The Government outsourced the organization of the meeting of the III Human Rights Forum held in Buenos Aires in a private company of a militant of La Cámpora and paid more than one and a half million dollars, in the midst of the economic crisis that the country is suffering.
The meeting was held at the Museum of Memory of the ESMA and the CCK and had as its axis to denounce that Vice President Cristina Kirchner is "victim of lawfare" and not of judicial cases for corruption.
The former secretary of Human Rights of the government of Mauricio Macri, Claudio Avruj, told Clarín that beyond the "biased and partisan" content of the meeting, spending "so much money on that meeting in moments of crisis, is nonsense."
The content they gave to the forum "was an embarrassment. They did it to justify their lawfare theory and victimize Cristina Kirchner. You can see it from the agenda to the speeches and the chosen guests."
Avruj recalled that "when I was secretary I refused to hold that meeting, promoted by the forum of São Paulo that responds to Lula, because of its partisan and not universal orientation."
The event was launched by the head of the International Center for the Promotion of Human Rights (CIPDH-UNESCO), Fernanda Gil Lozano, who reports to the Secretary of Human Rights, Horacio Pietragalla.
This Christian leader comes from financing the book "Lawfare, Democracy in danger", where he accuses the media of allegedly colluding with Macrismo and sectors of the Judiciary to "persecute" leaders such as Amado Boudou, Milagro Sala and the vice president herself, among other controversial events.
In March, Clarín asked the Secretary of Human Rights about the cost of the event through a request for access to public information, but later referred the query to Gil Lozano's organization.
From the CIPCH it was reported that there had been an expenditure of just over 25 million pesos in air tickets and then the link of the tender was copied to award the contract for a "service of production and integral realization of the event called: III WORLD FORUM OF HUMAN RIGHTS".
The payment for the service was set at 395 million pesos, not including those air tickets. Yesterday's official dollar (254 pesos) is equivalent to just over a million and a half dollars.
Previously, such events were organized by the same government officials and not private companies.
On the Government procurement page, it is explained that "the call was disseminated through the Electronic Procurement System of the National Administration "COMPR.AR", and the pertinent communications and invitations were issued".
However, only a single offer was presented by the company Tiempo Beta SRL that integrates the militant of La Cámpora Ignacio Saavedra.
Tiempo Beta has many contracts with the national and Buenos Aires governments and also with several municipal governments. For example one, from Quilmes municipality, which Mayra Mendoza leads for the hiring of Karina La Princesita's show.
The former president of Ecuador Rafael Correa -fugitive from justice in his country (c), the former president of Colombia Ernesto Samper (i), and the Minister of the Interior, Eduardo de Pedro (r), participate in the World Forum on Human Rights.
The contract for the III Human Rights Forum included merchandising, structures, technique, cocktail reception for 300 attendees, 4 coffee break services for 1500 people, 4 lunches for 500 people and 1 dinner for 100 attendees, hiring of artists and even the development of a "Chatbot" for Facebook and Whatsapp, reported the digital newspaper El Disenso. Saavedra's wife, Virginia Croatto, is the Director of Museum Production and Contents of the Museum of the former ESMA.
Tiempo Beta SRL was created in 2005, by Saavedra, Santiago Afiz and Leandro Caruso, according to the Official Gazette of the province of Buenos Aires.
The formal opening of the forum was attended by the president, Alberto Fernández; the head of Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, Estela de Carlotto; the Nobel Peace Prize, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel; Pietragalla and Gil Lozano.
The participants of the III World Forum on Human Rights – which was held at the end of March – joined the march called to the Plaza de Mayo by the coup d'état of March 24, 1976 that became a campaign act of Cristina Kirchner.
During the event, the books "Objective: Cristina. Lawfare against democracy in Argentina", "Legal wars against democracy. Lawfare in Latin America - volume 1" and "Legal wars against democracy. Lawfare in Brazil - volume 2".
The first book was compiled by the Christian judicial operator and national deputy Eduardo Valdés.
The panel was coordinated by former Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, Giselle Ricobom, Silvina Romano and Larissa Ramina who warned about the functioning of the Judiciary that is "ideologized" for political purposes in Latin America within the framework of lawfare.
They also agreed that in the trial in which Vice President Cristina Kirchner was sentenced to 6 years in prison in the Vialidad case, "due process has not been respected."
Then there was a talk on "Human rights and the challenges of democracy", in which the former president of Ecuador Rafael Correa -fugitive from Justice in his country-; and Interior Minister Eduardo 'Wado' de Pedro. Correa said that "as long as we do not do something with the press we have in Latin America, we will not have democracy because we do not have information, truth or free elections," referring to regulations from the State.
Among the 150 speakers summoned were several former Latin American presidents, such as the Uruguayan José 'Pepe' Mujica (2010-2015), the Bolivian Evo Morales (2006-2019), the Colombian Ernesto Samper (1994-1998) and the former president of the Government of Spain José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (2004-2011).
The Argentine Forum for Democracy in the Region (Fader) condemned, for its part, the event because it was a "partisanship of human rights" on the part of the Government by organizing this global forum "without the presence of defenders, activists and victims from Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua."
"The program does not include any panel on the situation in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. On the contrary, the event was filled with a series of personalities who have shown themselves as fervent defenders of the dictatorships of Nicolás Maduro, Miguel Díaz-Canel and Daniel Ortega, "said the group that integrates, among others, several opposition parliamentarians, former Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie and human rights activist Graciela Fernández Meijide.
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Unrest at UNESCO over the human rights forum organized by the Government
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