Trelew judge Gustavo Lleral has acquitted all four military police officers who were under investigation over the August 2017 disappearance and death of activist and craftsman Santiago Maldonado. Maldonado went missing on August 1, 2017, after a group of gendarmes (military police) broke up a roadblock by the Indigenous Pu Lof Mapuche community in Cushamen, and then pursued the protesters. Maldonado was found dead 77 days later, on October 17, 2017, floating in the Chubut river, within the limits of the Mapuche lands. Sergio Maldonado, Santiago’s brother, said on Twitter that “the impunity pact for Patricia Bullrich and the national Gendarmía has been confirmed” with the ruling. “He claimed that Santiago drowned by himself,” Sergio wrote.

Source: Bueno Aires Herald August 13, 2023 02:18 UTC