“Cristina is to blame for the economic crisis,” says a member of the “copitos” gang

Despite the arrest of Nicolás Gabriel Carrizo, its leader and friend, Leonardo Volpintestaone of the members of the “copitos” gang, insists that none of them is involved in the attack on Cristina Kirchner. The 20-year-old provides details of the weekend with Brenda Uliarte before she was arrested, she explains the functioning of the group that is being investigated by the Justice Department and stresses that they do not belong to a political or “terrorist” group. In dialogue with THE NATION, Leonardo warns, instead, that in the band of the “copitos” everyone agreed that “Cristina is to blame for the economic crisis”. And he clarifies: “From the beginning we repudiated the attack.” Fernando Sabag Montiel triggered the Bersa, the rest of the gang of “copitos” had gotten together to eat pizza at the house of one of them, Sergio Orozco, in Barracas. Carrizo and Miguel also lived there. That day they had decided to go out and sell sugar flakes. That Thursday neither Brenda nor “Nando” showed up for work. “They always went to the Obelisk because it was the place where they sold the most and where they had become known,” recalls Leonardo. Carrizo was the owner of the machine. Each vendor brought his own raw material and paid him $600 for 50 flakes. They then sold each flake for $300. “Gabriel is not the boss. He is leader. A boss is the one who commands, the leader is the one who accompanies so that we all progress together. He depends on us and we on him”, remarks Leonardo.Leonardo Volpintesta, during the interview with LA NACION Hernán Zenteno – LA NACION The young man does not remember how long ago he met Carrizo -the last one detained by Judge María Eugenia Capuchetti-, but he points out that it was more or less six months ago at a party in Puerto Madero. Yes, he remembers, on the other hand, how long ago Fernando and Brenda joined. “They started working in June, July. We didn’t know them very well, we just had a working relationship. That’s why we discussed with him whether to put them in or not, we didn’t have that much confidence, “he says. They were all part of “gyros”, a WhatsApp group made up of about 90 people where they arranged to go out. They used to go to Plaza Colombia or to Arcam, in Puerto Madero. Leonardo was joined by Orozco, his friend for years. In addition, they shared the “Work Group”. “As we had to go by bus, we planned the exit. We calculated how long we were going to be on the trip, how much to sell, that type of organization we had. Not a terrorist organization, nor a drug organization, none of those nonsense that they are saying, ”he relates. Leonardo answers that he does not belong to any political group and assures that Carrizo does not either. “We complain about inflation, not about the government. We believe that Cristina is to blame for the inflation, all this economic mess is because of Cristina”, he points out.Leonardo Volpintesta in Parque LezamaHernán Zenteno – LA NACION“We are against the marches, the pickets. Although for us it is better because we are going to sell the flakes there and earn money. But we prefer that there be no marches, that there be no pickets. What we do believe is that Cristina is to blame for all these economic crises,” he adds. Leonardo assures that with “the working group” they did not talk about politics. “The only thing we talk about is that the economy is the problem. We believe that we have to dollarize and it was”, he points out. It was Miguel who informed his friends that “Nando” had tried to kill Cristina Kirchner. “We turned on the TV, we put on Chronicle and we brought water to calm down,” recalls Leonardo. Then, they tried to contact Brenda. After a failed attempt by Carrizo, Leonardo managed to communicate. “He told me that he didn’t know where Nando was. I put her on speakerphone and we asked her where she was, we tried to ask her for an explanation. He told us that he had spoken with him but that he did not know anything, that he had not seen him for two days, ”he says. According to the young man, despite the fact that they had not yet shown themselves publicly, the morning after the assassination attempt on Cristina Kirchner, fake Instagram profiles accused them that their plan had failed. Then, Nicolás summoned them to Orozco’s house. This time, Brenda joined in. “If there was a group of fans of Cristina or the PJ they could kill us. And if something happened to us, no one would know. So we decided that we were going to give Chronicle a grade. When we went on television we did not have an advice on what to say, so, out of panic, we went, ”Leonardo says about his only public appearance so far.Leonardo VolpintestaHernán Zenteno – LA NACIONEverything changed when they found out that Brenda was involved. The group remained in the house in Barracas for the rest of the weekend. On Saturday they bought flour and made pizzas. It was from there that Brenda made her live on Instagram where she gave her opinion on the attack. “She stayed in Barracas because she had nowhere to go,” says Leonardo. He also relates that Sabag Montiel’s girlfriend felt bad that night and that Nicolás, Lucas and Miguel accompanied her to the hospital. On Sunday, Orozco’s brother kicked them out of the house. Leonardo, Nicolás, Miguel and Lucas took care of moving the cotton candy machines. Brenda stayed in the house until Orozco accompanied her to Retiro. Minutes later, she was detained by federal police. “I found out on television that Brenda had accompanied him,” says Leonardo, describing Uliarte as “respectful” and “cool.” He adds that she “seemed more intelligent” than Sabag Montiel. Despite the arrest of Nicolás Carrizo, Leonardo does not suspect his friend. He believes that the messages that compromise him are “fallacies”. He consulted about the WhatsApp statuses -which said “Surely the next one is you Alberto, be careful”-, he said that they were delivered to the media by a friend who wanted revenge. “If he hadn’t done it, he wouldn’t be in jail,” he considers. “It’s a lie. Surely it is false ”, he answers about the messages in which Carrizo says that he had provided another weapon, caliber 22, to Sabag Montiel. “He didn’t have time to plan, because he had children to support,” he says. Finally, Leonardo says that this week his group wants to sell snowflakes again because they all need money. “I only have 100 pesos in my pocket,” he says, before saying goodbye.Leonardo said he was a close friend of Gabriel Nicolás CarrizoHernán Zenteno – LA NACION