Argentina at a Crossroads
By Alberto L. Zuppi and César Chelala
August 10, 2018 "Information Clearing House" - A new and widespread corruption scandal implicating businessmen with former Kirchner administration officials, may have unforeseen consequences for Argentina’s future as a democracy. The recent conviction of former Vice President Amado Boudou to 5 years and 10 months in prison for crimes committed while in office may still offer some hope for the country.
Corruption is certainly not new to Argentina. It has been chiseled into Argentina’s political landscape since the beginning of the XXth century, and acquired pandemic intensity after General Juan Domingo Perón’s governments. Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, spoke of Argentina’s society pervasive “moral illness”.
Cheating has been the unspoken public policy in school, on taxes, and when paying bills and fines. This social conduct has soiled the roots of the country’s political system, and produced its most spectacular finale with the Kirchners’ government. Néstor Kirchner was Argentina’s President from 2003 to 2007 and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner from 2007 to 2015.
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Nobody should be
surprised, however. The germs were
there, spreading in the basement,
rotting the structures, preparing the
final collapse. How can anybody explain,
otherwise, the bloodthirsty repression
carried out by the military during the
1970s without considering its previous
acceptance by civilian political
circles? How is it possible that people
were made to disappear in broad daylight
by military tactical commandos, without
legal complaints except for a few human
rights groups?
How could it also be explained that the
Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA)
terrorist attack that killed 85 people
in Buenos Aires in 1994 could occur,
without considering the possible
connivance by officials from former
president Carlos Menem’s government? Or
how could it also be explained the
Alberto Nisman’s assassination? He was
the Special Prosecutor in the AMIA case,
and was assassinated the day before he
was to testify in Congress denouncing
the Kirchner administration’s corrupted
agreement with Iran. In that agreement,
Iran and Argentina reportedly exchanged
oil for immunity for Iranians suspected
to have been involved in the AMIA
attack.
Those disparate events were simply the
consequence of corruption at all levels
of Argentina’s society. The policy of
decade-long complicity between
politicians and judges not only allowed
these events to remain unpunished, but
condoned bribery as a channel for
resolving any investigation of a
corrupted system.
In the last scandal, it became known
that the driver of one of the main
officials in the Kirchner government
filled eight notebooks with detailed
explanations of meetings, people
involved, places and bags with money.
The notebooks implicated not only major
members of government but several
wealthy businessmen.
Is there any chance for Argentina to
eliminate the chronic illness of
corruption in its social life? After
all, it seems easier to give up any
resistance than to begin a
disproportionate fight against a disease
that has accomplices at all levels of
society. However, as happens when we are
confronted with injustice, we may either
give up any hope or maintain our
resistance, believing that we deserve a
better future.
Italy fought with success a similar
corrupted system with “Mani Pulite”
(clean hands.) This was an Italian
nationwide judicial investigation into
political corruption that led to the
demise of the so-called “First
Republic”. Several politicians and
businessmen committed suicide after
their crimes were uncovered. Brazil has
recently produced “Lava Jato”, a similar
approach, which shows a chance to get
rid of widespread corruption in that
country.
It is now up to Argentine judges to use
this opportunity to put a final stop to
Argentina’s endemic corruption.
Opportunities like this one are rare,
when there is a desperate voice of the
population demanding justice.
Alberto L. Zuppi, is an Argentine
attorney and professor of law, author of
"AMIA: An Ongoing Crime", Red Penguin,
2018.
César Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for “Missing or Dead in Argentina: The Desperate Search for Thousands of Abducted Victims.”
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
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