Sebastian Clemente
04/21/2020 - 19:32
- Clarín.com
- Cities
The controversy lasted longer than the measure. The rejections and discussion began on Friday, as soon as it was known that the City Government was going to ask those over 70 to ask for a daily permit to go outside while the social isolation measures for the coronavirus pandemic continue. . It went down badly, voices were raised against it and the echoes bounced all weekend. On Monday it was finally implemented. But it was no longer a permit; It had become a "warning" that should be made with a call to 147. At dawn on Tuesday, a ruling declared the resolution "unconstitutional". And as the Buenosairean government assured that it will not appeal it, to the initiative that the officials defend in public, they are dropping it in private, without giving too many explanations of why it is not being appealed.
"We are not going to appeal the decision of Judge Fastman. It will remain as a support system for those over 70 years old . On Monday we prevented more than 12,000 from leaving. We want them to continue calling us to prevent them from leaving," Diego Santilli said on Tuesday. , Deputy Chief of Government of the City.
He also highlighted the numbers of the first and only day the initiative was in force, and that 40% of those who called requested some of the tools "that we made available and did not leave their homes."
The measure of unconstitutionality of the judge in the Contentious Administrative and Tax Buenosairean Lisandro Fastman reaches the articles that establish the need to communicate at 147 and 48 hours of validity of the notice.
"It is a more burdensome requirement for the group of people than for the rest of the population," maintains the ruling, which uses article 16 of the National Constitution, which establishes "equality before the Law."
And he continues: "The measure - beyond its good intentions, by the way, which is ruled out - imports discrimination based on age , which violates the rights and guarantees of the age group to which it is destined, by imposing a requirement greater and distinctive from the rest of the population. "
From the City Government they are convinced, based on the statistics that place the elderly as the group most at risk from the coronavirus (the average age of the dead in the Capital is 71 years), that a vital part of The strategy to fight against the disease and at the same time begin to move the activities of the people of Buenos Aires, is to isolate as much as possible those over 70 , who are the ones who suffer the worst consequences if they catch it.
It is the basis of a strategy that they support both in public and in private, and is based on the experience they collect from science references and other items with which they consult and follow the evolution of the pandemic in the world.
From Friday to Tuesday, the head of government, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, and his health minister, Fernán Quirós, in addition to other front-line officials, defended the measure.
However, behind the scenes, there were those who recognized errors in the communication of the initiative . Even, for letting go, at the beginning of the diffusion of the measure, that there could be sanctions for those who do not comply with the requirement to process the permit later converted into a permit. That was one of the points that caused the greatest conflict.
In public it was clarified that the objective was "dissuasive" , but it already seemed too late, because the criticism was increasing, on the part of the Ombudsman for the Third Age, Eugenio Semino, who was the one who opened the game, and also of intellectuals and references of culture . Despite everything, the week started with the "warning" for those over 70 as the relevant topic of the day.
The court ruling on Tuesday, as well as adverse, seems to have ended the discussion . Although in public no Buenos Aires official admitted a reverse, there may be those who think that, despite everything, the objective of installing the theme was achieved , although the image has been somewhat deteriorated.
That this issue is discussed and that information is circulated is also something that they value in private. And it is, in some way part of the explanation of why an appeal was not appealed, when the conduct of the Buenos Aires Government was, historically, to discuss adverse judicial decisions.
This Tuesday, until 18, according to official information they had reached 147, the accumulated number of consultations reached 43,275. Of this total, 18,753 decided to accept the help that the Government offers through the Adult, older volunteer program. On the other hand 16,211 gave notice that they were going to leave anyway and 8,311 were excepted.
SC