More lawfare, more inequality

The large groups, the hegemonic media and a fraction of the Justice are linked to politics, counting on more opportunities and incentives than ever to carry out dishonest practices with total impunity. Access to influence buying appears to be as easy as it looks in the movies. Remember “The Godfather”, Michael Corleone tells his nephew Vince: “I don’t need thugs, I need more lawyers.”

When did corruption start in Argentina?

With the Spanish colonization, the practice of smuggling by high officials made breaking the law a custom. We do not assume definitions, but we try to express that “an act of corruption” consists in bribe, be bribed, pervert a business, etc. “A Corrupt Government” instead, design and perform dishonest schemes systematically. Your officials constantly abuse their power and influence to conduct shady deals with the resources to which they have access through their investiture.

Lto crisis of 1890 brought to light the impudent corruption of the president Juarez Celman (1886-1890)brother-in-law of Julio Argentinian Rockwho had to resign. Balestra wrote that Juárez Célman became the richest man in Argentina thanks to corruption. In 1888, the shares of Banco Constructor de La Plata fell, triggering the great “Crisis of 1890”, in which Argentina defaulted.

The period known as “the infamous decade” (1930-1943), named for the widespread corruption of several consecutive governments. English refrigerators negotiated with officials, the Baring Brothers companies, the English railways, the Compañía Hispanoamericana de Electricidad (CHADE) and the Compañía Ítalo Argentina de Electricidad, Swift and Deltec, IBM, Siemens, among others. The case most familiar to living generations is “the Argentina of the nineties”, coinciding with a ridiculous increase in inequality, correlative and functional to the proliferation of corruption.

51 years of fall

in 1950 salaries represented 51.9% of national incomein 1993 less than 30%, in 1998 only 24%, unemployment went from 9% to 18% in 2001. The argument of state reduction to eliminate corrupt practices was unrealistic. A weak state, without regulation or controls, created wide spaces for corruption. In the nineties, corrupt practices were normalized creating common sense: “this is how political power is built”, “he who does not steal is an idiot”. Some politicians went from revolutionary or leftist tendencies to businessmen and/or members and even presidents of right-wing parties.

It is difficult to remember periods where there have not been “acts of corruption.” However, there are complete lapses mired in corruption.

Throughout his life, the last ex-president who took office was prosecuted, only during his leadership he was denounced in 144 cases for criminal offenses. Minister Sergio Massa recently denounced that during the Macri governmentthe state company AySApaid $3.2 million to Boca Juniors, led by Daniel Angelipersonal friend and judicial operator of the former president. Massa based that accusation on findings that he would have made Malena Galmarinicurrent president of AySA.

A scandal covered the media around the world, except in Argentina. Macri figureeither on the research on tax havens called “Panama papers”. One of three presidents of countries, unique in the region, who also did not resign. A few weeks after taking office, he discharged the official fleet, while choosing to travel in the company Macair Jet belonging to its economic group, benefiting it with contracts. The same year he was charged with arranging a budget increase for Iecsa–Burial of the Sarmiento Railway-by about 3 billion dollars. In 2017 charged for the agreement between the State and the Macri Group in relation to the debt of the Argentine Mailwhere he tried a debt discharge. While the Justice investigated him for the agreement with the “vulture funds”, accused of possible fraud and fraud against the State. In four months he made a first payment of 9,300 million dollars -qualified by the prosecutor Thin like a “Gigantic fraud to the State”. The scandalous money laundering law that prevented his relatives from being beneficiaries, he raped her. Congress debated money laundering while, according to Massa, he called him seven times to ask him to include her relatives. As the block promoted the limitation, she did it by decree. It is sinister to hear normalized comments about it like: What a teacher!

criminally charged in “Argentina-Qatar Memorandum”for a $1.3 billion deal. Charles Pagni I affirm that Daniel Angelialleged judicial operator of Mauricio Macri, gave money to a judge in the form of a bribe to benefit Macri in the case for espionage in CABA (2009). In April 2017, prosecutor Picardi asked to investigate it together with Minister Aranguren, suspecting that the rate increase was to favor businessmen of the category as Nicholas Caputo, John Lewis and Marcelo Mindlin, all close to Macri. Prosecutor Di Lello initiated a criminal investigation against him and a large part of his cabinet for having skipped Congress, before the agreement with the IMF, that has been designated as a criminal act, where the former minister was charged Dujovne and the former presidents of the BCRA, Sturzenegger, Caputo Y Sandleris.

