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him. She suffered deeply due to the death of his brother and misses him badly. It
hurts her deeply to see her parents suffering and, especially, her mother who is ill.
Sebastián Vargas-Areco, Gerardo’s brother, is still in grave pain for the death of his
brother, who was very affectionate towards all of them.
Jorge Ramón Vargas-Areco, Gerardo’s youngest brother, was 8 years old at the time
of Gerardo’s death. Jorge Ramón has no vivid memory of his brother’s death but he
is deeply hurt and sad, especially due to the suffering endured by his mother. He
begged to find the truth about what really happened to Gerardo.
Daniel Vargas-Areco was Gerardo’s younger brother; he was 10 years old when
Gerardo died. Gerardo’s death caused him, as well as the rest of the family, extreme
sorrow and anguish.
The parents of the minor Vargas-Areco wish that the street where they live be
named Gerardo Vargas-Areco and that a memorial be built in his honor.
EXPERT REPORTS
2)
Luis Bernardo Fondebrider, anthropologist of the Argentine
Team of Forensic Anthropology
The investigation into the death of the minor Vargas-Areco failed to comply with
most standard procedures regarding the crime scene.
An autopsy of the body could help answer some questions about the alleged torture
of Gerardo Vargas-Areco; however, given that many years have elapsed, the
decomposition of the body may hide or wipe out some marks. After such a long time,
a new analysis would only reveal bone fractures.
Moreover, though an analysis of the photographs of the dead body may reveal some
injuries, its effectiveness would be limited as it depends on the quality of the images,
thus hindering a reliable diagnosis.
3)
Julio Alberto Ravioli, physician
The investigation of the death of the minor Vargas-Areco did not include an autopsy,
though it is a mandatory procedure in cases of violent deaths. The examination
performed by Dr. José de Ribamar-Cruz was not a medico-legal autopsy, but merely
an external examination of the body. The surveys performed “were totally insufficient
to investigate the violent death” of Gerardo Vargas-Areco.
After so many years of the events, the natural body decomposition process would
hinder the assessment, with a considerable degree of certainty, of the presence of
signs of violence. The “only possibility to reveal other types of injury would consist in
verifying the presence of bone fractures upon body exhumation.”
The analysis of the photographs taken from the dead body of the minor VargasAreco reveals a facial injury and shows that the description of the remaining injuries
-including the left eyeball out of its socket- matches the transformation suffered by
the body as a result of the decomposition process. Furthermore, the examination
showed that the decomposition level in the skull and neck areas does not result from