Buenos Aires, December 29 (NA) — Relatives and survivors of the República de Cromañón nightclub tragedy will hold a series of activities this Tuesday to commemorate the 21st anniversary of the massacre that left 194 dead and over 1,400 injured. Fabiana Puebla, one of the many young people who attended the Callejeros concert on December 30, 2004, spoke with the Argentine News Agency and confirmed that a mass will take place at 18:00 in the Metropolitan Cathedral. The woman, who is part of the 'Movimiento Cromañón' group, emphasized that starting at 19:30, a march will begin from Plaza de Mayo to the Cromañón Sanctuary, near the Once de Septiembre station and Plaza Miserere, where the tribute ceremony for the deceased will start at 20:30. Additionally, singer Sebas Fernández, the singer Ferni, and the group Vamos Negrita will perform live music at Mitre and Ecuador, while the organization 'No nos cuenten Cromañón' announced that other artists will also participate in the activities at the Malvinas Argentinas stadium in La Paternal.
21 years later On December 30, less than two minutes after the show began, a fan set off a flare, something common at concerts, which caused the shadow curtain, which was prohibited as it was made of flammable plastic, to catch fire instantly. Horror took over the venue. There were more than 4,500 people in a space only approved for 1,031 because it was classified as a Class C dance hall. Although the fire was extinguished on its own, the black, dense smoke spread throughout the nightclub, and thousands of fans, including children and adults, could only wait to get out to the street. Of the total number of deceased, 17 of them committed suicide in the following years due to the indifference of the National State and the lack of help to support the survivors. In 2007, judges Marcelo Alvero, María Cecilia Maiza, and Raúl Horacio Llanos sentenced three members of the Fire Department for receiving bribes from two entrepreneurs. In August 2008, four years later, only 15 defendants went to trial, including Omar Chabán, manager of República de Cromañón, and Raúl Villarreal, his right-hand man. There, the members of Callejeros—Patricio Fontanet, Elio Delgado, Maximiliano Djerfy, Eduardo Vázquez, Christian Torrejón, and Juan Alberto Carbone—were acquitted. However, in April 2011, the Court of Appeals overturned the acquittals and found the band guilty of being co-organizers of the concert, so a second trial was organized. The third trial took place in 2012, where the owner of the nightclub, a police chief, former officials, and the director of the Private Security Service, Vicente Rizzo, were brought to the dock. Finally, in the fourth trial, the former inspector of the city government, Roberto Calderini, was convicted for taking bribes to license the nightclub.
Meanwhile, the then head of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, Aníbal Ibarra, was removed from his office through a political trial held in the Buenos Aires Legislature.
