Argentine tourist who was shot in the head in Rio dies, authorities say
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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 Burlon, 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 wife and daughter, Burlon had been using a GPS device to see the world-famous Christ the Redeemer statue when he found himself in the Morro dos Prazeres, a hillside favela in Rio dominated by a criminal gang called the Red Command. After the Dec. 12 shooting, Burlon was taken to Hospital Souza Aguiar, where he remained in serious condition for weeks, according to Rio’s health secretariat.
On Monday, the chamber of tourism for the Argentine city of Bariloche, a popular adventure destination in northern Patagonia’s Lake District where Burlon had served as a tourism secretary from 2017-2023, announced his death. Burlon had also led the Argentine Chamber of Student Tourism.
“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.”.
Brazilian police officers said that the gunshots caught Burlon by surprise as he entered the favela. 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.
