Rural leaders from Carlos Casares knocked on the doors of the Buenos Aires Legislature this week to give voice to the drama they are experiencing due to the floods. They arrived to make visible the criminal complaint they filed against local and provincial officials, denounce the abandonment of rural roads and demand the reactivation of key hydraulic works. In addition, they proposed forming a working group that brings together all the actors in the sector to seek concrete solutions to the historical claims of the field.
The meeting took place in the Antonio Cafiero Room of the Buenos Aires Senate and brought together the presidents of the Agrarian Affairs committees of both Chambers, Sabrina Sabat (Unión y Libertad) and Alejandro Cellillo (UCR – Somos Buenos Aires), along with legislators Luciano Bugallo (Civic Coalition), Silvina Vaccarezza and Nerina Neumann (UCR – Cambio Federal) and Jorge Schiavone (PRO). Paula Bustos, Martín Endere (both from the PRO) and Fernanda Díaz (Unión por la Patria) participated virtually.
For the producers, one of the strongest voices was that of Carolina Donegani, from Comunidad Rural Carlos Casares, who questioned the lack of maintenance of the roads, the lack of control of clandestine channels, the slowdown of works and the tax pressure. «Don’t tell me that the floods are a product of climate change to disguise what they didn’t do. I may be flooded, but I should also have the road made, and that doesn’t happen today,» he said.
Alejandra Córdoba, lawyer and legal representative of the producers of the central Buenos Aires region, also spoke, pointing out the inaction of the local and provincial governments. «The mud is the border that separates the countryside from access to our rights and opportunities. There is a lack of political will, and what causes the most anger are the omissions. The roads should be connection points, and today they are nothing more than rivers that are impossible to travel,» he said.
In this framework, Córdoba mentioned data from CARBAP and the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange, which estimate between 2 and 4 million hectares affected by floods, with 900 thousand directly under water.
Among those present were also the dairy farmer Diego Martín and his wife, who said that since March 2025 the school their children attend has not had teachers. “I am grateful that something can be done for production, because there are many families that are having a hard time,” they expressed.
The legislators, for their part, committed to working in a coordinated manner between both Chambers to promote bills that translate into concrete public policies, manage with the local and provincial governments and accompany the creation of the working group proposed by the producers.
«The emergency is there, but we also have to talk about prevention. This cannot happen to us again and it goes beyond partisanship. We have to generate macro laws so that the State is present before the disaster,» Sabat warned.
Cellillo, meanwhile, reported that the producers presented a petition and that both Agrarian Affairs commissions “are going to work on the issue together.” “There will be a meeting of advisors and representatives of the Executive and Banco Provincia will be summoned,” he anticipated.
For her part, Representative Sabat recalled that «since December 2023 we have been presenting projects on rural roads because they are the ones that guarantee security, health, education and production. They are vital for the countryside and connectivity.»
Deputy Luciano Bugallo was more blunt: «We can present projects, but if the Executive does not execute, or does not lower the line to its legislators, everything is bogged down. There is a responsibility of the Province and also of the Nation, which raise funds for works that they do not do.»
The criminal complaint of the rural producers of Carlos Casares
During the meeting, the producers explained the details of the criminal complaint filed against the mayor of Carlos Casares, Daniel Stadnik, the mayor of 9 de Julio, María José Gentile, and officials from the Water Authority (ADA) and the Buenos Aires Hydraulic Directorate, in their capacity as those responsible for the A3 Basin Committee of the Salado River.
“For the first time we had to go to court, because the water and hydraulic authorities knew what was happening, they knew about the recurrence of the floods and they did nothing,” explained Córdoba.
The judicial document, filed in Prosecutor’s Office No. 2 of Trenque Lauquen, headed by prosecutor Tomás O’Reilly, accuses the officials of malicious damage due to flooding (arts. 186 and 189 of the Penal Code), improper omission for not having acted despite their duty as guarantor in the Committee, and breach of duties as a public official (art. 248 of the Penal Code).
«The mayor of Carlos Casares said two months ago: ‘We are going to wait for the water to go down and then we will see what we do’. That is a total lack of respect. He has known the district for 14 years and has responsibility for the rural roads. It cannot be that everything depends on the technical or political criteria of two or three people,» added Donegani.
The producers stressed that it is not just a climate disaster, but a chain of political and technical omissions. “We are not as angry with nature as with the omissions,” Córdoba stressed. «The Master Plan for the Río Salado should be completed in 15 years, but it has been going on for 30 years and is only half done. There is apathy on the part of the Province, lack of control by the Hydraulic Directorate over clandestine canals and total abandonment of rural roads.»
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