Argentine tourist who was shot in the head in Rio dies, authorities say

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RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — An Argentine tourist who was shot in the head and chest in Rio de Janeiro last month while making his way to the Christ the Redeemer statue died on Monday, Argentine tourism authorities said.

Gastón Fernando Burlón, 51, had mistakenly driven his car into a low-income community in Brazil’s second most populated city when he was attacked last month, police said at the time.

Accompanied by his girlfriend and sons, Burlón had been navigating to the world-famous Christ the Redeemer statue when his GPS device led his car into the Morro dos Prazeres, a hillside favela in Rio dominated by a criminal gang called the Red Command. Brazilian police officers said that the gunshots caught Burlón by surprise as he entered the favela.

After the Dec. 12 incident, Burlón was taken in serious condition to Rio's Hospital Souza Aguiar, according to Rio’s health secretariat, where he underwent surgery and was induced into a coma.

On Monday, the chamber of tourism for the Argentine city of Bariloche, a popular adventure destination in northern Patagonia’s Lake District where Burlón had served as a tourism secretary from 2017-2023, announced his death.

“He will live on as an inspiration to all of us who share their love for Bariloche and for tourism,” the Bariloche Chamber of Tourism said, praising him as a “leader whose passion for the promotion of tourism and our destination will be remembered as a valuable contribution to the development of our community.”

Burlón had also led the Argentine Chamber of Student Tourism. His girlfriend, Nadia Loza, who was in the car with him, currently serves as secretary of tourism for the northern Argentine province of Salta.

“We lived through a nightmare that we will not forget,” she told Argentine media at the time.

In 2016, Italian tourist Roberto Bardella was killed in the same region after he got lost. He and his friend Rino Polato, who was found unharmed, were touring South America on motorcycle.

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Sá Pessoa contributed to this report from Sao Paulo.

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