Lian's disappearance, LIVE: the search for the child in Córdoba on February 26

The personnel dedicated to the search for Lian are focusing their work on Wednesday outside the vicinity of the 3-year-old boy's house, in the area surrounding the Tercero River, about 580 meters away and heading towards Route 9.

Although rain is forecast for today, the weather conditions are not complicating the tasks of the troops for now.

Deputy Attorney General Bettina Croppi will hold a press conference on Wednesday at the ground zero of the searches in Ballesteros Sud.

Darío Baggini, the lawyer for Lian's parents, stressed that "the necessary searches were carried out" and that the authorities "are looking for his life."

In addition, in statements to A24, he said that his clients told him that they were convinced that the minor "was taken away."

Asked about the testimony given by Lian's parents so far, Baggini denied that there were any contradictions in their testimonies.

Florencia Giuzio, the lawyer for Lian Flores' parents, said that she is behind all the hypotheses and that the situation of the adults is sad since "they lost their son, they know nothing about him and on top of that they have to go through the judicial process."

He confirmed that for the adults, Lian “was taken away” due to the length of time the exhaustive search has already taken.

In this regard, the lawyer explained that "evidence is being collected to confirm or rule out the hypothesis of kidnapping, along with many others."

Regarding the Justice Department's focus on the parents, Giuzio said in an interview with Noticias Argentinas that "these are hypotheses that must be investigated from the beginning and that the evidence must be processed in various aspects to reject or confirm the conjectures."

"Some of these hypotheses are based on the alleged involvement of the family in the incident or that they are the perpetrators of the disappearance," he added.

Three days after Lian's disappearance, the search results are scarce. So far, the only things that have been found are three white vans that were seized, 11 cell phones and a pair of blue pants that the boy was allegedly wearing the last time they were seen.

Although it was reported that the item of clothing had been found a thousand meters from the house, it was later learned that he was found in the house.

The search continues with the participation of more than 340 personnel, including federal agents, and with a variety of technological resources, according to the Ministry of Security of Córdoba.

“I have your case ready,” says the message sent by Lian Flores’ father to a woman who is now the focus of investigators’ attention.

The woman, whose identity has not been revealed, is a healer who often comes from Jujuy to visit different Bolivian communities settled in this and other areas of Córdoba.

“Grandma” is what the families of the brick cutters of Ballesteros Sud call her, and also those of Ballesteros, a town with more inhabitants and commercial and social activity due to its proximity to the old Route 9, which until a few years ago was the main road linking Rosario and Buenos Aires. Read more .

Marcela Cano, a lawyer for the organization Mothers of Victims of Trafficking, spoke about Lian's disappearance and celebrated that "the prosecution has opened the panorama and no hypothesis has been ruled out." She considered that this is one of the main differences with the Loan case, the child who disappeared in June of last year in Corrientes.

"In this case, we must highlight the immediacy of the Justice in the action, that the Sofia Alert did not take so long," he analyzed in dialogue with TN.

The lawyer also stressed the need to activate this search mechanism "immediately" because the hours lost in putting this instrument into operation "are detrimental" to the search.

The three-year-old boy, who lived with his family in a rural area of ​​Ballesteros Sud, was last seen on Saturday afternoon.

According to Elías Flores, his three-year-old son was playing with his brothers while he was taking a nap after lunch and before going back to work. When he woke up, he said, he noticed that the child was missing and had not returned home.

Since then, an intense search has been launched, which has so far yielded no certainty. On Tuesday, despite the difficult weather conditions, search operations continued with the participation of more than 300 security forces agents.

Members of the Bolivian consulate went to Ballesteros Sud, a town in the south of Córdoba, where they are currently intensively searching for Lian Flores.

"We are coordinating and helping in the search for Lían and we are at the disposal of all forces," said Consul Santos Rodríguez in statements to A24.

The authorities of the neighboring country also had Quechua-speaking translators on site "because the family has difficulty speaking."

Ground Zero turned into a quagmire on Tuesday. The rain brought calm to the stifling heat of the last few days, but complicated the search efforts. Above all, it erased the possible traces of Lian Gael Flores Soraide (3), of whom nothing has been known since Saturday afternoon and has everyone in Córdoba on edge.

The site is approximately two kilometres from Ballesteros Sud, a small town of 800 inhabitants who are following what is happening with bewilderment and anguish. Read more .

Following the adverse weather conditions recorded during the morning, new searches began on Tuesday afternoon in the vicinity of little Lian's house.

So far, the authorities have not found any evidence that would allow them to formulate a hypothesis regarding the disappearance of the child, which occurred more than 72 hours ago in the Cordoba town of Ballesteros Sud.

Lian's disappearance in Córdoba led to the intervention of the Ministry of Security, which activated the Sofía Alert to help in the search for the child.

This is a rapid emergency system that massively disseminates the image and data of the missing child nationwide.

