Martina Jaureguy Two men were arrested Wednesday in Lomas de Zamora after President Javier Milei was evacuated from a campaign parade when demonstrators began pelting the presidential caravan with stones and yelling insults.
Security Minister Patricia Bullrich told LN+ news channel that one of the arrested men is a known football hooligan who is banned from entering stadiums because of his track record of violence. He was reportedly arrested for throwing stones.
The other detainee is a member of H.I.J.O.S., a human rights organization made up of children of victims of the 1976-1983 dictatorship. A source at the organization confirmed to the Herald that the man is a member of its Lomas de Zamora branch, and has since been released.
Bullrich said the man was attempting to climb onto the pick-up truck in which Milei and other senior La Libertad Avanza figures were traveling. Footage of the incident shows him running to the vehicle and briefly grabbing onto the hood before letting go. The H.I.J.O.S. source said the man had stepped in front of the truck.
The Herald contacted the security ministry to request more information on the detainees, but has not gotten a response at time of writing.
“There was an absolute participation of Kirchnerism and left-wing groups,” Bullrich said, linking partisan groups to the presence of the H.I.J.O.S. member. “This was all a political plan.” She also blamed Lomas de Zamora mayor, Peronist Federico Otermín, for what happened.
Before the parade, Otermín had rejected Milei’s visit to the city but asked residents to express their opinions calmly and without violence in an Instagram post.
The president’s visit to Lomas de Zamora lasted just a few minutes before his security team decided to evacuate him, alongside his sister and Presidency Secretary Karina Milei, LLA leader in Buenos Aires province Sebastián Pareja, and candidate José Luis Espert, who hopped on a motorbike to be driven away.
The event was organized as part of the campaign ahead of the September 7 legislative elections in the province. Although there were many Milei supporters present, others showed up to express their rejection of the government over the bribery scandal involving Karina Milei and other senior officials. A “counter-march” had been organized to oppose Milei’s presence in the district.
Protesters shouted about the allegations that Karina Milei took kickbacks in exchange for contracts with Argentina’s national disability agency. The scandal comes at a time in which people with disabilities are demanding Congress uphold a bill granting funds for the sector, which Milei had vetoed.
A video posted online shows a woman yelling at Milei that his government is “corrupt,” to which Milei aggressively responds “Your own kind are the corrupt ones.”