Stolbizer’s complaint to Macri was for promoting a 400% increase in tolls, which caused an extraordinary increase in the value of highways of the sun (generating an extraordinary flow of funds and consequently a phenomenal increase in its shares, of which the Macri Group was partially the owner, which allowed it to sell to Natal Inversiones, of the president of the real Madrid, Florentino Perezfor a value 4 times higher. Later he would be accused of another maneuver to the detriment of the State, by means of which he once again highways of the sunsimulated a lawsuit against the State for more than 1,100 million dollars for alleged tariff arrears, which would justify the renegotiation of the concession contract, whose completion was expected in 2020 “. In 2018, without any opinion decided to pay for this concept 499 million dollars to Ausol, now owned by the president of the real Madrid, Florentino Perez.

Katopodis denounced that the macrismo left a debt 35,000 million pesos in unpaid infrastructure projects. And that, of the promised 2,800 kilometers of highways, he made only 365 (13%). Of the 4,000 km. of safe routes that he announced, he did not build a single km. Of the 13,000 km. projected for repaving and asphalt, 7,976 were built, (61%) of the Federal Road Plan.

During the obscene management of González Fraga and Lucas Llach in the BNA, Vicentín-contributor to the Macri campaign-received credits for 311 million dollars (converted at the most merciful exchange rate). As soon as Matías Kulfas took office, at the Ministry of Productive Development, they found an envelope with 10,000 dollars at the bottom of a drawer. The office belonged to rodrigo sbarraformer Secretary of Coordination. sbarra I know enlisted the Macri government with an estate of $1.1 million and left with $30 million and a very expensive Mini Cooper.

SIGEN sent a complaint to the Anticorruption Office about the awarding of the Paseo de la Infanta, the last day of the Macri government granted for 10 years in favor of the firm Estación Rosedal SA. In the directory of the concessionaire it appears Alexander “Petti” Peltenburga businessman who would be a partner of his officials.

The Agency for the Administration of State Assets, through Martin Cosentino Moretodenounced that Macri ceded real estate of the Nation for $15,800 million hours before leaving the government. Among the land and properties transferred, are the deeds of the Paseo del Bajo (recently mentioned by Elisa Carrió) for $5,400 million pesos, the viaducts of the Miter and San Martín train branches for $8.5 billion and the Caballito railway yard for 30 million dollars, to cancel debt owed by the Nation to the City. As a result of an investigation by the journalist Emilia Delfino, two national deputies They denounced Macri for influence peddling and use of privileged information, in the transfer of a series of “wind farms” that would have meant a profit of 48 million dollars.

We no longer have room to develop countless examples at an unusual speed. just mention “the financial bike” which produced a looting and flight of about 86 billion dollars, leaving parallel 106 billion dollars of increase in debt.

in 2018 International Amnesty published an investigation entitled “Trolling and attacks on the expression of journalists and human rights defenders on Twitter Argentina”, in which more than 350,000 cyberattacks suffered by seven journalists were analyzed. The study found that cybertrooperswith high levels of professional and technological organization, systematically attacked people who expressed opinions critical of the government, using hate speech, persecution, xenophobia or discrediting journalists to curtail public debate and discipline critical, dissenting or opposition voices.

At times like this, remember that Macri has been accused of carrying out lawfare (judicial persecution that made it possible to unduly detain political opponents and businessmen, financially impede businesses and discredit rivals. In Brazil and Bolivia it was possible to dismiss governments and proscribe candidates). These practices in the country would have been carried out both inside and outside the Cambiemos space, manipulating and doing illegal routine with part of the Power of attorney. Currently a fugitive, the alleged ideologue of the judicial table -famous because Macri made him responsible for proposing to appoint Court judges by decree-, a friend of a Court Judge. They were used the intelligence services, the media and extravagant whistleblowers.

In countries like Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, grassroots organizations and workers are weak in defending themselves against these practices. So much so that in the first two presidents were removed.

a twisted phrase

“Shrinking the State is enlarging the Nation”. From that twisted phrase, Argentina went from less than 7,000 million dollars of debt to 345,000 million dollars (49 times in 43 years).The economic data of the civic-military dictatorship dealt with installing and refuting the concept, empirically. The debt grew 6 times and the GDP “zero”. In the same period, the spending Scandinavian states have been leaders in low levels of corruption, charging high taxes and raising levels of equality.

Corruption fuels inequality, regressively disturbs the composition of spending, investment levels, growth and the functioning of institutions. It is a vicious circle. More inequality, more corruption, less more concentrated growth, more opportunity for thick rot.

Taking action against dishonesty means addressing inequality. During the periods of reduction of the State, the external debt grew, the unemployment rate skyrocketed, and national sovereignty was dishonorably transgressed.