‘They could have killed me’: Protesters condemn state violence in Argentina

Buenos Aires, Argentina – Jonathan Navarro, 33, can pinpoint the exact moment his life changed forever. The moment constantly replays in his mind — and it was caught on video.

It was nearly 5:30pm on March 12, and a group of pensioners were staging their weekly protest in front of Argentina’s imposing Congress building, its green-tinged bronze dome looming overhead.

Hundreds of demonstrators had joined the retirees to denounce cuts to government benefits and call for an increase in pensions.

Navarro was one of them. He had travelled from San Martin, on the outskirts of the capital Buenos Aires, to protest on behalf of his father, a retiree who is struggling to afford his medication.

“I watched on TV how the police were beating pensioners every week. I couldn’t just stand by and keep watching. I had to do something,” Navarro told Al Jazeera.

Tensions had been escalating for hours on that warm Wednesday afternoon. Normally, the weekly protests were small, but this one was larger than usual. Even rival football fans had shown up to support the retirees.

As the afternoon stretched on, government forces accused the protesters of violating the security perimeter. They began using force — including tear gas and rubber bullets — to disperse the crowds.

First, Navarro felt a searing sting on his leg. A rubber bullet had struck him.

Then came a blast of light and a sudden burning sensation across his face that made time feel like it was standing still. Blood began running down one of his cheeks, followed by a rush of pain. He had been shot again.

The tear gas in the air made it difficult to breathe. Deafening shouts came from every direction. Shots were still ringing out as two of Navarro's friends grabbed him by the arms and rushed him to an improvised first aid station in a building a block away.

But Navarro's injuries were too serious to treat there. He was taken to a hospital that evening, where, after a long surgery, doctors confirmed that the second bullet had permanently damaged his left eye.

He would never recover his vision.

“When the doctors told me, I just couldn’t believe what was happening,” Navarro said, sitting at the kitchen table in his home in San Martin.

“I went to the protest because I wanted to fight for my father and other pensioners, and what we found were police officers shooting tear gas and rubber bullets like it was a war. They could have killed me.”

Growing repression

Human rights organisations say Navarro’s case is part of a growing pattern of violence against protesters since President Javier Milei took office in December 2023.

Shortly after his inauguration, Milei’s administration published a new set of rules for policing protests.

Under the revised protocol, the security forces — including those whose mandate is to protect Argentina’s borders, like the military police — are allowed to use tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets to prevent people from blocking traffic.

The government claims these “nonlethal methods” are necessary to guarantee people’s right to circulation.

But critics say abuses, including arbitrary arrests, ill-treatment and intimidation, have become the norm, even when protesters are outnumbered by security forces.

In July, the Provincial Commission for Memory — an autonomous government body that monitors human rights — issued a report that found more cases of protest-related injuries and detentions in the first half of 2025 than in all of 2024.

A total of 1,251 people had been hurt in clashes between police and security forces, and 130 people were arbitrarily arrested, according to the report.

It also accused the police of having "used less-lethal weapons against protesters irrationally and disproportionately, disregarding protocols".

"Failure to comply with these protocols transforms these weapons into lethal weapons," the report said.

The protest Navarro participated in was particularly bloody. Healthcare professionals reported treating more than 300 protesters, some of whom had haemorrhages, trauma to the chest and "open facial wounds", according to the Centre for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), a human rights nonprofit.

Among the injured was photojournalist Pablo Grillo, who was hit on the head with a tear gas canister. Grillo spent weeks in intensive care and is still recovering from his injuries.

“They [the security forces] might be using nonlethal weapons, but even those can cause very serious, life-changing injuries,” said Felix Bardone, a doctor who was among the first to treat Navarro.

Bardone is part of a team of volunteer health professionals who, every week, set up a first aid post near Congress at the Instituto Patria, a think tank founded in 2016 by former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

The number of patients the first aid post receives varies week to week. But Bardone has cared for protesters whose airways are inflamed by pepper spray and tear gas, and whose bodies have been cut and bruised by projectiles and rubber bullets.

In Navarro's case, the loss of his eye has meant the loss of more than his vision.

“There are many things I still cannot do," he explained. "I don’t have the same reflexes. I need to be very careful with everything, and I feel that I’m constantly on high alert, especially around loud noises. My life has changed completely.”

Pieces of a puzzle

While police violence during protests isn’t new in Argentina, the Provincial Commission for Memory estimates the amount of repression has increased.

Last year, it said three out of 10 protests faced disproportionate violence from state forces. This year, it found half of all protests were met with such force.

Civil rights and advocacy groups are responding to the uptick with calls for justice and acts of citizen journalism.

For instance, just days after Navarro and Grillo were injured, a group called Mapa de la Policia — "Map of the Police" — appealed to the public to provide images of the protest.

The group is comprised of independent media outlets and civil society organisations, and together, they used the publicly sourced photos and security-camera footage to identify the officers implicated in the violence.

“When we put out a call for help, the response was overwhelming,” said Alejandro Fraile, 34, one of the editors at Mapa de la Policia. “It shows that the collective is always more powerful than the more individualistic approach the government proposes.”

Fraile said the group was able to reconstruct what happened to Grillo and Navarro.

In Navarro's case, the group identified Coast Guard officer Sebastian Emanuel Martinez as firing the shot that blinded him, using a Byrna TCR rifle.

A federal court is now weighing allegations that the government used excessive force against the protesters, and hearings are currently under way.

Last week, the judge in charge of the case, Maria Servini, issued a formal indictment against Martinez, as well as the officer involved in Grillo's injuries.

Pablo Zapulla, Navarro’s lawyer, says the video footage has become a key part of the investigation.

“The security forces failed to follow the protocols for the use of force, in particular the principle of proportionality, because it is clear they were not under any direct threat when they shot,” he told Al Jazeera.

On September 16, Martinez himself was called to testify. In his statement to the court, he denied any wrongdoing, saying he acted in accordance with his "duty".

The Coast Guard did not respond to Al Jazeera's request for comment.

Nearly six months after losing his sight, Navarro has had to continue revisiting the trauma of that day, as the case continues.

On a sunny afternoon in September, he stood on the steps of the federal court where, moments earlier, he had testified.

“I don’t regret going to the protest and supporting pensioners that day, despite everything that happened,” Navarro said.

“They [the government] want us to be afraid, but we have to keep fighting. The only thing I want now is justice, for me and for the pensioners.”

It was a Wednesday, and like every week, the pensioners were gathering in front of the Congress building, not far from the court.

And like every week, the security forces were preparing to stop them from blocking traffic.