© Ernesto Pages
The crossed statements and also the silences that have followed since the death of Gustavo Martínez yesterday were left out of the scene. Except for the photographic record, if something was said by those who participated in his farewell at the Chacarita cemetery, it was not in front of the cameras. There, Marta and Felipe, the twins of Ricardo Fort, wanted to be present, whom Martínez took care of at the request of his friend since he died in November 2013. The teenagers were accompanied by Eduardo Fort –one of Ricardo’s brothers– and by César Carrozza, a lawyer who has known the boys since birth and who now vouches for them. Carrozza also remained as legal guardian until a few days, when Marta and Felipe come of age. On the other hand, Pablo and Nicolás, Gustavo Martínez’s nephews, were also there, as well as friends who made up his circle.
New stage. Thus, yesterday at noon at least part of the tragedy that began in the early hours of Wednesday, February 16, was closed, when a neighbor of the tower on Sucre Street at 1900 gave notice of the event. Gustavo Martínez had jumped from the 21st floor of that building, where he lived with the children of Ricardo Fort. Although there is almost no doubt that it was a suicide, the court case is still open. And that was the reason why the remains of the deceased will remain in the Chacarita cemetery. Once the Justice closes the case, his family expressed the intention that the body be buried in a cemetery in the north. The case is in charge of the National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office Number 59, in charge of Laura Belloqui. This office was the one that, at first, ordered the intervention of a brigade from the Homicide Division to clarify the fact under the cover applicable to situations of deaths such as the one mentioned, that is, “investigation of causes of death.”
Coincidentally, most of the media reported the information from police sources that Gustavo Martínez – 62 years old – would be going through a delicate state of mind. In the midst of an understandable emotional state given the terrible event, Felipe Fort declared to the police – as reported by the Télam agency – that his legal guardian and also for him and his entire circle a “second father”, had been depressed for days because the twins would come of age. The teenager also stated that he did not know if Martínez was undergoing any psychological or psychiatric treatment. Later, another member of the inner circle of all of them said that Gustavo was going through an incipient degenerative disease and that probably had motivated that tragic decision. And a friend from the gym that Martínez attended recalled in communication with a program on Canal América that Gustavo had told him in passing that he was already wanting his friend’s children to be independent. Something that, at least legally, will happen from next February 25. This last testimony, as it became known, is not included in the legal case that is currently pending.
For this reason, it was only on Friday following noon that the relatives of Gustavo Martínez were authorized to remove his body from the judicial morgue and organize the wake. This was held from 6 p.m. to just over 10 p.m. in a company in Palermo that was the same where Ricardo Fort was held in November 2013. Friends and family gathered there, and on behalf of the Fort family he was the aforementioned brother, and also a nephew. It was believed that Marta and Felipe Fort would also go, but although that wake house has access through two streets, due to the presence of onlookers and especially the media, it was agreed that they would not participate.
Shocked. César Carrozza, Martínez’s lawyer and another important person in Ricardo Fort’s non-media universe, is the one who, as soon as Gustavo’s death was known, became in charge of caring for Felipe and Marta Fort. Also who, upon leaving the Sucre tower that fateful Wednesday, confirmed the suicide hypothesis to the media present: “(Gustavo) made the decision to take his own life and that is all we can say for the moment. The boys are fine.” Marita, the other person who had always taken care of the boys, was on vacation and as soon as she found out what had happened, she returned and stayed with Marta, who was later found out, she was shocked. Raised in a world of networks, she posted: “I haven’t processed it yet, it all happened so fast and I still don’t understand how you might do it. I had no idea what was going on.” Felipe also made a post, surely also shocked, and activated statements where the tragedy was left aside. With the hours, he erased it and, now more aware of the terrible fact, they both had a restraint that in those first moments seemed to be absent.
