Shallowness Is The Only Refuge Of The Shallow

Gaby Alvarez had it all. Fame, fortune, friends, lovers, late night parties, red carpet events, VIP invitations, fast cars and drugs. He ruled the Southern Cone’s nightlife like casinos rule the Las Vegas strip. Bright lights, fancy flights, and loads of attention all focused on something that is fleeting and evanescent. Alvarez got a lot of attention, and he helped others get it, too. That’s how he made money. He was a PR person’s PR person, at least for the kind of PR people who like to see and, more importantly, be seen. He organized the best parties and events, and he was often seen inside the covers of magazines read by people who, like him, liked to see themselves inside the covers of magazines.

All of that changed on a hot Wednesday afternoon in Punta del Este last month. Alvarez and a male companion, Ariel Cohelo de Oliveira, were driving – speeding – along the coast near José Ignacio when their green Honda Civic spun out of control and thrashed into a motorcycle carrying Gloria Pérez del Cerro and Fernando Cicciardi. Like Alvarez, they were both Argentine. Cerro and Cicciardi, who were in their early 30s and were vacationing in Punta del Este, died upon impact, leaving behind shattered families on the western side of the Rio de la Plata.

According to reports of testimony later given to Uruguayan officials, Alvarez admitted to having consumed cocaine and three glasses of Vodka with lemon before the accident. What happened in the minutes prior to the accident is a subject of heated debate, intense curiosity and extreme condemnation.

At first, reports began to trickle out that Alvarez’s car, driven by Cohelo de Oliveira, had spun out of control after suffering a flat tire. But Cohelo de Oliveira later told Uruguayan officials that it was Alvarez, and not a flat tire, that caused the accident. He reportedly said that during a heated argument inside the car, Alvarez grabbed the car’s handbrake just as the vehicle was racing down the road at 120 kilometers per hour. This caused the car to spin wildly out of control and smash into Cerro and Cicciardi, destroying both their motorcycle and their lives.

Alvarez and Cohelo de Oliveira are now awaiting trial from within the confines of Las Rosas prison in Uruguay, not too far from the beaches where they had previously partied with some of Argentina’s leading celebrities, models and fashion figures. Juan José Benítez Caorsi, the Uruguayan judge overseeing the case, has reportedly said that “not even the Pope” could change his mind about keeping the two men in jail until the case is resolved. Both suspects have had little contact with the press and have said little publicly about what happened that afternoon. But Alvarez, exactly one week after the accident, managed to get an email out to friends, fans, followers and media observers. What did the message, from the public relations specialist, say?

The Argentine Post obtained a copy of the note, signed by Gaby Alvarez, and we’re posting it here for your consideration. It provides insight into the thinking of a person whose career flourished as he fulfilled the desires of largely vacuous people whose frivolous pursuits were – and continue to be considered – the epitome of success for those who value all things superficial.

If you expected the tragedy in Uruguay to lead Alvarez to change his tone and express contrition for what happened, you will be disappointed. There is no contrition to be found in this message. Nor is there any sense of empathy for the family members of those killed. No tears are shed, no generosity expressed, no apologies offered. What is expressed here is little more than raw, embarrassingly-shallow self-pity. It is a kind of self-pity that is voiced and camouflaged in the cowardly, cold-hearted and self-absorbed rhetoric of a PR expert in crisis-management mode.

Unfortunately, this crisis is far worse than any related to a single PR agent’s personal reputation. But it appears that Alvarez, the person allegedly responsible for causing the tragedy, is incapable of realizing that truth. At least he shows no evidence of doing so in this message (sent Jan. 30). The translation is our own. It is the original message, and not the translation, that sometimes fails to make any sense.

“Dear Friends,

One day a strong storm destroyed what took me a long time and a lot of work to build. That place that keeps the equipment we use, mainly in the summertime.

All of that work would become lost…and I felt the desire to die and I cried.

The storm having calmed down, a woman who I know came to me and offered me a strong hug. She gave me a rosary, and my anguish diminished in the warmth of it. It was a beautiful thing to find a flower in this place, in which I find myself because of an accident. That flower was the same as the one in The Little Prince. That hug, that rosary and that flower gave me my life back.

From here on out, I propose, like the ocean stars over deep waters covered by rocks, to move forward.

From here I send you my light, my peace, my love and my appreciation for your unconditional support. You have only one life and you have to enjoy it.

With all of my love, from Punta del Este, a person who will never forget about the kindness and warmth you’ve given me since the day I met you.

Gaby Alvarez”