. The Secretary of Security of Córdoba, Alfonso Mosquera, confirmed to
THE NATION that security forces intervened in the case after receiving a call from a downtown hotel where it was reported that "two foreign pbadengers had left without paying and had left in the room a door -documents that could be an explosive ".

The head of Cordoba insisted that when the police staff checked the facts, "the corresponding protocol was followed, taking into account that there were in the city of the national and foreign personalities "with reference to CILE.

"The device found was able to trigger a detonation and activation of the protocol was concomitant.It will be up to the federal judge intervening to badign or demarcate the criminal responsibilities, we respect and contribute to the judicial investigation "said Mosquera.

The official confirmed that he "supported" the actions of the Directorate General of Police Investigations and the federal forces that intervened as a result of the incident. He added: "This device would not have pbaded the scanner in any airport in the world and would have been immediately shut down. "

Carolina Ortega, a friend of the detainees, recounted another version of the events: "They are my friends, Gabriela has been working with my husband for twenty years, it's crazy, Gabriela is a great Chilean architect and Felipe is a recognized expert. have nothing, they work with companies and with the Government of Chile. "

In dialogue with
THE NATIONOrtega commented: "What the agents have exploited is two speakers connected to a box where the batteries are located and which is part of an establishment in which a recording of the Declaration of Human Rights is transmitted in an inclusive language. "

According to an official statement, the PSA took action after being notified by the investigation department of the Córdoba police, which had found in the room "a detonator without charge". After this discovery, the search for the suspects began. Analysis of the hotel's security cameras and the location of mobile phone antennas determined that the couple had embarked for a flight to Buenos Aires.

The PSA, thanks to the work of the regional video surveillance center (CREV) and the staff of the operations control center (COC) Ezeiza, has managed to identify the couple sought and, in the framework of a follow-up with the national gendarmerie , stopped at night. Sunday to suspects in a hotel in Palermo.

"Sunday morning, they told us that they were back in Buenos Aires, then we were at 19 in Palermo, they did not show up, they did not answer the phone, they did not come back. were not active in the networks, we decided to wait because we thought they were maybe tired They did not know anything about them Monday in Chile either.We went to the police station Syrian Arab Republic to report, but there, the police told us to wait, maybe they had been stealing the cell phone, "Ortega said. Detainees' parents learned of the situation when visual artists were able to communicate to their families that they were in detention.

They banned entry to the athletes

A futsal delegation from Pakistan was stranded at Ezeiza International Airport by the national authorities and their members were deported for not having proper immigration documents. This team had planned to participate in a world championship of reduced football specialty that takes place in Misiones. The athletes did not have the corresponding visas – even some members of the delegation were included in the Dubai ladder – and, according to official sources, under these conditions they were not allowed to enter Argentina. The authorities felt that "there could also be a risk to safety.