Lawyer Fernando Burlando announced his resignation as legal representative of the family of Loan Peña, the boy from Corrientes who disappeared on June 13 in a rural area. The lawyer confirmed this on Thursday.
According to information provided to the Noticias Argentinas agency, Burlando dropped the case because the family members are believed to be related to the governor of Corrientes, Gustavo Valdés.
The media lawyer assumed the representation of María Noguera, Loan’s mother, on June 24, ten days after the death of Néstor Luque, the woman’s first lawyer in this investigation, due to cardiac arrest. Thus, only the lawyers Roberto Méndez and Gustavo Briend remain as defenders of the child’s family.
Crossroads between the lawyer and a brother of Loan
During one of his last public appearances, Fernando Burlando had already had a strong confrontation with José Peña, one of the boy’s brothers, where he told him: “I’m not going to allow you to criticize and say stupid things.”
“Jose arrived here today at the studio and since then he has only seen me at a hearing related to his brother’s case, so I am not going to allow you to criticize and say nonsense about our professional work, because we are doing it seriously,” Burlando said.
Meanwhile, during an interview, she said: “Jose, I have to tell you, because I don’t know why I have to put up with a criticism that I just heard.”
“We are working and investing a lot, and we don’t get paid a penny, and there is no money involved from our side, I don’t know about the others. José, forgive me, but if you are not satisfied, tell me and I will open up,” he concluded. This Thursday, days after that exchange, Burlando confirmed that he was abandoning the case.
Those arrested in the case investigating the whereabouts of the minor are Loan’s aunt, Laudelina Peña; Antonio Benítez, Daniel “Fierrito” Ramírez, former municipal official María Victoria Caillava; her husband, former Navy captain Carlos Pérez; Mónica Millapi and former police commissioner Walter Maciel. All of them remain charged with the alleged abduction and concealment of the child.