Elías Flores, Lian's father, reiterated that on the day of his son's disappearance, several people saw "a white van" in the Ballesteros Sud area. The vehicle, according to testimonies, was suspicious.

"There was a white van, the neighbors say. They have already searched a lot throughout the field, if he doesn't appear, where can he go? The boy is alive, he is not so stupid as to go to a strange place," said the man in statements to A24.

Meanwhile, he insisted that he did not know the reasons that could have led to the disappearance of the child. "I had nothing with anyone, I don't know why they took him away, I didn't have any big problems, small ones yes but not serious," he added.

Following the resignation of lawyer Marina Romano, the legal representation of Lían's family was left in the hands of her colleague Darío Baggini. In his first statements to local media, the lawyer said that "the main suspect" is the child's father.

"He is not charged, but undoubtedly, having been questioned for eight hours, makes him the main suspect," he said, and then clarified that "in any investigation where a child is missing, the family unit is the main suspect, and one of the lines of investigation is the family itself."

According to El Doce TV, the lawyer confirmed the statements made by Elías Flores, the father of the child, and stressed that the testimonies of the boy's family "support the theory" that "someone took him."

Lian's father, Elías Flores, spoke about the first minutes after the young man disappeared: "I went outside (of my house) to get water from the refrigerator. I sent the older girl to get fruit and asked her to bring the kids something to eat. Since she didn't come, I thought she was sleeping somewhere. Sometimes she gets tired and falls asleep anywhere. She couldn't have gone more than 300 meters away," he said.

On the possibility of revenge against him or his family, he said: "Face to face, no one told me that they were angry with me, no one warned me, but it could have been some kind of revenge. Lian is a calm child, the calmest in the family. It hurts me a lot for my child who has been lost," he said.

The provincial security minister, Juan Pablo Quinteros, denied on camera a version that indicated that a pair of shorts belonging to Lian had been found in the search area.

"I categorically deny the discovery of an item of clothing in the area," he said upon arriving at the place where the young man was last seen.

Interpol has issued a yellow alert in the search for Lian, in order to extend the work to find out what happened to the missing young man internationally. The minor was last seen on Saturday afternoon.

Juan Pablo Quinteros, Minister of Security of Córdoba, spoke about the progress of the search for Lian and stated that all provincial resources are focused on finding the child. When asked by TN if they have the elements to prevent a reoccurrence like the Loan case, where the young man is still missing, they tried to distance themselves: "In Córdoba, nothing is hidden."

"The parents called the police at 7:45 p.m., and at 8:15 p.m. the rural patrol was already there. At 8:30 p.m. the prosecutor was on the subject and by midnight there were orders for the Scientific Police to work. In Córdoba nothing is hidden, in Córdoba everything is revealed. We are going to work tirelessly 24 hours a day with all the resources to find Lian," he said.

The heavy rains that hit Córdoba during the early hours of the morning prevented the search from starting on the first morning. It was not until after the first morning that they were able to start mobilizing drones and other elements to help with the search.

Elías Flores, the father of the missing child, is in the search area where an operation has been set up. It is near the house and the brickyard where the young man was last seen. He arrived shortly before 11, after going to the Bell Ville prosecutor's office.

On a new day of searching, a group of 340 people are working to find clues that will help them understand what happened to Lian.

There are personnel from the Unión Department, Air Patrol, Rural and Duar, 40 vehicles, dogs, horses and three drones. Also joining were scouts and volunteer firefighters from the region, as well as personnel from the Argentine Army.

Lian lives with her family in the small town of Ballesteros Sud, southeast of Córdoba, near Bell Ville. It is about 6 kilometers from National Route 9 and has just over 600 inhabitants. It is an exclusively rural area, made up of a community of several families of Bolivian origin who work in a brickyard near their home. Read more

The father of Lian Flores, the boy who disappeared two days ago in a rural area of ​​Ballesteros Sur, in Córdoba, asked for his son to appear and considered that “someone has him.” Worried about the lack of news, he suggested that his son could be kidnapped.

"I ask that he appear, please. I don't know if it's some kind of revenge or something, but I want my child to appear, because he is a calm child, the calmest in the family, intelligent, he talks, walks, plays," she said in statements to El Doce TV. Read more

On the third day of the search for little Lian Flores, who disappeared in the Cordoba town of Ballesteros Sud, the lawyer for the child's parents resigned after differences with the prosecutor's office handling the case.

This is Marina Romano, who confirmed her departure to Mitre Córdoba radio. According to what she said in an interview on Tuesday, Lian's parents were declaring for about 10 hours on Monday. She also revealed that they were asked not to make any more statements to the media.

“When the father left the courtroom, he told me that he had been asked not to make any further statements about the incident. The prosecution did not give us any hypothesis. They have asked us not to make any further statements because they want to work without obstacles,” said the lawyer.