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On 3 November 1995, at 8:55 AM, a series of explosions started in the Río
Tercero Military Factory, killing seven people, all of them unrelated to the factory, and injuring over 300 people, most of whom were outside of the factory. None of the 400 employees present during the catastrophe were killed.
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and a reinforcer must have been used. The two initial explosions had a differential power, so the smaller one could counter the biggest, and redirect the shock wave to the southeast. This direction was picked because there would not be anyone on the southeastern area of the factory at that moment of
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The night before the incident, Lieutenant colonel Oscar
Quiroga, subdirector of the factory and in charge of it thanks to the director's absence, gave an unusual order: to not allow the private vehicles of the neighbors to park in front of the factory (something the neighbors frequently did without
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The seven people that died (Romina Torres, Laura Muñoz, Aldo
Aguirre, Leonardo Solleveld, Hoder Dalmasso, Elena Rivas de Quiroga, and José Varela) were all unrelated to the factory, just like most of the injured. Thousands of people fled the city to the neighboring towns, and stayed in squares and
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The tribunal determined that people not yet identified, with knowledge about explosives, entered the factory at night on 2 November or in the early morning of 3 November, and went to the cargo plant and the shipping and storage warehouse, "with the mission to prepare the elements that started the
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cannon projectiles were stockpiled on the Cargo Plant, something both unusual and dangerous. Many workers, senior staff and the Union complained about this situation, demanding the transfer of the explosives and ammunition to a safe place. Another suspicious event was that, the week before the
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There were three explosions inside the factory. The first two happened simultaneously in the cargo plant and the shipping and storage warehouse, with the latter being the strongest of the two, with the intent to redirect the shock wave away from the workers inside the factory. These explosions
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At 8:55 AM, the first two explosions happened simultaneously, leaving two craters, one bigger than the other. The official chemical forensic team (engineers Yorio, Sicilia, Zanoni and Rodríguez) determined that the fire could not have detonated the TNT and hexolite, and established that a
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The blast was initially ruled an accident, but subsequent investigations revealed that the explosion was deliberately planned. In 2014, the
Federal Oral Tribunal of Córdoba N° 2 delivered the sentence on the case, condemning four high functionaries of the state-owned corporation
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The accounting forensic team also determined that in the Río
Tercero Military Factory there was much less ammunition stored than was registered in their books. Between 23,405 and 49,000 ammunition was missing, between one third and two thirds of the declared total number.
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The factory was situated 200 metres away from the limit of the urban area, and the blast leveled dozens of houses and seriously damaged hundred of homes. Neighboring areas were covered in splinters, debris and war ammunition as a result of the explosion.
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At approximately 8:50 AM, a tank of TNT caught fire in the cargo plant, followed by others. The cargo plant shed stored approximately 200 tanks of explosives, stored in two separated groups, the biggest one of TNT, and the smaller one of
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That same day at 17:00 PM, President Carlos Menem flew to Río
Tercero and held a press conference, in which he stated that the explosions started by accident. When the press asked if it could be a terrorist attack, Menem answered:
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ignited the one hundred thousand tons of projectiles stored in the ammunition warehouse, and this third explosion was the one that caused the extensive damage to a large part of the city, especially the surrounding neighborhoods.
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the day. It was pay day, so most workers were on the western area collecting their wages, and the rest would be on the dining hall, also on the west, because their break started at 9:00 AM.
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which took place from 1991 to 1995. In August 2008, former
Argentine President Carlos Menem was placed under investigation for his role in the explosion.
242:"I'm telling you that no, discard it totally, it was an accident... It was an accident and not an attack. You have the obligation to spread this word."
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friendly houses, while the inhabitants helped them by providing food, water and telephone access to communicate with their families.
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incident, Colonel
Cornejo Torino, the director of the factory, and Lieutenant colonel Quiroga, the subdirector, both traveled to
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Tribunal was able to reconstruct the sequence of events using forensic analysis and witness statements during the trial.
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137:'s presidency. The explosion killed seven people, injured over 300 and destroyed the factory and part of the city.
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Twelve years of the explosion at the Rio
Tercero Military Factory: details of the criminal case
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The tribunal concluded with unanimity and certainty that the plant was destroyed to hide the
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fire, place the detonators and reinforcers needed to cause the explosions hours later".
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The accident theory dominated the judicial investigations and the media for years.
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problems). In the days before the incident, an excessive amount of
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Improvised explosive device bombings in South America
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194:. Unsourced material may be challenged and
150:smuggling of weapons to Croatia and Ecuador
214:Learn how and when to remove this message
109:Learn how and when to remove this message
286:. There also were projectiles without a
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514:Rio Tercero: the blast was intentional
594:November 1995 events in South America
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192:adding citations to reliable sources
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522:Menem probed over 1995 explosion
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574:Political scandals in Argentina
34:needs additional citations for
125:was a series of explosions in
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564:Military history of Argentina
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549:Presidency of Carlos Menem
16:1995 disaster in Argentina
559:1995 industrial disasters
554:1995 crimes in Argentina
589:Fabricaciones Militares
544:Explosions in Argentina
143:Fabricaciones Militares
58:"Río Tercero explosion"
123:Río Tercero explosion
188:improve this section
127:Río Tercero, Córdoba
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539:Explosions in 1995
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36:verification
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533:Categories
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175:does not
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99:May 2016
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