[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text dp_text_size=”size-4″]ARGENTINA: In the dead of night, two men fired shots at a closed supermarket belonging to the family of Lionel Messi’s wife, before leaving a threatening message on the ground aimed at the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner.
“Messi, we’re waiting for you. Javkin is a narco, he won’t take care of you,” said the handwritten message left on the ground by the men who shot 14 bullets into the supermarket’s metallic facade in the early hours of Thursday.
Pablo Javkin is the mayor of Messi’s hometown, Rosario, where the supermarket is located, some 320 kilometers northwest of Buenos Aires.
Javkin confirmed the supermarket belonged to the family of Antonela Roccuzzo, who shares three children with the football superstar, and said the aim of the attack was to “to create chaos in the city.”
“Here, what’s sought is the repercussion, it’s perfidious,” he said. “What story goes more quickly viral in the world than an attack on Messi?”
A witness confirmed seeing the two men arrive on a motorbike just before 3:00. One of them got off, fired the shots, dropped the note and they both fled.
“This has been going on for some time,” said Javkin. “We have five security forces operating in Rosario yet they can do this because no one is chasing them.”
The letter was “not a threat,” according to provincial police acting chief Ivan Gonzalez, but rather an effort to “draw attention,” he told Cadena 3 television station.
As nobody was on the property at that time, he claimed that nobody was wounded.
Federico Rebola, the prosecutor in charge of the investigation, told reporters that the Roccuzzo family had not previously been the target of any known threats.
We have the video photos and are seeking for more cameras since this has a significant impact, he said.
With 287 murders in 2022, Rosario, a port city on the Parana River, will be the most violent city in Argentina. It has progressively grown to be a hub for drug trafficking.
The center-left national government, the left-wing governor of Santa Fe State, Omar Perotti, and the centrist mayor frequently delegate authority for drug-fighting operations and the usage of the local police force to one another.
Provincial Minister Claudio Brilloni stated that he “urged the federal forces to increased collaboration, involvement and participation” in the battle against violence and criminality in Rosario at a meeting this week between the local, provincial, and national security forces.
Two candidates from the right-wing opposition running for president in October requested assistance from the military police to combat drug trafficking in Rosario.
Security Minister Anibal Fernandez stated that the situation in Rosario was complicated and that drug traffickers had gained the upper hand.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
