Argentina’s Trade Undersecretary, Iván Heyn, committed suicide while at the Mercosur Summit he was attending along with President Cristina Fernandez-Kirchner in Uruguay.
Heyn had traveled to Montevideo last week to participate in technical meetings ahead of Friday’s Mercosur summit attended by the leaders of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Ecuador and Venezuela.
When Heyn failed to show up to today’s meetings, other officials were sent to the tenth floor of the Raddison Hotel in Montevideo, where he was staying.
Heyn didn’t answer the door, so hotel staff was instructed to open the door, and realized Heyn had ended his own life by hanging himself.
Heyn, 33, was a member of “the Cámpora,” a political youth group created by Max Kirchner Fernandez, the president’s eldest son.
After hearing the news, Mrs. Kirchner suffered a nervous breakdown and had to be treated by doctors at the Mercosur headquarters; she also retired from her meetings today.
