The checkpoint stop
National Deputy Máximo Kirchner was detained on Wednesday at a border checkpoint in Justo Daract, San Luis, while driving a Honda CR-V that had a federal seizure order in the Hotesur case. Police sources said the operation occurred after 2 p.m. when the Federal Digital Ring alert was activated by a judicial request. The vehicle, domain GWN 197, was registered to Máximo Carlos Kirchner. Kirchner said he was held for about two hours, underwent a breathalyzer test that came back negative, and was then allowed to continue his trip to San Juan for meetings with Peronist figures and activists.[S1][S2][S3]
San Luis police said they complied with the Federal Justice request and returned the vehicle to its owner as judicial depositary so he could continue. Kirchnerism spokespeople told Clarín the incident was likely a mistake by San Luis police involving a 2019 judicial order that was no longer in force, and stressed the SUV is the same one he has used to travel to other provinces and around Greater Buenos Aires. The provincial security minister, Nancy Sosa, contacted Judge Ercolini's court, which confirmed the seizure request from the Hotesur investigation but referred her to Federal Criminal Oral Court No. 5, which is handling the trial, to verify whether the measure remained active.[S1]
A second vehicle and the Hotesur case
The stop occurred less than 24 hours after San Luis police seized a RAM 2500 Laramie 4x4 on provincial route 1. That vehicle had a seizure order issued in February 2019 and was registered to Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and other people, including Máximo Kirchner and Lázaro Báez. It had entered the province on Sunday, September 27, and was detected by license plate readers at the Santa Rosa del Conlara portico. At the time of the operation it was driven by a resident of Cortaderas who said he had bought it in 2024 from someone in Merlo.[S2][S3]
The Hotesur case investigates alleged irregularities related to the hotel business and assets of the Kirchner family, including the Alto Calafate hotel. The trial in that case is scheduled to begin on March 19, 2027. A related case, Los Sauces, is set to go to trial on October 23. A prosecutor appealed a decision to split the cases, arguing it could weaken the evidence. The delayed execution of the vehicle seizures raised questions about how judicial authorities manage assets tied to the investigations.[S3][S4]
Kirchner's account and political reaction
In a statement after the incident, Kirchner said he had been driving his usual 2007 model car toward San Juan for a series of activities with colleagues. He said he had used the same vehicle for years without problems in Buenos Aires City and on provincial highways, and had recently taken it to La Rioja and Mar del Plata. He said that at a highway checkpoint at the entrance to San Luis he was detained because the car supposedly had a capture order from Judge Julián Ercolini of Comodoro Py. He added that he waited at the disposal of provincial police and the courts for nearly two hours before being told he could continue, and he criticized the national government, saying that while the country is being auctioned off, police, courts and others keep trying to discipline them.[S1][S2][S3][S4]
