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The increase in pensions decreed by Fernández gives wings to the Macrista opposition in Argentina- The IMF begins negotiations for Argentine debt in Buenos Aires
- Fernández gets entangled in a dispute with the Kirchnerists imprisoned during the macrismo
Alberto Fernández has denounced that the Government of Mauricio Macri promoted “the persecution and arbitrary detention of opponents” in corruption cases. And he promised solutions: "In two months of the Government we began to repair the damages done, demanding that judicial and arbitrary proceedings be reviewed." The message was recorded in a video of almost two minutes, disseminated in the official account of the president on Twitter and signed by the Ministry of Justice.
Because right now? The message was addressed more to the own troops than to others. Since he took office, on December 10, Fernández must respond to the demand of Kirchnerist leaders imprisoned during the macrismo and who demand to be released immediately for being “political prisoners”, and their rejection of a thesis that would condemn him to admit that in his Government there are leaders detained without trial.
Alberto Fernández plays the tightrope walker. The friendly fire comes from leaders of the pure-blood Kirchnerism, represented by the most famous prisoner, former Minister Julio De Vido, the man who managed the budget for all public works during the presidencies of Nestor and Cristina Kirchner. De Vido is serving a sentence for the so-called Eleven tragedy, a train accident that should be in his care that resulted in 51 deaths, and preventive detention in two cases for alleged corruption. The group also includes former Vice President Amado Boudou, convicted of embezzlement of public funds, and second-line officials linked to public works. As head of this entire structure, justice placed Cristina Kirchner, who has avoided pretrial detention thanks to her jurisdiction as a senator.
The Kirchnerist prisoners always denounced that they were victims of a judicial persecution orchestrated by the macrismo to end the opposition. Last year, during the statement in the first oral trial he faces and days before swearing in as vice president, Cristina Kirchner spoke of lawfere , using the term that defines the abusive use of judicial cases by political and media power. Fernandez has resumed the term although it makes clear that one thing is a political prisoner and another the victim of an "arbitrary detention", as he prefers to consider De Vido and the rest of his party mates.
“In Argentina there are arbitrary detentions that should not continue to occur. Many of these people have been locked up for years despite the fact that the law would allow them to withstand those trials in freedom, ”the president said in a statement that the video dates in August 2019, before winning the elections. The video affirms later that during the mandate of Mauricio Macri, Argentina "suffered serious violations of human rights, and the rule of law was systematically violated through the regional application of the prosecution tactics of lawfare ." And he recovers the report of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of the lawyers and magistrates of the UN, Diego García Sayán, where he warned of the existence of a systematic and structural plan to intimidate the Judiciary in Argentina in Macri.
"Two months after the Government we began to repair the damages done, demanding that judicial and arbitrary proceedings be reviewed," the video says in an overprinted. In case the hard Kirchnerism was not clear, it does not speak of political prisoners and defends the thesis that the solution to the preventive prisons of the high leaders will have to be resolved in the courts.
Macrismo responded to Fernández's accusations. In a long statement, the alliance that prompted the re-election of Macri said the video "is of unusual gravity, because it is a direct attack on the independence of the judges, because it supports the plan to guarantee impunity for former prosecuted officials and condemned for corruption, and because he intends to take Together for Change his democratic legitimacy. "
The pension reform
The onslaught of Fernández coincides with a reform that aims to end the privileges of the pension system of judges and judicial officials. The reform, which this week enters the Congress, provides that magistrates must contribute up to 18% of their salary to the pension system, of the current 11%. In addition, they will no longer be able to retire with 82% of their last income, but with an average of the salaries of the last 10 years. To the retirement benefits, the judges add that they are the only Argentines who do not pay income taxes on their salaries, an anomaly that no government has been encouraged to eliminate.
The official idea is that there is a two-month grace period for judges who want to retire under the current regime to do so. If materialized, there will be an avalanche of defections in the courts that will leave the government free to appoint new magistrates.