Barragan became a general manager of Aerolineas Argentinas in 1978 at Concordia, a border city between Argentina and Uruguay. He is a member of an affluent Uruguayan family.
According to police records, Barragan admitted to having used a computer system named SITA, (Sociedad Internacional de Telecomunicaciones Aeronauticas, or International Society of Aeronautical Telecommunications). With SITA, he would pretend to be an employee for another airline and convince other international airlines that it should process airline tickets for him, which would later be paid by the airline of which he pretended to be an employee.
The records say that Barragan began hacking after one of his legitimate free trips that he earned as an employee. During that trip, he made a girlfriend in Caracas, Venezuela, and, apparently, he became so infatuated by her that he wanted to visit every weekend. This motivated him to cheat airlines to authorize free travel for him by using a computer. Supposedly, he also gave away many tickets to his friends.
The records also said that Barragan went to Brazil on a week's trip with a friend and found himself almost broke with 3 days left to return to Argentina. Without much food left in his hotel, Barragan allegedly booked himself in a first class trip to Tokyo. He and his friend boarded the plane to Japan, flew there, waited at the airport and then boarded the return flight to Brazil the next day, allowing them to enjoy the first class food and amenities for the days that they had left to return to Argentina.
He was detained and investigated in 1983. Then , because no airline actually prosecuted him, he was let go.
Arrested once again in 1993, Barragan the second time around was convicted, by judge Juan Jose Galeano. But his conviction has been protested by many, due to the fact that no airline ever testified against him and other, possibly revelant, circumstances.