Sabina Frederic again generated controversy about the use of Tasers. The former Minister of National Security, who in one of her first measures canceled the protocol for the use of non-lethal weapons, called Horacio Rodríguez Larreta "irresponsible" for advancing in its implementation. From the government of the City came to cross it Eugenio Burzaco: he accused it of "ideologizing the debate uselessly".
The use of Tasers was one of the first issues in which the ruling party and the opposition were braided after the assumption of Alberto Fernández as president. In December 2019, the Government repealed the protocol for the use of non-lethal weapons, a decision that even generated reactions within the Frente de Todos, as in the case of Sergio Berni.
On Monday, the City Government announced its use by the City Police. "After many unfortunate events that we could have avoided, the national government finally deigned to enable us to import," Rodríguez Larreta said.
Horacio Rodríguez Larreta presented the first 60 Tasers that will begin to be used in June. And Sabina Frederic called it "irresponsible."
And he added: "They have worldwide endorsement, it is essential to avoid any misfortune, but the Government has been refusing progress, improvement with excuses at this point ridiculous."
Hours later, Sabina Frederic strongly questioned the head of the Buenos Aires government and presidential candidate of Together for Change.
"There is a total lack of responsibility in Larreta, because all she is doing is trying to capture votes that [Patricia] Bullrich has," said the current president of White Helmets. In dialogue with AM 750, he said that the City Police will "misuse" it in cases of people with mental health problems.
The City's Response to Sabina Frederic for Tasers
After the pronouncement of the former national minister, the one who came out to respond was Eugenio Burzaco, who heads the Justice and Security portfolio of the City of Buenos Aires.
Horacio Rodríguez Larreta and Eugenio Burzaco, head of the Buenos Aires Government and Minister of Justice and Security of the City.
"She has ideologized the debate uselessly, the same person who freed prisoners in the pandemic," Burzaco said on LN+.
"It is a weapon approved in 107 countries and has been used in the world for 20 years," added the Buenos Aires official. "We are at the service of the people, of the citizen, of the thousands of Argentines who enter the city every day and who have to be taken care of. This is going to save lives, neighbors, police and even attackers."
In that sense, he maintained that the "ideologized" decisions of the national government "are not innocuous" and linked their effects with the growth of the drug trafficking problem in Rosario and insecurity in the Buenos Aires Conurbano.
In addition, he stressed the importance of Tasers as an intermediate option between the police baton and the firearm.
"We have to get out of the sterile debate and focus on the facts. In fact the national government is buying Tasers for their forces, so it is a paradox," he replied again to Frederic.
The debate around the equipment with Taser guns between the City and the Nation was rekindled last February after the death of the City Police officer Maribel Salazar, murdered in the Retiro station of the C subway line.
"Two years ago we bought 60 units, but the Kirchner government blocked them with the festival of excuses they use to defend criminals," said then-Buenos Aires Security Minister Marcelo D'Alessandro before leaving office and being replaced by Burzaco.
DS
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