After a long wait, the Supreme Court of Justice rejected the appeals and upheld the sentences of those responsible for the ferocious repression and manhunt that took place on December 19 and 20, 2001, which ended up toppling the government of Fernando De la Rúa. For that same reason, the Federal Oral Court No. 6 ordered the arrest of Enrique Mathov and Rubén Santos, former Secretary of Security and former head of the Federal Police in those years. Both will be transferred to Unit 7 of Ezeiza, where the genocidaires convicted of crimes against humanity are held.
The ruling is highly political, due to the time at which it is given and because of what it implies that two political leaders be condemned by state repression. Something that is not common and that sets a precedent regarding the criminal liability of officials for the consequences of repression. A message that serves as a strong warning to the repressive fantasies of Patricia Bullrich and the entire government of La Libertad Avanza, which finds in police violence the only answer to the demands of those facing the fierce adjustment.
“I know that Patricia Bullrich is not known for being very reflective, but someone should explain to her that following a Supreme Court ruling, Enrique Mathov, former Secretary of Security of the Alliance, was arrested for repression in 2001,” said Myriam Bregman upon hearing the news. That is precisely one of the main facts: a political signal sent from the highest levels of the Judiciary to a minister and a government that believe they have gone completely unpunished.
I know that Patricia Bullrich is not known for being very reflective, but someone should explain to her that following a ruling by the Supreme Court, Enrique Mathov, former Secretary of Security for the Alliance, was arrested for repression in 2001.
— Myriam Bregman (@myriambregman) September 19, 2024
The ruling also serves as a reminder. Despite all the bravado and attempts at “refoundation” based on trying to destroy the rights and achievements of the working class and the vast majority of the population, in Argentina there is still a balance of forces that acts as a limit to the Government’s plans and that has not been defeated. The irruption of thousands in the 2001 protests, added to years of struggle in defense of human rights, democratic freedoms and all the rights of workers and the popular sectors of the country, both before and after that December, is what keeps alive this balance of forces that the big businessmen and the politicians who work for their interests have not been able to break.
Asked by La Izquierda Diario, Buenos Aires City legislator Alejandrina Barry said: “It is also important to take into account the context in which this ruling is made, because Minister Patricia Bullrich and also the Minister of Security of the City of Buenos Aires, Waldo Wolff, believe they can go unpunished. In the case of Bullrich, she comes from many governments where she was Secretary or Minister of Security of the government of Mauricio Macri – where Santiago Maldonado and Rafael Nahuel were murdered in addition to the wounded she leaves in her wake – thinking that she will always be taken down from above and no, that is not the case.”
A warning for the Government and its repressive policy
This same Thursday there was also another event that sets the tone for the minister and all her troops: the prosecutor Franco Picardi asked the Ministry of National Security to report “urgently” who were responsible for the operation mounted in front of the National Congress during the repression of June 12 against those who demonstrated against the Ley Bases. The request is for half a dozen complaints for cases of violence carried out by the security forces and demanded that both the CABA and the National ministries indicate the names, ranks and functions of those who intervened in the repression, whether they were from the Federal Police, the City Police, the Prefecture or the Gendarmerie.
“The complaints accumulated in this case refer to the fact that, during that day, The security forces involved made abusive use of public force against people. These situations were covered by the print press and the audiovisual media, which broadcast live throughout the day,” the prosecutor’s report added.
The two episodes can also be interpreted as warnings, coming out from the depths of the Judiciaryfor a government that is constantly playing on the edge without considering its original weakness and its evident fragility. Signals that add to various warnings from other sectors of the regime, such as national deputy Miguel Ángel Pichetto, who after Milei’s speech last Sunday in Congress warned: “I see things getting complicated for the Government if there are no reasonable political agreements in the relationship between the Executive and Legislative branches. There are certain authoritarian tendencies.”
Warning messages for government officials who, intoxicated by power, celebrate the austerity and laugh at the people, believing themselves to be unpunished. They do not see it.
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
