Another murder in cold blood. This time, a 26-year-old bus driver, Leandro Alcaraz, who had a day off, but chose to work last Sunday, so that he could be at home the following day, and celebrate his daughter’s 4 th birthday. The killer: a younger man, who didn’t hesitate to shoot him, just because a friend of his (who had previously asked for a free ride on the 620 bus) asked him to do so. Leandro’s wife is expecting their second child, a child who will never meet his/her dad. One of the suspects’ partners, by the way, has just given birth to a baby, a child whose father will (hopefully) be sent to prison. That’s the way we live nowadays in Argentina. You never know whether you’ll get back home sound and safe at the end of the day.

Less than a year ago, just round the corner from where I live, in Ringuelet, La Plata, a teenager named Abril, was shot during a so called “entradera”, when she and her family were coming back from a party. A whole neighbourhood shattered to pieces. Has anything changed? No. Things are getting worse and worse. It seems nobody really cares. Victims are soon forgotten. Government officials promise more safety, more cameras, more control, bla, bla, bla. A big lie. Meanwhile, we mourn and cry over spilt blood. A never ending tragedy.

Published on Buenos Aires Times