Buenos Aires, Feb 1 – Hundreds of members of political, trade union and social organizations in Argentina arrived today at the Palacio de Tribunales in the capital to support the holding of a political trial of the members of the Supreme Court (CS).
With slogans like Enough of the judicial mafia! and Let’s Defend Democracy! Members of the Central de Trabajadores de Argentina (CTA), the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights and the Classist and Combative Current met near CS headquarters to condemn its poor performance and the persecution of social leaders.
Among others, members of the Autonomous CTA and the General Labor Confederation also attended.
In statements to Prensa Latina, the Secretary General of the CTA and Deputy of the Frente de Todos (FdT), Hugo Yasky, assured that those present at the demonstration support the prosecution of the President of the Court, Horacio Rosatti, and his colleagues Carlos Rosenkrantz, Juan Carlos Maqueda and Ricardo Lorenzetti for breach of their duties.
We want a change that ends corruption and the promiscuous relationship between power and justice. We demand the dismissal of these judges. Two of the CS members were handpicked by former President Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) in defiance of regulations. The other two allowed this breach of the constitution, he said.
It is a court that shows excessive signs of being porous to pressure from those in power and whose judgments are always met with double standards, he clarified.
Common thieves are punished mercilessly, while white-collar criminals, money launderers and criminal financial maneuverers are great lords who even have the opportunity to take a private excursion to Lago Escondido, he added.
That was how he was referring to a recent visit to the mansion of magnate Joe Lewis in the area by judges, prosecutors, former officials and former federal intelligence agents who were involved in admitting gifts and other crimes.
Yasky condemned “these collusions, the political and legal prosecution of Vice President Cristina Fernández, the embarrassing case of social leader Milagro Salapresa – for seven years – and the existence of a mafia that wants to damage democracy”.
The same happened in Brazil, Bolivia and other Latin American countries. In Argentina, unfortunately, all this is accompanied by a major campaign by the major media, which is at the heart of the criminal tool, he pointed out.
He also stated that the Chamber of Deputies’ impeachment committee had the necessary support to carry out the case against CS.
The verdict, based on the evidence and testimonies, will show the need for criminal prosecution of the members of the court, he assured.
At the request of President Alberto Fernández and 11 governors, FdT lawmakers produced a 410-page document detailing violations committed by the highest court and proposing to subpoena its members to testify during the investigation.
The text ensures the existence of “an inadmissible institutional degradation that endangers the republican system of separation of powers”.
As he explains, this was mainly due to CS actions such as declaring unconstitutional Law 26.088, which had been in force for 16 years and which regulated the functioning of the Magistracy Council.
It also favored the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires with the increase in contributory funds and issued a precautionary measure to force the state to pay this increase on this capital, even if it is not foreseen in the approved budget for 2023. (Text and photo: PL)