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Argentina was shaken this Saturday with the murder of Fabián Gutiérrez, former private secretary of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner , current vice president of the country. Gutiérrez was a protected witness in the mega-court case known as the "notebooks of corruption", which investigates a multibillion-dollar illegal collection network developed in the years of Kirchnerism.

"We are talking about a homicide," confirmed the investigating judge of the case, Carlos Narvarte, after the body of Gutiérrez was found dead in the town of El Calafate. The victim was "wrapped in a sheet, dressed, with a strong blow to the head and with stab wounds," added the judge, according to 'Infobae'. El Calafate is the neighboring town to the Perito Moreno Glacier, one of the great tourist attractions in the country. Cristina Kirchner, president of Argentina between 2007 and 2015, has a house and hotel business there.

Gutiérrez was Cristina Kirchner's private secretary between 2003 and 2005, when the current vice president was first lady and her husband, Néstor, ruled. After leaving that position, he returned in 2007 to be deputy secretary of Cristina, who had just assumed the first of her two presidential terms .

When the cause of the notebooks exploded in 2018, Gutiérrez appeared as repentant and linked the former president, whom he named as the head of the illegal collection scheme once Néstor Kirchner died in 2010 . In her years as secretary, Gutiérrez amassed a fortune to amazement: she owned 36 properties in El Calafate, Río Gallegos and Ushuaia, 35 vehicles, most of them luxury and at least three boats.

Romina Mercado, niece of Cristina Kirchner, is the El Calafate prosecutor who investigates the case.

In the process of the "notebooks of corruption", Gutiérrez recounted in detail his relationship with the Kirchners, rescued by 'La Nación': "After a week of the presidential inauguration Kirchner summons me to his office and tells me that my specific task It would be the accompaniment of the first lady. I did not receive that task very much. Given the character of the senator, nobody wanted to work with her. My task with Cristina was to accompany her everywhere, from sunrise to sunset, because I was alone with her. I had a single franc [libranza] a month. "

"I also accompanied her on official trips as first lady. On those occasions I accompanied her when she went shopping. She would choose what she wanted to buy and then I would go with the money and withdraw it. The sums were around $ 4,000 to $ 6,000 for every trip. I resigned on May 25, 2005, when we were returning from Jerusalem. I went to the bathroom and she required me and she was not there. We argued and resigned. I was very tired, I was four months without francs, "Claudio Bonadio told the judge and Prosecutor Carlos Stornelli in October 2018.

A "message" for protected witnesses

"As first lady, she had an office next to Kirchner's. She went at night and at those moments she could see José López and Ricardo Jaime (high officials of the Ministry of Public Works). José López came more frequently carrying bags. Jaime was often seen with a backpack. Once he met with Kirchner, with what those people were bringing, [Néstor's private secretary, Daniel] Muñoz retired overland. "

Muñoz, a key character in the corruption plot, died in 2016 of fulminant cancer . His widow pleaded sorry and is a protected witness, as was Gutiérrez. Néstor Kirchner's former private secretary bought multiple properties in the United States and even land on a Caribbean island. Gutiérrez's murder was received this Saturday with alarm by the opposition to the Alberto Fernández government.

"The lifeless appearance of Fabián Gutiérrez, one of the repentant accused in the cause of the notebooks, is a very serious institutional fact," Luis Naidenoff, a spokesman for the opposition in the Senate , wrote on Twitter . "The State had a responsibility to guarantee his safety. Far from fueling speculation, we demand the prompt clarification of the facts surrounding death."

Mariana Zuvic, an opposition deputy for Santa Cruz, the province where the Kirchners began politically, was categorical in her tweet: "Fabián was the one who knew them the most, who knew the most. Who suffered the most, who confessed the most and harmed her" . Álvaro de Lamadrid , a deputy for the Radical Civic Union (UCR), which is part of the opposition coalition Together for Change, believes that the murder is "a message for witnesses protected from corruption K", asked the government to strengthen their security and He demanded that the prosecutor Mercado deviate from the investigation for being "the daughter of Alicia Kirchner" (sister of Néstor and governor of Santa Cruz) and niece of Cristina Kirchner. "

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Know more

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  • Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
  • Nisman case
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