Without Aníbal Fernández, the AFA, the Municipality and the Province plan the security operation for the Argentine national team

The security operation around the first presentation of the Argentina national team as world champion next Thursday at the Monumental stadium has started to take shape this week, although it will finish being resolved “48 hours before” the matchwhen the captain Lionel Messi and their teammates are already installed in the premises of Ezeiza AFA and the players themselves are the ones who finish giving the final go-ahead.

But since then the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) These days they have sent a message to the authorities of the City and Province of Buenos Aires, who will take care of the transfer of the campus from Ezeiza to Núñez: They don’t want the federal police, i.e. the national government, to interfere.

This was confirmed to this newspaper by political and police sources aware of the first talks – some of which were informal – which took place since the beginning of the week between the AFA, River and Buenos Aires and the Buenos Aires authorities.

Is that, after the failed operation in December, when the national team tried unsuccessfully to get to the Obelisk, first, and at the intersection of 9 de Julio avenue and the 25 de Mayo highway, in front of a human tide of millions of people, the link between Claudius “Chiqui” Tapiathe president of the AFA and the minister Hannibal Fernandezresponsible for the transfer and Federal, remained completely broken.

This Tuesday, in the meeting that the heads of security of the local Football Federation, the top management of River and of the private security company that will be inside and near the stadium, and the authorities of the Ministry of Security of Buenos Aires, held in offices of the said portfolio began to be scheduled for the operation next Thursday 23rd.

Everything is still up for debate. But there are two central concerns: the amount of public that frequents the MonumentaHe –with ability to 83,000 people in a phenomenal question event- and the entrance of the players to the stadium. There was an item that he tried to put on the table the possibility of appealing again to the air transfer, but it was soon rejected.

Yes, it was decided, for example, to open the court doors to the public at least five hours before the match. The authorities expect an influx much higher than the capacity of the stadium.

Tapia himself highlighted the information he posted clarion Monday on what “Requests for press credentials were 131,537”: “It is the event with the greatest journalistic demand in history”, he underlined.

There is, at least for now, no concern about the transfer, unlike what happened in December. Largely because it is a weekdaywhen at that time it was decreed National holiday.

From the AFA they observed at least in three possibilitiesreportedly that they don’t want custody of the bus that would initially transfer the team from Ezeiza’s property to the Monumental to be in charge of the Federal Policeas in the operation of last December.

In the case of Ciudad, in this sense, the custody of the campus will be exclusively in the hands of the Police of Buenos Aires, despite the celebrations for obtaining the Tapia and Marcellus D’Alessandrothe retired Justice and Security Minister had a heated telephone conversation when the bus, surrounded by thousands of fans, had to be diverted to the federal cadet school so the players could be evacuated by helicopter to the Ezeiza stadium , after flying over the Obelisk, in what was a kind of Olympic lap in the air.

It wasn’t, however, the toughest talk that “Chiqui” had that afternoon: with Aníbal Fernández he discussed more. The Minister of National Security even made it public. Tapia also: he congratulated the minister for networks Sergio Berniniof the Province, for their work.

Since then Berni and the head of the AFA have had a privileged relationship.. Indeed, sources familiar with that link were confident that after Friday, when Tapia returns to the country from his stay in Rwanda for the FIFA Congress, they would agree to meet. There were already informal contacts.

In the case of the Buenos Aires Police, for the next week there will be a strengthening of security in Ezeiza’s property -River has made his concentration of the Monumental available but in the AFA so far they have politely rejected it-. The provincial force will take care of the capsule that will accompany the bus to the entrance to the city.