Environmental damage in Pampa del Leoncito: the special operation to remove the buried truck and the multimillion-peso fine

A Toyota Hilux buried in the Pampa del Leoncito was finally removed after an operation designed to prevent further environmental damage. The vehicle had been stuck for about a month in clay and silt on the Barreal Blanco plain in San Juan’s Calingasta municipality.

The driver, Argentine doctor Agustín Añó, 46, works in Chile. He entered the prohibited area on Aug. 8 with his companion, Pablo Andrés Abraham. When the truck became stuck in the highly humid terrain, the pair lowered a motorcycle from the truck bed and used a metal ladder as a ramp. The attempt failed and left additional tracks across the plain.

A court ordered Añó and Abraham to pay 16 provincial public-service salaries each, equivalent to 4.3 million pesos apiece and 8.6 million pesos in total. The ruling cited damage to protected natural assets under Article 30 of San Juan’s Law 561-F.

The San Juan judiciary said the incident affected 280 square meters, breaking the surface crust and displacing sediment. Experts from the University of San Juan estimated that the tire marks could take nearly a century to disappear, while the court’s assessment put natural recovery at between 50 and 80 years.

Judge Andrés Troche, of the Calingasta Peace Court, authorized the extraction under the supervision of specialists. Gendarmerie, the 33rd Police Station and officials from San Juan’s Environment and Sustainable Development Secretariat took part. Because other vehicles risked becoming buried while attempting a tow, the truck was removed under its own power with the engine running, according to Calingasta Mayor Sebastián Carbajal. The defendants have five days to appeal the ruling.

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Any vehicle, crane, truck or pickup that tried to pull the truck out with a tow line also ran the risk of becoming buried.