POLITICS-ARGENTINA: Bank Heists Reveal Deepening Insecurity

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Sep 17 1999 (IPS) - More than 100 bank robberies have been reported in Argentina since January, with more than 13 million dollars stolen, but an already bad situation spun out of control Friday when police gunfire killed two hostages.

Lack of security is one of the Argentinean people’s main worries, along with unemployment, say recent opinon polls. The population’s response to feeling unsafe has been to purchase more weapons and security systems.

In the Argentinean capital alone, there are one million armed civilians, and officials estimate that another million hold unregistered weapons. Private security agencies, a booming business of the 1990s, hold the same number of weapons as the entire police department.

Bank employees throughout the nation called for a general strike Thursday to demand greater security measures, a demand they have repeated for over a year. In 1998 there were 126 bank robberies in Argentina, while 103 have occurred so far this year.

The robberies have all been similar in that they are rapid strikes, lasting no more than two or three minutes, by heavily armed perpetrators, who witnesses describe as “professional.”

The police and bank security have been powerless against this mode of attack. In most cases, the robbers disarm the bank’s own guards, and police from the nearest station do not arrive until after the criminals are gone.

Many robbery witnesses suspect that police may be involved in this type of theft, where the criminals are very efficient and are rarely apprehended. Such suspicion was voiced by many regarding the robbery Friday that ended in tragedy.

In the opening hours of the business day Thursday, the three robbers entered the Nation Bank branch in Villa Ramallo, a town 200 km north of Buenos Aires.

Because the bank’s treasurer was late, the attackers did not have all the keys needed to open the safe. This time, the police arrived before the bandits got to the money, but they took hostages instead: three bank employees and three customers.

Throughout Thursday, the three demanded the missing key to the safe, but the judge in charge of the police operation refused to accept the deal and attempted to negotiate instead. The robbers released three hostages that night.

In Friday’s early morning hours, the criminals made an “untimely” exit, according to the judge. They left through the bank garage, in a car driven by one of the three hostages, who had explosives around his neck.

To the shock of the bystanders in the area, the police showered the car with bullets, hitting the doors and walls of several houses in the neighbourhood. The incident left two hostages and two robbers dead.

The third hostage was only injured, as he was lying down in the rear of the vehicle. Police arrested the remaining thief.

The people of Villa Ramallo were indignant. “The criminals did not harm the hostages, then when they leave, the police kill them, it’s unbelievable,” said a man who lives near the bank and who knew the victims.

Eduardo Duhalde, the governor of Buenos Aires province and presidential candidate for the governing party in October’s elections, said Friday the police reaction was “unjustified” and that he would investigate why they had fired on the vehicle.

Duhalde called the police response “a massacre,” and promised there would be sanctions against the officers.

The provincial police, along with several commandos trained in handling hostage situations, had at least 200 soldiers, vehicles and helicopters at the ready, as well as sharp-shooters located on roofs around the bank.

Also on Friday, amid the public outcry against the events in Villa Ramallo, the sixth bank robbery of the week was reported, in the Buenos Aires neighbourhood of Garín.

An armed robber entered the bank with explosives, and held a gun to the bank director’s head as he tried to leave with the money, but was apprehend by police.