The death of Cesare Gustavo Regueiro, which took place Thursday during the violent repression of the Buenos Aires Police against Gimnasia fans during the match against Boca, has been added to a list of victims in sporting events that has already exceeded three hundred in a century. In this disastrous story there is one fact that stands out: the so-called Tragedy of the Gate 12which took place on June 23, 1968 at the Monumental Stadium, in which they died 71 Boca fansalmost all by suffocation and following an avalanche, after a Superclásico with River.
That cold afternoon the two old opponents drew 0-0 in a boring match corresponding to the 17th date of the Metropolitan Championship that San Lorenzo would have ended up winning. As soon as the referee Miguel Comesaña has concluded the duel, the visiting public began to leave the Centennial booth, whose exits led to viale Figueroa Alcorta. In the one corresponding to gate 12, which was accessed after going through a series of stairs and landings, an incident occurred which was never fully clarified.
From the first moment, the survivors’ testimonies differed. Not surprising, since the last stretch of the path to the gate was a dark tunnel with 80 slippery steps, with no lighting or handrails. Some have said so the scissor door which gave access and exit to the stadium was partially closed; others have noticed it the pinwheelswho usually retired at half-time, remained in place.
There were also those who supported him the incident was triggered by the violent actions of the mounted police, in times when the dictatorship of Juan Carlos Onganía did not spare sticks. “The fans let off steam in cups of coffee and threw urine and excrement at the mounted police who were on the street. This caused the police repression and then the tragedy ”, tried to justify Julián William Kent, president of River.
The truth is that dozens of fans fell and were crushed by the crowd that came behind and, without knowing what was happening, they fought to get out. “I was climbing into the air and realized that I was inevitably going to fall on top of the pile of bodies. I don’t know how I managed to cover my mouth and nose, and that saved me. Others have fallen on me. I remember the feeling of not being able to dilate my chest, I was breathing with short inhalations, ”he recalled Gustavo Iturbeone of the survivors, in 2008, the 40th anniversary of the event.
That afternoon he had attended the Monumental with two friends. “After a while I heard Juan shout our names, I answered him, but he couldn’t see me until I managed to get my other hand out between the bodies,” said Iturbe, who a few hours after leaving the stadium learned that Guido Rodolfo Von Bernard, the third member of the group, was one of 71 fans killed at gate 12.
The victims were mostly young: the average age was 19 and 24 of the deceased were under 18. In addition, there were 113 wounded of varying severity who were treated in the Pirovano, Fernández and Central Militar hospitals.
“I was free, but I found out and after a while I arrived at the hospital. It was a horror and little could be done. I remember family members running desperately through the corridors. Hospitals were not prepared for mass casualties. Those who were saved did so because of their physical strength, ”said Jorge Izza, former head of Pirovano, years later, recalling that that day the dictator Onganía had approached the health center. “make a face”.
A month before the Superclásico was played, a commission composed of inspectors from the Municipality of Buenos Aires and staff from the Argentine Football Association had carried out a complete overhaul of the Monumental and concluded that the stadium did not guarantee “a quick and safe evacuation in case of panic” Despite this, the game was played there.
A few hours after the tragedy, the de facto government declared national mourning. The remains of most of the victims were buried the following Tuesday, but there were still two unidentified bodies. Julián Fieldman, 16, the 71st victim, died on Friday at Fernández hospital.
Two months later, Judge Oscar Hermelo, in charge of the investigation, ordered the pre-trial detention of Américo Di Vietro and Marcelino Cabrera, Mayor and foreman of River, and ordered an embargo of 200 million pesos in national currency against both and against the club. But at the end of November, the VI Chamber of the Criminal and Corrective Appeals Chamber, composed of Raúl Munilla Lacasa, Jorge Quiroga and Ventura Esteves, has definitively rejected both and lifted the embargo.
The AFA has offered compensation of 450,000 pesos ($ 1,400) to relatives in exchange for “expressly waiving any legal action against River.” In August 1969, tired of waiting for a response from the Supreme Court, the relatives of the victims who were conducting the case withdrew the appeal they had filed. In the summary, the lawyers said their clients were fed up: “A belated justice repairs nothing and lacks its most precise and essential attributes”.
Shortly after the incidents that killed 71 people, River decided to change the name of the entrances to the Monument: the numbers that identified them were replaced by letters. So gate 12 is now called L. On it, since March 2008, there is a plaque commemorating the victims. It was placed on the initiative of Diana Von Bernard, Guido’s sister, and donated by the director Pablo Tesoriere, director of the documentary gate 12.
Source: Clarin
