http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/18/mixing-crime-and-politics-in-argentina/?ref=global&_r=1&gwh=8CEF953766183DBE0158CAA02B464E2D&utm_source=Morning+Roundup&utm_campaign=5bcb2c5f43-MR_091813&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0eddedb016-5bcb2c5f43-64056469
Mixing Crime and Politics in Argentina.
By DANIEL POLITI
BUENOS AIRES — President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is scrambling. Since her party, Frente Para la Victoria (Front for Victory), lost by a surprisingly wide margin in the country’s five largest districts in last month’s primaries, Kirchner and her allies are struggling to find a formula to gain support before the Oct. 27 midterm elections.
In the key province of Buenos Aires, home to almost 40 percent of the electorate, some of Kirchner’s main allies seem to have come up with the answer: get tough on crime.
Martín Insaurralde, Kirchner’s top congressional candidate in the province, raised eyebrows when he said earlier this month that he wanted to pursue an initiative to lower the age that teenage offenders can face criminal prosecution from 16 to 14. Meanwhile, the Kirchnerite governor of Buenos Aires, Daniel Scioli, split the justice and security ministry in two, appointing as head of the new security ministry a mayor famous for regretting his “bad aim” when he shot at two men who tried to burglarize his home. And the government, at Scioli’s urging, has deployed thousands of border guards to patrol the province.
It’s hardly surprising that Kirchner’s allies would turn to tough talk on crime to gain votes — it’s an issue that has long ranked as the top concern among Argentines, particularly residents of Buenos Aires. Yet it’s a problem that has often been belittled by government officials, some of whom have been known to imply that fear of crime is for the most part only in people’s heads. (The government has not released national crime statistics in years, but in the province of Buenos Aires, the homicide rate was 7 in 100,000 people in 2012, far lower than the regional average. When it comes to robberies, Argentina ranks higher — 983 per 100,000 people — than any country in the Americas, according to the Organization of American States.)
Human rights activists, including some traditionally allied with Kirchner, have joined the president’s usual critics in condemning the new crime-fighting measures, calling them opportunistic, short-term strategies that seemed designed to win votes rather than deal effectively with the problem.
Particular criticism was directed at Insaurralde’s proposal to treat 14-year-old offenders as criminals. Top Kirchnerite lawmakers — even some running under the same party ticket as Insaurralde — came out against the idea.
Insaurralde suffered as a result. Sergio Massa, a former Kirchner ally, beat him in last month’s primary for a congressional seat in Buenos Aires province. And now the normally disciplined Kirchnerites look to be in disarray.
Scioli, the governor of Buenos Aires, has tried to minimize the infighting, saying it was healthy for a political party to have differences of opinion. That may be the case, but a little over a month before the midterms, the news cycle was taken over by the internal squabbling, preventing the party from sending a clear message that could help win back some of the 54 percent of voters that swept Kirchner to a second term only two years ago.
By the end of the week the government seemed to realize it wasn’t a good idea to leave the man who is effectively Kirchner’s proxy in the election to stand alone, and two key government officials praised Insaurralde for opening up what they described as an important debate. The same lawmakers that had criticized Insaurralde also highlighted his “bravery,” although they emphasized that the key was to have a broad discussion about a long-delayed juvenile penal system. But the damage had been done.
It’s not just that the focus on crime this election season has revealed how Kirchner has failed to come up with a comprehensive plan to deal with a key demand of the electorate. It has also made clear how Kirchner’s power is waning. The losses in the primaries mean that any hope of reforming the Constitution to allow the president to serve a third term has likely gone out the window. And as Kirchner’s lame duck status becomes more evident, more infighting seems inevitable.
In the key province of Buenos Aires, home to almost 40 percent of the electorate, some of Kirchner’s main allies seem to have come up with the answer: get tough on crime.
It’s hardly surprising that Kirchner’s allies would turn to tough talk on crime to gain votes
It’s hardly surprising that Kirchner’s allies would turn to tough talk on crime to gain votes — it’s an issue that has long ranked as the top concern among Argentines, particularly residents of Buenos Aires. Yet it’s a problem that has often been belittled by government officials, some of whom have been known to imply that fear of crime is for the most part only in people’s heads. (The government has not released national crime statistics in years, but in the province of Buenos Aires, the homicide rate was 7 in 100,000 people in 2012, far lower than the regional average. When it comes to robberies, Argentina ranks higher — 983 per 100,000 people — than any country in the Americas, according to the Organization of American States.)
Human rights activists, including some traditionally allied with Kirchner, have joined the president’s usual critics in condemning the new crime-fighting measures, calling them opportunistic, short-term strategies that seemed designed to win votes rather than deal effectively with the problem.
Particular criticism was directed at Insaurralde’s proposal to treat 14-year-old offenders as criminals. Top Kirchnerite lawmakers — even some running under the same party ticket as Insaurralde — came out against the idea.
Insaurralde suffered as a result. Sergio Massa, a former Kirchner ally, beat him in last month’s primary for a congressional seat in Buenos Aires province. And now the normally disciplined Kirchnerites look to be in disarray.
Scioli, the governor of Buenos Aires, has tried to minimize the infighting, saying it was healthy for a political party to have differences of opinion. That may be the case, but a little over a month before the midterms, the news cycle was taken over by the internal squabbling, preventing the party from sending a clear message that could help win back some of the 54 percent of voters that swept Kirchner to a second term only two years ago.
By the end of the week the government seemed to realize it wasn’t a good idea to leave the man who is effectively Kirchner’s proxy in the election to stand alone, and two key government officials praised Insaurralde for opening up what they described as an important debate. The same lawmakers that had criticized Insaurralde also highlighted his “bravery,” although they emphasized that the key was to have a broad discussion about a long-delayed juvenile penal system. But the damage had been done.
It’s not just that the focus on crime this election season has revealed how Kirchner has failed to come up with a comprehensive plan to deal with a key demand of the electorate. It has also made clear how Kirchner’s power is waning. The losses in the primaries mean that any hope of reforming the Constitution to allow the president to serve a third term has likely gone out the window. And as Kirchner’s lame duck status becomes more evident, more infighting seems inevitable.
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