Kriti Mehrotra
As a documentary exploring the ins and outs of the 1990 homicide of María Soledad Morales in Catamarca, Argentina, ‘Breaking the Silence: The María Soledad Case’ truly lives up to its title. After all, this Netflix original incorporates not only archival footage of the investigative material, legal proceedings, and cover-up claims concerning the matter but also exclusive interviews with those close to it. Amongst those who played a key role in this ordeal was actually then-Deputy Commissioner Luis Abelardo Patti, but he then fell from grace to such an extent he landed straight in prison.
Luis Patti Was Once a Highly Regarded Police Officer Turned Politician
Although born in rural Baigorrita, Buenos Aires, to a lower-middle-class household on November 26, 1952, Luis reportedly did not have the most comfortable childhood for a myriad of reasons. Thus, he began working in a bakery when he was merely a young teen, just to then find his calling among the authorities and enroll in the Buenos Aires Provincial Police Academy at the age of 16 in 1968/1969. Little did anyone know his first station upon graduation would be the northern suburbs of Buenos Aires, from where he gradually rose the ranks to become one of the most dependable officials.
In fact, according to records, when Argentina’s democracy fell deep into military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983, Luis was amongst the go-to officials for the leaders to do their dirty work. This allegedly continued in secret even as the nation settled down, and he was soon handpicked to work the high-profile 1990 murder of 17-year-old high school student María Soledad Morales. The truth is, he also had public support by this point, only for things to change once he asserted her death was a crime of passion, even when witness statements plus evidence allegedly suggested otherwise.
Therefore, Luis was eventually called back to Buenos Aires, where his career trajectory actually continued evolving. He left the police force to join the Justicialist Party as a true politician in 1993. As if that’s not enough, he also started writing a column in the La Prensa daily newspaper (translation: The Press) and was later appointed as the Intervenor of the Central Market by the government. Thus, it’s no surprise that his campaign to become the Mayor of Escobar in 1995 was successful, too, driving him to launch a new party altogether named Unidad Bonaerense (now Federalist Unity Party).
Luis Patti Has Been Accused of Several Crimes Against Humanity
While it’s true that Luis served as Escobar’s Mayor until 2003, two years before he was elected to the Argentine Chamber of Deputies in 2005, he never actually got a chance to take the latter seat. That’s because several allegations against him being a war criminal had started coming to light, with reports claiming he had killed and tortured several individuals without a blink of an eye during the military rule. However, per records, it wasn’t until 2008 that the Argentine federal court formally requested Congress to impeach him, following which he was arrested on many charges of crimes against humanity.
Since then, Luis has actually been painted as a former police personnel who thrived in situations wherein he was allowed to administer harmful actions, including abuse, kidnapping, murder, as well as torture. In fact, apart from being accused of killing three youths wrongfully believed to have been criminals in 1973, he was also alleged to have tortured a prisoner in 1976 before going on to hurt more. Then, it was claimed he kidnapped as well as killed two men called Osval do Cambiasso and Eduardo Pereyra Rossi in 1983, long before torturing two more alleged thieves with an electric prod in 1990.
Luis Patti is Behind Bars For Good
Despite the fact many court proceedings against Luis were suspended over the years, he was convicted of murder on April 14, 2010, resulting in him receiving life in prison without the possibility of parole. The following year, he was also found guilty of severe violations of human rights during State terrorism in two different trials, for which he was again handed down two life sentences without parole.
In these particular cases, Luis was found guilty of accessory to murder for the killing of Diego Muñiz Barreto and the attempted murder of Juan José Fernández in Escobar in 1977. Therefore, today, the nearly 72-year-old is incarcerated at a high-security Argentina correctional facility, where he is expected to remain for the rest of his natural life.
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