Football Supporter’s Death Sparks Hospital Violence

Santojanni hospital, located in the neighbourhood of Mataderos, city of Buenos Aires, was in chaos yesterday after hooligans linked to the Nueva Chicago football club entered looking to exact revenge for the death of a companion killed earlier that day.

Agustín Alejo Rodriguez, a member of ‘Los Perales’ faction, was killed during clashes between hooligans a few blocks away from the Nueva Chicago stadium.
After it became known that one of the men believed to be responsible for the murder was recovering in the nearby Santojanni hospital, members from ‘Los Perales’ entered and began looking for him. In the ensuing conflict, windows, curtains and hospital equipment were broken, while doctors and patients were terrorised.

This is the second serious act of violence seen in Santojanni hospital since the government decided to remove federal police officers from their positions in many of the city’s public places. A month after their removal in April last year, a 22-year-old man was stabbed in the neck after a fellow patient accused him of trying to rob them.

The removal of Federal police officers has been widely criticised by hospital staff, who maintain that they cannot provide care to patients unless their safety is guaranteed.

“Today citizens cannot be attended to because security is not guaranteed, just as it was not guaranteed last year. If the health worker is not safe, then health itself cannot be attended to” explained Marcelo Struminger, president of the Medical Association of Santojanni.

Security can only be guaranteed, according to Struminger, with a police presence. “This group of people would not have gone in if there had been in front of them security personnel with executive capacity, or action or authority to intervene” he asserted.