Trial in Córdoba for the Solange Musse case: 2 former COE officials in the dock

This Monday  the trial began in Río Cuarto against two former officials of the COE of Huinca Renancó, accused of abuse of authority in 2020. The physician Eduardo Andrada and the social worker Analía Morales are charged, responsible for preventing Pablo Musse from entering Córdoba. The measure prevented him from saying goodbye to his daughter Solange, who was suffering from terminal cancer.

The hearing is taking place in the Criminal and Correctional Chamber of the First Nomination, presided over by Judge Daniel Vaudagna. The court also includes chamber judges Nicolás Rins and Diego Ortiz, as well as lay jurors. The prosecution is led by Chamber Prosecutor Julio Rivero.

The case gained national attention by exposing the harshness of the inhuman health restrictions during the lockdown. The Musse family denounced arbitrariness and dehumanization in the enforcement of regulations. The incident led to a judicial case that, five years later, is finally being debated.

A farewell that could never happen

Solange Musse, 35 years old, was living in Alta Gracia with home hospitalization while receiving care for stage 4 cancer. In August 2020, she was anxiously awaiting her father, who was traveling from Neuquén accompanied by his disabled sister-in-law. However, he was stopped in Huinca Renancó by the local health checkpoint.

A positive Covid-19 test turned him into a "suspected case" and prompted the officials' decision to deny him entry. Although a subsequent swab test came back negative, the order was final. Musse had to return escorted by police vehicles to Plottier, on a journey of more than a thousand kilometers (over 621 miles).

The father reported that he couldn't stop to buy food or use restrooms during the trip."We relieved ourselves on the road and I drove 40 hours straight with my disabled sister-in-law," he stated. Meanwhile, his daughter was dying without being able to fulfill her last wish to see him.

Restricted rights and demand for justice

Solange wrote a letter a few hours before she died, in which she expressed her helplessness at not being able to see her father."Until my last breath I have my rights, no one is going to take them away," the young woman stated. Her testimony became a symbol of the debate over the scope of the restrictions.

Solange's mother recalled that her daughter had spent a decade battling the disease. "She needed her father to face the next chemotherapy, but it couldn't be," she declared. The family insists that the COE's decisions were arbitrary and lacked humanity.

The case became an example of excesses committed under the protection of health decrees. For the Musse family, the difference in treatment compared to political leaders who broke the lockdown revealed a double standard. "A dog trainer had more rights than my daughter," Pablo Musse stated on the anniversary of her death.