Edgardo Kueider case: what the process of an eventual impeachment in the Senate would be like

The news that the Senator Edgardo Kueider He was arrested trying to cross the border Paraguay with US$201,000 dollars, $646,000 and 3,900,000 guaraníes (about $500,000) monopolized social indignation and could modify the composition of the Senate. But it also revived questions about the processes to remove legislators.

Senators and representatives are exempt from impeachment proceedingsreserved for members of the Executive and Judicial Branch and whose positions depend on the vote of the members of Congress. However, another internal mechanism was established for them: treatment in the Constitutional Affairs Commissionpermanent space in both chambers that determines – among other responsibilities – the sanctions against parliamentarians.

Here there is a specific situation: Kueider himself is the one who chairs the Constitutional Affairs Commission in the Senate. However, as he anticipated that he will ask for leave until his judicial situation in Paraguay is clarified, where he remains at the disposal of local justice, his place could be occupied by the vice president of the space, the senator from Tucumán. Sandra Mendoza (Union for the Homeland).

She is the one who can call a meeting to address a sanction procedure and even impeachment of the Entre Ríos senatorin the terms established by the Law 25,320: There are 60 days to issue a ruling and 180 to deal with the case in court, with or without a ruling. The Neuquina Lucila Crexell is the only companion of the Kueider block, called The United Provinceswhich integrates the Constitutional Affairs Commission. In that sense, there would be a large majority to determine the sanctions that are considered pertinent.

Background

The license request Edgardo Kueider refers to another similar situation experienced in the Senate: in 2019, two years after the end of his term in the upper house, Joseph Alperovich He requested leave while he was being investigated for sexual abuse, for which he was later found guilty. The license prevents other senators from occupying a seat until the 2025 elections, which in this case would correspond to Stefania Cora (referent to La Cámpora in Entre Ríos). Although Union for the Homeland cannot recover – until now – that place, Freedom Advances He lost an important ally in a precinct where each vote is transcendental.

This same year, members of Freedom Advances in the Chamber of Deputies for his visits to genocidaires in the Ezeiza prison. Like the Constitutional Affairs Commission was led by a member of his party, the debate moved to the Committee on Petitions, Powers and Regulationsin charge ofand Silvia Lospennato (PRO). So far, the accused have not defended themselves in person and the complaint has been truncated.

However, in the last decade there has been a concrete experience of lawlessness. In October 2017, and at the request of the deputy of Elisa Carrió (at that time, in the Cambiemos alliance), the violation of legislator Julio De Vido while he was investigated for causes of embezzlement when he held the position of Minister of Federal Planning. This enabled the possibility of his arrest, which took place a day later, when De Vido himself surrendered to justice.

Genocidal Libertarians Ezeiza.webp

Previously, there were two precedents of deputies removed from their bench, both belonging to the Justicialista Party. The Catamarcan Luis Luquein April 1991, he was dismissed after his son was convicted of the crime of María Soledad Morales. Subsequently, the Buenos Aires Norma Ancarani de Godoy She was expelled in 2002 after confirmed threats to journalists who were investigating her for illegal activities. In another sense, on different occasions they were not allowed to assume as deputies Luis Patti, Antonio Bussi and Raúl Romero Feris for its links with the last civil-military dictatorship.

Pressure from Peronism for dismissal of Kueider

As soon as the news was known, Union for the Homeland and Freedom Advances began to disassociate themselves from responsibility for the party affiliation of Edgardo Kueiderwho was elected in 2019 with the Peronist ticket but who in the last year accompanied the projects of the libertarian government.

The president of the national PJ, Cristina Kirchnerpointed against Victoria Villarruel for appointing Kueider as head of the Constitutional Affairs Commission and asked her “not to act distracted.” That led to an immediate response from the Vice President of the Nation: “Senator Kueider entered your ballot, with his face next to it and is still an affiliate of the party that you preside over.” He later clarified that “From the Senate we are respectful of the laws and the institutional order, justice will resolve responsibilities and I assure you that we will take all the measures we have to take to pay for the criminal acts that have been committed.”

That was the request of the block of senators of Union for the Homelandwhich issued a statement demanding “the expulsion of Edgardo Kueider in the terms of article 66 of the National Constitution by moral inability supervening given by the seriousness of the events.” In the same sense, and against Villarruel – who presides over the Senate – the Peronist wrote Cecilia Moureauvice president of the Chamber of Deputies: “If you have a clean ass, call a session urgently and enable the immediate removal of Senator Kueider.”

Fernando Brovelli Report.-