Recovering credibility
06/07/2003
- Opinión
Buenos Aires: The first 40 days of President Néstor
Kirchner's government seem to be passing in a climate of
increasing acceptance of his leadership and government
strategies. The candidate who received barely 22% of the
votes in the first round of the presidential elections last
April, now has support from almost 80% of the population.
This support is due to his straightforward, but determined,
style and a series of important political measures that
have helped him to consolidate his power, improve his image
and impress the idea that there were matters which would
change considerably during his term of office.
If there is one attribute that characterizes the members of
the new government it is that they give the impression of
echoing the peoples' protests against politicians, their
shady deals and alleged corruption, in the legislative,
executive and judicial realms, which gave rise to the
events during December 2001, when the people took to the
streets demanding extensive change to the political,
economic and social life of the country. Kirchner's cabinet
appears to want to be as transparent as possible in its
actions with measures aimed at the destruction of hotbeds
of corruption, which have long been denounced, forming new
bonds of confidence with the people. In addition, in
adopting a certain level of autonomy and its own profile in
negotiations with international monetary organizations
regarding foreign debts, it has successfully roused the
support of the people, who are sick of the "carnal
relations" with the United States that were initiated by
Menem's government during the early 1990s and which
resulted in a loss of autonomy and credibility as regards
the country's foreign policy. Some observers of right-wing
politics have not failed to indicate, with certain unease,
a possibility that Argentina is "moving towards the left"
and that nationalist awareness is increasing.
The President's success is accompanied by favorable
indications of growth in the economy, which gives substance
to an air of hope for an improvement in living standards.
Indications are still minor and economists and government
officials are cautious in this matter. However, GDP is
expected to grow 5% by the end of the year and employment
in the formal sector has already increased by 121.71%
compared to June 2002, largely in technical and IT
positions. Economists are also indicating that there has
been a significant rise in employment levels in
construction, agriculture and in the informal sector,
although this is a difficult figure to gauge. Yet there is
no credit recovery, although the official banks have
already begun to launch policies for private and productive
credit. This lack of credit, which could produce a recovery
on the domestic market, is worrying and the new authorities
know that this is a key element in reversing the current
situation of decline.
This climate of increasing confidence can be observed in a
small increase in purchases made by the middle classes of
items whose sales figures decreased markedly during the
crisis, such as books, CDs, clothes, household goods,
holidays and leisure activities. Sadly however, there is no
hint of this slight recovery in the most vulnerable groups,
where unemployment continues to be high and has not begun
to recover and not even food consumption has increased. If
it had not been for the initiative for household heads,
giving subsidies to the heads of families without work, the
social crisis would have risen to unsustainable limits.
Some 40% of the unemployed have families with dependent
children. This entails somewhere in the region of 2 million
men and women who receive the equivalent of 60 dollars a
month to meet their most basic needs. Although these plans
have been criticized for encouraging political patronage
and for not being fully transparent, the government plans
to continue them though it intends to introduce greater
transparency in the granting of these benefits. For the
moment it has created a consolidated register of the
beneficiaries, in order to purify the lists and avoid fraud
and manipulation.
Kirchner's political support
One of the first acid tests for President Kirchner was to
confront the political trial of the members of the Supreme
Court of Justice, the collegial body that functioned under
a so-called "automatic majority" during and following
Carlos Menem's term of office, always safeguarding the
interests of the ex-president and of his friends and
associates. In a public request to Parliament, Kirchner
urged senators and representatives to undertake political
proceedings against the judges in question. After this
speech had been broadcast to the nation, stimulating a
great deal of discussion, Kirchner decided to revoke the
privilege granted to him by the National Constitution of
naming the judges of the Supreme Court and by presidential
decree decided that, while the candidate was to be
nominated by the Executive, it would be considered by the
National Congress, and there would be public audiences in
which lawyers and magistrates associations, academic
bodies, human rights organizations and other similar
entities would participate in order to discuss the
candidacy and to present recommendations and objections.
With this resolution the President removed any suspicion
that he might wish to emulate Menemism and its personalist
management of justice.
Within a few days of the president's speech the Political
Justice Commission of the National House of Representatives
had begun argumentation for the political trial against the
President of the Supreme Court, Dr. Julio Nazareno, a
lawyer who was an associate of Menem and his brother
Eduardo Menem - currently national senator - during the
time in which they shared an office in La Rioja. Nazareno
was superintendent of the city of La Rioja and during
Carlos Menem's government became a member of the Higher
Court of the province. He made it to the Supreme Court
because of the intervention of the ex-president and was
never remarkable for his rulings or his talent as a judge.
Nevertheless, what was notorious was his unconditional
loyalty to Menem and his interests.
Hounded by accusations and afraid of losing the bulky
pension which was due to him as a former member of the
Supreme Court, Nazareno resigned before the political
proceedings began. To fill the vacancy, Kirchner sent
Congress the name of a criminal lawyer of international
prestige, Dr. Eugenio Zaffaroni, who has been a judge for
20 years, constitutional legislator and President of the
National Institution against Discrimination during the
Alliance Government. Within a couple of hours, Zaffaroni,
who declares himself politically independent, received the
support of the human rights organizations, lawyers'
associations and academic bodies. There is still almost one
month to discuss his candidacy, but opinion polls state
that 57% of public opinion is in favor of him. The right
wing, meanwhile, is again nervous and wary that a judge who
declares himself "defender of the social State of Law"
should be a member of the Court. Once again they are afraid
of Argentina's "move to the left".
In the meantime, Kirchner is hoping to continue harvesting
support and affirming his presidential power. As Zaffaroni
himself has indicated in various press reports regarding
the reasons for his nomination, "the greatest political
advantage that he (President Kirchner) has is
transparency". "It would be suicide to do anything
different", he added referring to the impossibility of
returning to a submissive Supreme Court. Signals like these
are the ones that Argentine society is hoping for, sick of
the cronyism, corruption and automatic majorities which
have discredited the country and ruined the democratic
institutions. (Translation by ALAI)
https://www.alainet.org/pt/node/107836?language=es
Del mismo autor
- Visibility to secure recognition and rights 21/05/2015
- Visibilidad para afianzar reconocimiento y derechos 21/05/2015
- Por la democratización de las comunicaciones 19/05/2008
- Sin propiedad intelectual no habría creación ¿Alguien lo cree? 15/11/2007
- La lucha contra la pornografía infantil en Internet 15/11/2007
- Por qué nos espían los gobiernos? 12/11/2007
- Las empresas privadas también nos controlan 12/11/2007
- Sorpresivo inicio del Foro de Gobernanza de Internet 11/11/2007
- Convergencia tecnológica y participación popular 14/06/2007
- El debate por la inseguridad en Argentina 26/09/2006