ARGENTINA, one of the most important countries in South America, is going through a strong economic, social and now also political crisis, after its president, Alberto Fernandez, gave an interview to Todo Noticias (TN) on August 24, where he launched a disturbing message apparently addressing to the federal prosecutor Diego Luciani, who days ago asked for 12 years of prison and disqualification for life to hold public office for the vice president of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (CFK), the most controversial and influential politician of the South American country in this century.
When the presenters asked him about Luciani’s physical safety -emphasizing that he is handling a case of great political importance for the nation, since he is accusing CFK of leading an illicit association that defrauded the State of billions of dollars-, the president made a comparison that was interpreted as clumsy or as a direct threat, worthy of the worst mafia.
Es una total irresponsabilidad sugerir que el fiscal Luciani pudiera suicidarse. Nadie espera mucho de usted, @alferdez, pero al menos absténgase de seguir diciendo imbecilidades. pic.twitter.com/SxFNLbEuU7
— Ricardo López Murphy (@rlopezmurphy) August 25, 2022
“Encouraging the idea that what happened to Nisman could happen to Luciani… up to now what happened to Nisman is that he committed suicide. Up to this point, nothing else has been proved. I hope that prosecutor Luciani does not do something like that,” Fernandez said.
For those who are not familiar with the Argentine political context, Fernandez’s statements go unnoticed, but the reality is that they are extremely serious because the now deceased prosecutor Alberto Nisman was the last man who dared to bother Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in court. This criminal lawyer had accused CFK of covering up for the Iranian terrorists who bombed the Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) in Buenos Aires in 1994. A tragic event that left 85 dead.
Nisman was to testify before Congress to give all the details, however, four days after accusing CFK of allying with Iran to allegedly cover up terrorists, he appeared in his apartment in Buenos Aires with a bullet in his head and under strange circumstances.
Nisman’s death: an event that shook Argentina
Prosecutor Nisman’s death, in January 2015, is one of the most famous in the South American country, it even has a miniseries on Netflix that tell the story of the whole case in detail: Nisman: The Prosecutor, the President, and the Spy.
There is, so far, no credible official version. The reality is that after multiple investigations and medical and forensic reports, it has not yet been possible to determine whether prosecutor Nisman died as a result of suicide or murder. In fact, there are many unanswered questions in the air, malpractice at the crime scene and a myriad of details that prevent the establishment of an official version of the prosecutor’s death.
The only thing that is certain is what happened in the days prior to his death. For Nisman, who was Jewish, received death threats against him and his daughters. Some of them were explicit: “Jew son of a bitch, we are going to kill you“. For this reason, the prosecutor was guarded by up to ten bodyguards. However, at the time of his death none of these men were near him. And most importantly, he was stepping into difficult terrain, where he was directly challenging one of the most powerful people in Argentina, CFK.
It is a murky case that has generated a lot of noise and contradictions. For example, President Alberto Fernandez himself, who now says that Nisman committed suicide, 7 years ago said that “nobody in Argentina believes that Nisman committed suicide”. At that time, the president did not have a good relationship with CFK.
Argentina’s Vice President Cristina Fernandez greets a group of people participating in a rally to listen to her message through social media today, at the door of the Argentine Congress in Buenos Aires (Argentina). (EFE)
Luciani accuses Fernandez of disrespecting institutions
The Public Prosecutor’s Office, headed by Luciani, accuses not only CFK, but her late husband, former President Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007), of creating “one of the most extraordinary circumstances of corruption” in Argentina during their terms in office. Luciani said that the Public Prosecutor’s Office found that between 2003 and 2015, a criminal association with peculiar characteristics and in a “pyramidal” form operated within the state, which had “at its apex those who served as heads of state.”
According to Hugo Alconada Mon, deputy editor-in-chief of the Argentine daily La Nación, who wrote a piece for the Washington Post in its Spanish version, the prosecution accused the Kirchners of commanding “a criminal gang that from power benefited Lázaro Báez, a close associate, with public works contracts. Afterwards he would rent properties and hotels from the Kirchners to cover up the remittance of public funds to the presidential pockets.”
Despite the fact that the accusations of the prosecution are extremely serious, as it would be the biggest corruption case in the history of Argentina, President Fernandez began to disqualify the case of the lawyer Luciani on national television, calling it “legally unsustainable” and coming out in defense of CFK, whom he defined as “honest” and innocent.
Prosecutor Luciani did not let the Argentine president’s statements pass unnoticed and accused Fernandez of committing an encroachment against institutions.
“The serious subjugation of institutions by a President of the Nation or the Minister of Security, who should be the first to practice republican values, is worrying. They should not forget that they represent all citizens,” Luciani told La Nacion.
Security Minister Anibal Fernández, who is in charge of Luciani’s custody, has spoken publicly about the case against CFK on his Twitter account, calling the cases against the vice-president “inventions.”
Todas las causas que tiene Cristina son INVENTADAS https://t.co/nL7v6jETOW
— Aníbal Fernández (@FernandezAnibal) August 25, 2022
While Alberto Fernandez and allies come out to defend CFK and criticize Luciani and the Prosecutor’s Office, institutions and political actors in Argentina and the region began to question the Argentine president for disrespecting judicial institutions.
The Association of Prosecutors and Officials of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Argentina “emphatically” repudiated the Argentine president’s statements to TN, calling ” the “parallelism” developed by Fernandez between Luciani and Nisman as “reckless, recalling that the Argentine justice is investigating the death of the prosecutor as “murder”.
The opposition Civic Coalition filed a criminal lawsuit against the president for threats and sedition.
Former President Mauricio Macri also accused Fernandez of violating the Constitution: “This destruction of the presidential word has been very damaging, on top of attributing himself with legal powers that he does not have, he systematically violates the Constitution, as he did once again last night”.
Even politicians such as José Antonio Kast, a former Chilean presidential candidate, expressed concern about Fernández’s comments on TN: “What is happening in Argentina is serious and some in Chile that want to do the same,” he said on Twitter.
Lo que está sucediendo en Argentina es grave y algunos en Chile que quieren seguir su ejemplo. pic.twitter.com/io5EVy3dhn
— José Antonio Kast Rist 🇨🇱 (@joseantoniokast) August 25, 2022
Emmanuel Alejandro Rondón is a journalist at El American specializing in the areas of American politics and media analysis // Emmanuel Alejandro Rondón es periodista de El American especializado en las áreas de política americana y análisis de medios de comunicación.
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