BUENOS AIRES: Argentina on Sunday announced it was sending troops to the city of Rosario to fight drug gangs accused of killing four innocent bystanders in recent days.
President Javier Milei in a post on social media platform X said that he was taking action on a request from the governor of Santa Fe province, the capital of which is Rosario.
It is Argentina’s ‘s third largest city, with a population of 1.3 million, located on the Parana River. The city has become a hotspot for the movement of drugs from Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay going to Europe and Asia.
Federal police troops are going to Rosario after four people were assassinated last week in violence blamed on drug trafficking gangs.
According to the provincial government the gangs have increased their activities after the governor imposed harsher imprisonment conditions on high-profile inmates.
Santa Fe governor Maximiliano Pullaro fed up with drug-related gang violence, last week released a series of photos of shirtless and subdued prisoners standing under the watch of heavily armed police.
It was after the release of these images that drug gangs hit back with assaulted causing the death of four bystanders.
The governor also vowed to end the construction of a long-delayed maximum-security prison.
The measures have seen some accuse him of “Bukelization” — a phrase in Latin America referred to the gang-busting tactics of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele.
Pullaro added the harsher conditions imposed on prisoners, especially drug gang bosses, had earned him 25 death threats since he assumed office two months ago.
The murder rate in Rosario is five times higher than the national average. It is also the birthplace of legendry footballer Lionel Messi.
