Argentina's long battle over abortion seems about to end. In the next ten days, Congress will receive a bill on the decriminalization of termination of pregnancy. That was the most relevant (and most applauded) announcement of those made by President Alberto Fernández during the opening ceremony of the parliamentary course. Fernández also gave details about the upcoming federal justice reform, a tricky issue because any change can be interpreted as an instrument to help the multi-processed vice president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and about the limitation of powers of the intelligence services.
The president referred first to the economic situation. He spoke of a "damaged country" after two years of recession, with inflation of 53.8% in 2019 and unemployment of 9.7%, but could not define a specific program because that depends on the result of the debt renegotiation , to develop and, in principle, conclude during this month of March. "We borrow only for the benefit of speculators and lenders," he said. "We have all seen how the dollars ended up running away from the financial system, taking away the resources and leaving us with the debt." Fernandez revealed that the Central Bank analyzes these days what happened to the money from the International Monetary Fund, much of which vanished when financing private savings in dollars or diverting to the simple evasion of capital.
Among the major emergencies, beyond the fight against hunger (food insecurity increased in Argentina by 71% during the mandate of Mauricio Macri, according to FAO), he stressed the need to "end the inflationary vice". "It is not possible that with the stable currency and with the rates and frozen fuels, the price of food will continue to grow," he said. "The rogues who speculate raising prices have no place in our society."
MORE INFORMATION
Argentina looks for exits to the labyrinth of its debt
Thousands of Argentines relaunch the campaign for legal abortion with the first 'handkerchief' of the year
Field Taxes
The tax situation of agricultural producers is part of the food equation. Alberto Fernández insisted that his government's proposal on export rights (tax withholdings) increased the percentage of only “one of a total of 25 crops affected” (this is soy, which would go from 30% to 33% ) and considered that it was a “generous and supportive” approach. Farm entrepreneurs threaten protest protests, waiting for new meetings this week.
The most delicate reform among which Fernández wants to address is the one referring to federal justice. Currently, a dozen federal magistrates with offices in Buenos Aires absorb all the great causes, from political corruption to organized crime. This concentration of power (“an oligopoly”, according to Fernández) favors the interested distribution of summaries and other dysfunctions. The idea of the Government is to decentralize federal justice (summaries on organized crime would be developed, for example, in Santa Fe, the province most affected by the problem) and to increase at least a hundred, at least, the number of magistrates.
The big question is how the new federal judges will be appointed. Depending on the mechanism, suspicion of partisanship will be fueled. There is always the shadow of the vice president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, with multiple causes for corruption and openly enemy of federal justice. The vice president remained impassive, sitting to the left of the president, while reading the speech.
Another ambitious project, related to justice, is the transformation of espionage services. The Federal Intelligence Agency was intervened by the government since the arrival of Alberto Fernández to the Casa Rosada, and in the next few days an urgent decree will be published that will prohibit the agents of this service "helping the judges" (a common practice until now, with an uncontrolled transfer of confidential information) and engage in political espionage. "We must end the basements of democracy," said the president, who promised to publish all AFI reports on the controversial attack against the Mutual Association Israelita Argentina (AMIA), which in 1994 caused 85 victims and whose authors remain without meet.
After announcing the creation of a State Administrative Body to raise the level of senior officials and a public agency to assess the impact of state decisions, Alberto Fernández delved into the stellar issue of his speech. "Abortion has been penalized since 1921," he explained, "and there are many abortions despite the criminal threat." "In the 21st century, every society needs to respect the individual decision of its members to freely dispose of their bodies." To end "hypocrisy", the president revealed that in the next ten days he would send to Congress a bill to legalize abortion "in the initial time of pregnancy" within public health. The applause, inside the Chamber and abroad, where several hundred people were following the session, was very long.