The shooting attack on a supermarket belonging to the family of Antonela Roccuzzo, wife of soccer star Lionel Messi, on Thursday has reopened the debate on the wave of drug violence in northeastern Argentina.
Argentine security minister Anibal Fernandez said the attack is “typical” of those that have been happening in Rosario for the past 20 years.
Fernandez said the national government is working to combat insecurity in the region.
“They [drug traffickers] have won. Now it has to be reversed. Are we willing to change it? Yes, we are,” he told reporters on Thursday in Buenos Aires.
Two people on motorbikes shot at the supermarket on Thursday morning.
A threatening handwritten message for 35-year-old Messi, Argentina's captain and seven-time World Player of the Year, was left on the shop door.
Television images showed bullet casings on the pavement outside the shop. The front of the building was hit by 14 bullets and the shop was closed on Thursday morning.
The murder rate in Rosario is among the highest in Argentina as gangs linked to drug trafficking coexist, according to judicial complaints, and clashes causing injuries and deaths are frequently reported.
WATCH | 'Messi, we're waiting for you': Gunmen threaten Lionel Messi after shooting at wife's shop in Argentina
The shooting attack on a supermarket belonging to the family of Antonela Roccuzzo, wife of soccer star Lionel Messi, on Thursday has reopened the debate on the wave of drug violence in northeastern Argentina.
Argentine security minister Anibal Fernandez said the attack is “typical” of those that have been happening in Rosario for the past 20 years.
Fernandez said the national government is working to combat insecurity in the region.
“They [drug traffickers] have won. Now it has to be reversed. Are we willing to change it? Yes, we are,” he told reporters on Thursday in Buenos Aires.
Two people on motorbikes shot at the supermarket on Thursday morning.
A threatening handwritten message for 35-year-old Messi, Argentina's captain and seven-time World Player of the Year, was left on the shop door.
Television images showed bullet casings on the pavement outside the shop. The front of the building was hit by 14 bullets and the shop was closed on Thursday morning.
The murder rate in Rosario is among the highest in Argentina as gangs linked to drug trafficking coexist, according to judicial complaints, and clashes causing injuries and deaths are frequently reported.
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