Marcelo Longobardi warned that "the attempt to arrest journalists in Argentina is underway"

07/02/2020 - 21:33

• Clarín.com
• Politics

Marcelo Longobardi warned that  journalists  could be detained as part of the case for alleged illegal espionage by the Federal Intelligence Agency (AFI) during the government of Mauricio Macri.

"An attempt or arrest warrant is already underway for one or more journalists ; I am not going to say the names because I do not want to harm anyone, but this can happen and is about to happen," Longobardi said in dialogue with TN Central (Todo Noticias ).

He added: "15 minutes ago I spoke to one of those people who may be detained. The press is in danger of being suspected of being the workforce of intelligence operations; this would make him resemble Alberto Fernández in (Nicolás) Maduro or a ( Vladimir Putin".

​For Longobardi, illegal intelligence operations could have "perfectly" happened during the Macri government and was based on the testimony of Hugo Alconada Mon. Justice investigates espionage of leaders of the previous opposition and the ruling party and also journalists by the body then led by Gustavo Arribas and Silvia Majdalani. 

However, Longobardi said that if he begins "to arrest journalists and throw himself into the cellars of democracy" -in reference to the former SIDE- the country is moving away from the possibility of a political "consensus" before a social and economic collapse that foretold as "imminent".

He added: "Suggesting that a journalist,  whose source is an intelligence service,  is acting as a service himself may lead to the arrest of journalists and this would be a great problem for Fernández."

On the other hand, Longobardi questioned legislator Leandro Santoro for not commenting on the statements of Oscar Parrilli that "Jorge Lanata is to journalism what (Alfredo) Astiz was to human rights", in allusion to the genocidal dictatorship.

"No person who goes through democracy cannot not comment on such a definition and if you do not, you are validating it. What Santoro has just done is very dangerous," said the journalist about the testimony of Santoro who had been interviewed minutes before in the same program.

Days ago, Parrilli, former Secretary General of the Presidency, had already defined Luis Majul as "one inorganic intelligence agent, one more (Marcelo) D'Alessio". He did so in statements to El Destape radio.

Parrilli related that time: "I asked (federal judge Marcelo Martínez Di Giorgi) for Majul's emails to find out who gave him my and Cristina's wiretaps. Majul carried out intelligence tasks, it is prohibited by law." The national senator, said that there is "a list of journalists in addition to Majul" among whom he named the channel 13 driver, Lanata, his TN colleague, Nicolás Wiñazki, and Daniel Santoro.

And he added: "It was a perverse system of political espionage, of persecution and defamation, orchestrated and armed without a doubt by Macri with Majdalani, Arribas, Marcos Peña, (Germán) Garavano, (Patricia) Bullrich and some judges and prosecutors",