In the early hours of Tuesday, August 6, 2002, businessman Jorge Fernández Prieto was returning to his apartment at San Martín 919, Avellaneda. He never made it. As he maneuvered his blue BMW to enter the garage, an armed commando on a motorcycle and a red Volkswagen Gol was waiting for him. He tried to flee, but they shot him at close range: more than thirteen shots, one of them point-blank that entered through his armpit and pierced his heart. Too many shots for a simple robbery.
Fernández Prieto was one of the richest and most well-known men in Avellaneda. Vice president of the Industrial Union of the Province of Buenos Aires (UIPBA) and owner of the construction company Edintar, in Puerto Madero. His brother Alberto, a powerful builder from the Menem era, shared the spotlight with him. Jorge was also a close friend of Julio Grondona, the historic president of the AFA. Coincidence or not, in the same Edintar building, Eduardo Duhalde has an office.
The official version, always within the media script, speaks of insecurity. But the plot is darker. According to Alberto Fernández Prieto, his brother was «set up» for refusing to participate in a sweet deal. In early 2002, Jorge «Corcho» Rodríguez offered him to build condominiums in Miami. Jorge, worried, took out a life insurance policy in Miami, armored his car, and installed tinted windows. He thought about leaving Avellaneda.
The afternoon of the crime, Fernández Prieto attended a UIA meeting with Julio Grondona. He was the last to see him alive. Then, he headed home and was ambushed. Alberto ordered no investigation. He understood the message: days later, he sent his family to Miami. The Lomas de Zamora prosecutor’s office wondered time and again why the family did not cooperate. Cecilia, the widow, only testified in mid-2003, supporting the insecurity hypothesis. But a deputy prosecutor leaked: «Half loved him, the other half hated him for making too much money screwing many people.»
It was hinted that Fernández Prieto shared an office with Emir Yoma, and that in a law firm in Quilmes worked Meizner (Grondona’s second-in-command) and former K minister Aníbal Fernández. Too many heavy names for a random robbery. The Bonaerense police, suspected of being a free zone, and the media corporation, took care to divert attention.
According to this outlet’s investigation, Edintar not only built luxury apartments: it laundered money in bulk, especially in the 90s. Alberto was an «ace» at the business, but too much sun burns. Jorge disapproved of the company’s direction, embedded in a power structure from which one does not emerge unscathed. Laying white bricks can be as exciting as champagne bubbles, but in the long run it produces lethal effects.
Days before the crime, the SEPRIN site warned of a possible murder of a businessman. Later, on the forum, someone mentioned a strange meeting of former Avellaneda mayor Cacho Álvarez with inorganic intelligence operatives. The same ones who occupied the Gol, recognized by Fernández Prieto before he died? Too many questions for a case that remains in the haze of impunity.
This crime was not an isolated case, but part of a macabre series. Impunity, a breeding ground for state and paramilitary gangs to settle their differences by throwing corpses at each other. The question remains in the air: who ordered the message? And more importantly: who is next?
Para mí esto huele a mafia pura y dura. Otro empresario chorro que se mata entre ellos, y los K y Grondona protegiendo a estos lacras. El hermanito huyendo a Miami con la guita mientras acá se cagan de hambre. Sistema podrido, hay que borrarlos a todos. Viva la lucha de clases, carajo!
Para mí esto huele a podrido desde el vamos. Kukas y zurdos de mierda siempre igual, Grondona sabía todo y ahora se hacen los boludos. Este empresario no es el primero que se comen los delincuentes. Argentina se va al carajo con estos hijos de puta.