ARGENTINA: Buenos Aires mayor ousted over deadly club fire

Record ID: 444201

  • Title: ARGENTINA: Buenos Aires mayor ousted over deadly club fire
  • Date: 8th March 2006
  • Summary: HIGH ANGLE SHOT FAMILY MEMBERS LISTENING TO SESSION VARIOUS OF CITY DEPUTIES DEBATING AND VOTING TO OUST IBARRA; FAMILY MEMBERS LISTENING TO FINAL VOTE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PRESIDENT OF CITY LEGISLATURE, JULIO MAIER, SAYING: "The result is that Mr. Ibarra is stripped of his position as mayor."
  • Embargoed: 23rd March 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAEMEPKO8ZWDHZBUTFCPFRIINGV
  • Story Text: Buenos Aires lawmakers ousted the mayor on Tuesday (March 7), ruling he failed to enforce safety codes that might have prevented a 2004 nightclub fire that killed 194 people.
    A committee of Buenos Aires city deputies voted to sack Mayor Anibal Ibarra on charges of negligence and corruption that the victims' families blame for Argentina's worst tragedy in decades.
    Outside the legislature, hundreds of families and friends of the victims who had been calling for Ibarra's removal, cried and hugged each other after hearing the verdict. They held up photographs of teenage rock fans killed in the blaze.
    "He is a political cadaver. Our children our rotting but he will also rot, but in life," said one victim's mother.
    Ibarra, who has governed the city for six years, was suspended from office in November pending an investigation into the accusations along with charges of irregularities in the city's licensing and fire inspections of the club.
    "Bo one nor nothing will return all the lives that were lost, but we lost the truth, we lost justice because to fabricate a scapegoat separates us from truth and justice," said Ibarra after the verdict.
    The fire at the Republica Cromagnon club started when concert-goers shot a flare into the ceiling, igniting flammable soundproofing material.
    But the death toll was magnified because the clubs emergency exits were locked, preventing many of the 5,000 fans from escaping the toxic smoke.
    Ibarra, whose term was to expire in 2007, will be replaced by Deputy Mayor Jorge Telerman.
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