Finally, the city of Buenos Aires has mended its 65 years delay paid homage to Carlos Gardel, building him a monument. This delay is inexplicable, because the best Argentine singer has its homage on stone or on bronze in almost every country of Latin America, even in those he never visited.

We have to remember that soon after Gardel’s tragic death, Mariano de Vedia y Mitre, mayor of Buenos Aires City, was asked to give the singer’s name to a park, which he refused to do because he claimed Gardel to have a police record.

Paradoxically, Vedia y Mitre occupied this position during Agustín P. Justo’s presidency, who didn’t hesitate in using Gardel’s death to distract the public attention from the murder of Enzo Bordabehere senator for Santa Fe province, by Valdés Cora, former commissary and bully of the official party.

The bullet was really meant to hit Lisandro de la Torre, who was also a National Senator for Santa Fe province, to silence his interpellation to the Executive Power about the refrigerator plants affair, in which Luis Duhau and Federico Pinedo, Ministers of Agriculture and Economy respectively, were involved.

Bordabehere had pushed De La Torre to save him from the attack and received the killing bullet, which was originally destined to his friend and colleague in the Democrat Progressive Party. When Valdés Cora was arrested, the usual comment was “the killer is arrested, but the murderer is not”. It was not possible, or not wanted, to identify who ordered Valdés Cora to kill the senator, although the evidence was against Duhau, since    Valdés Cora was his bodyguard.

President Justo asked his Colombian colleague to delay the deliver of Gardel`s body and, had the complicity of Natalio Botana, owner and director or the newspaper “Crítica”. This newspaper started a campaign to distract public attention from the murder occurred in the National Senate, by publishing articles related to the singer: “Gardel’s mother”, “Gardel’s childhoold”, “Gardel’s friends”, “Gardel’s love affair” and so on.

After several months and once his purpose had been achieved, Justo asked the Colombian President to deliver the remains of Carlos Gardel.

This episode was evoked by Helvio Botana, the son of Natalio, in the chapter “La manito que da Gardel después de muerto”(“The hand that Gardel gave us after his death”) of his book “Memorias. Tras los dientes del perro” (“Memories. After the dog’s teeth”).