Friends and family of Emiliano Fuentes Firmani are mobilizing to demand the freedom of the 47-year-old cultural manager, detained while waiting to vote in the presidential elections this Sunday (4) at the Brazilian embassy in Buenos Aires.
"We strongly repudiate the detention of Emiliano Fuentes and demand his immediate release", says the text released by Ramiro Varela, a friend of the Brazilian-Argentine. The message calls on supporters for a peaceful protest in front of the place where he is being held, in the provisional detention center on Suipacha Street, in the center of the Argentine capital.
According to reports from people who witnessed the beginning of the confusion, at the end of the morning, the voter tried to defend a street vendor who was selling shirts of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), candidate in the electoral race. Agents said Fuentes held onto the merchandise that was being seized and did not comply with orders to return it.
The arrest caused turmoil among those present, who filmed and tried in vain to prevent him from being taken to the police car in handcuffs. Embassy officials tried to intervene, including the Brazilian consul general in Buenos Aires, Raymundo Magno.
According to information provided to the reporter by Varela, the Brazilian-Argentinean was arrested for "attack and resistance against authority". The penal code says that the penalty for this crime is six months to two years if the accused "puts his hands on authority" — which would be the case of Fuentes, according to Varela.
The possibility scared the wife of the cultural manager, with whom the reporter spoke by phone. According to her, Fuentes is the son of Argentine parents, but lived in Brazil during his childhood when his parents fled the military dictatorship in the neighboring country, in the 1970s and 1980s.
Therefore, he also participates in Brazilian elections. In 2022, for example, he recorded the moment of voting on his social networks: "More than 1 km in line to vote for Lula president", he wrote at the time.
The arrest was the most delicate moment of a vote with some setbacks. During the morning, the waiting time to vote exceeded two hours for some polling stations. Along the line, the report saw people selling hats in support of Lula, Brazilian flags and drumsticks, in addition to witnessing arguments and shouting between voters for the PT member and his main opponent, Flávio Bolsonaro (PL).
Part of the confusion is due to actions that, in Brazil, would be considered a crime, such as demonstrations with flags or slogans for a candidate — in the case of Buenos Aires, the vast majority coming from Lula voters, present in large numbers at the embassy. In 2022, Lula had 77.2% of the votes in the city in the second round; Jair Bolsonaro, 22.8%. In the general result, the PT member won that year with 50.9% of the valid votes.
The Electoral Court only allows individual and silent demonstrations through flags, pins, t-shirts and stickers and prohibits the gathering of people wearing standardized clothing or propaganda instruments until 5pm on the day of the election. Outside the country, however, embassies and consulates do not have the power to prevent these actions outside their buildings.
This Wednesday's arrest also reveals the Buenos Aires authorities' crusade against irregular sales on the streets. The city, governed by right-wing Jorge Macri, cousin of former president Mauricio Macri, has reinforced operations against this type of commerce.
In August of this year, the management stated that it had removed 19,000 street vendors from parks and sidewalks since 2023, when Jorge took office. "To improve the quality of life of Buenos Aires residents, the city government has focused its efforts on urban planning, security and respect for private property," the government said at the time.
