Drug trafficking, poverty, insecurity, weapons, state complicity. Words alone are not enough to measure the reality that it projects Mariano Oberlina priest who manages two foundations dedicated to keeping children and adolescents away from drugs through education and spiritual accompaniment in Córdoba.
Oberlin is the head of the parish on the periphery of the Cordovan capital, which he defines as “a big pocket of poverty“. Becoming a social worker, the priest says that although in Córdoba drugs “are everywhere”drug trafficking became a repository of truncated dreams and opportunities, especially for children from marginal sectors.
Drug trafficking in neighborhoods: symptom of structural poverty
“The boys see drug trafficking as the most honorable way out.”he lamented, and gave an example: “The other day they made a raid in which Two handcuffed boys came out shouting:long live the drug!”. According to his interpretation, it is one more example that shows the tearing of a social fabric in the hands of poverty and the withdrawal of the State, which for its part has not yet managed to recover ground through social programs and investment in infrastructure.
In dialogue with PROFILE, the priest gave details of how drug trafficking became a kind of mode of get ahead for the kids from the marginal neighborhoods of Córdoba, a city where, although it is far from the social indicators of Rosario or the Buenos Aires suburbs, violence associated with organized crime is commonplace and is increasing. “We haven’t gotten that far, but if we don’t care, we’re not that far. Something can still be done, even in Rosario,” warned.
The threat to the center of priest Oberlin
Oberlin has lived in fear ever since the addiction rehab center that bears his name and is located in Campo de la Ribera, one of the hottest areas of Córdoba and the country. Priest Oberlin believes that the intent of the shooting was frighten him. He says that he fears for the safety of the boys since many had some kind of involvement in drug dealing. In the land of drug traffickers, account adjustments are commonplace.
“We received threats because channels from Córdoba came and made notes about what was happening in the neighborhood. Narcos don’t like visibility, They also don’t care that you have ten foundations. I have some protection, the issue is the boys and the fear of retaliation,” she details.
Faced with the episode of violence, the parish priest did not sit idly by and went out to look for those responsible. He found the car in which the attacker and an accomplice drove and did his own investigation. But the police did nothing. Not even when verifying that the vehicle was in violation for falsifying the license plate. State inaction guarantees the impunity And so the wheel keeps turning.
“We feel that it was more an intimidation than an attempted robbery but we never found out. We have the names and we reported it but the police never did anything. We don’t know why. If it was the drug traffickers or it was a private fight with a boy. The slow justice is not justice,” he said about it.
Impunity and complicity
When priest Oberlin began his office in the parish that brings together the Müller and Maldonado neighborhoods, located in the eastern area within the Cordoba capital’s ring road, he did not imagine the package he had bought. Social reality imposed itself on him when he performed the funeral service for two 17 and 18 year old addicted adolescents who had committed suicide. To this was added that of a four-year-old girl allegedly murdered by a reckoning between drug traffickers, something that justice has not yet been able to corroborate but that served as a prelude to the situation that would come.
They accuse a non-commissioned officer of the Rosario police of passing secret information to her narco son
“The drugs are everywhere, even in the countries“, he said. However, he admitted that in the case of boys from poor sectors the situation becomes more difficult, especially in terms of access to addiction treatment. “The situation of a boy from a poor neighborhood is different, not get a job or do not have the resources to access treatment. They have a harder time asking for help,” he added.
In this sense, he stressed that in Córdoba drug trafficking “continues to grow and ends up being a model for children,” especially due to the impunity enjoyed by those who carry it out and the “easy” path that drug sales appear to have. as a way of earning a living: “They are thugs, they have those who defend them, they have arrangements with someone who allows them to continue doing their thing without hindrance, with impunity.”
The role of the drug dealer
With respect to the advance of organized crime, he said that thirteen years ago the drug traffickers occupied (the social function) the role of the political leader, who at the territorial level “assumed the leadership of the social fabric” by lowering the resources of the State in the face of urgent social needs. . “That role was assumed by the drug trafficker,” he said.
Along these lines, Oberlin admitted that in recent years the State has gradually assumed this role of social support by investing in neighborhoods through social programs and infrastructure, something necessary to combat drug power. “lIt is necessary to assume the role of leadership. The narco continues to be the one who leads the neighborhoods. It is as if he were a father: you have to put money in but also be present“, he added.
Despite the advances, Oberlin assured that in Córdoba the feeling of impunity and the circulation of drug trafficking and arms continue, a situation similar to that experienced in other districts such as Rosario or La Matanza. “The feeling is the same. A forty-caliber weapon is not a common robbery. Those that are on the street are heavy weapons. It makes me panic. Partly because of consumption and partly to get increasingly heavy weapons. I don’t think I know is putting the glance in this”, concluded.
CD / ED
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