Death of Santiago Maldonado

Santiago Andrés Maldonado, born 25 July 1989, was a craftsman and tattoo artist from Veinticinco de Mayo, Buenos Aires province, who had recently moved to El Bolsón, Río Negro. He supported Mapuche land-claim activities, though his family stated he was not an "activist" or "militant"; his brother and a friend described him as an anarchist.

On 31 July and 1 August 2017, protesters at the Pu Lof de la Resistencia in Cushamen, Chubut Province — land claimed from the Benetton Group — blocked National Route 40 in support of jailed activist Facundo Jones Huala. Judge Guido Otranto ordered the Argentine National Gendarmerie to clear the blockade with minimal force. On 1 August, protesters returned and clashed violently with Gendarmerie officers, reportedly injuring two gendarmes. A group of 30 gendarmes was sent to the site without a judicial warrant. Some protesters, including Maldonado, tried to escape by crossing the Chubut River; Maldonado reportedly could not swim. He was not seen again after this point.

A judicial investigation followed, initially framed as a search and rescue before being reclassified as a possible forced disappearance, a shift made without new evidence implicating the Gendarmerie. The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) both intervened, urging Argentina to exclude the Gendarmerie from the investigation and to prioritize clarifying its role. Judge Otranto was later removed from the case after commenting publicly on the investigation's theories, and was replaced by Judge Gustavo Lleral.

Maldonado's body was found in the Chubut River on 17 October 2017, roughly 300 meters upstream from the protest site. An autopsy conducted 21 October 2017, involving 52 experts including those chosen by the family, found the body had been submerged for at least 55 days and concluded the cause of death was drowning contributed by hypothermia, with no signs of violence. A subsequent review by 55 forensic experts in November 2017 reached the same conclusion. The UN and IACHR closed their respective cases in January 2018, finding no evidence of foul play.

Various theories were investigated and discarded, including claims that Maldonado had been detained by the Gendarmerie (based on witness statements later recanted, with the witnesses charged with perjury), that he had died from a knife wound sustained in an unrelated altercation with a Mapuche caretaker (later ruled out by DNA testing), and that he might still be alive in hiding. Prosecutor Silvina Avila requested changing the case classification from forced disappearance to suspicious death in December 2017, a request Judge Lleral rejected, stating the case's outcome depended on evidence rather than its administrative label. The case was closed by Judge Lleral on 29 November 2018, citing no evidence supporting anything other than accidental drowning. Maldonado's family has continued to reject this conclusion, requesting further autopsies, which were denied by the court.

The case generated large protests across Argentina and internationally, and became a significant political issue ahead of Argentina's 2017 midterm elections.