Lawfare: Judicial & Legislative Coups in Argentina and Peru

WTF is Going on in Latin America & The Caribbean

TODAY’S EPISODE: Lawfare: Judicial & Legislative Coups in Argentina and Peru

Joining me today is my friend and co-host Raul Burbano. Raul is the Program Director for Common Frontiers based in Toronto. Common Frontiers is a WTF broadcast partner

GUESTS: Aníbal Ibarra and Daniela Ortiz.

Anibal is the former Mayor of Buenos Aires and Federal Prosecutor. Anibal is currently a criminal defense lawyer and member of the Broad Front political party.

Daniela Ortiz is a peruvian artist and antiracist militant who lives in Urubamba, Peru. She was part of the Campaign against immigrant detention centers in Catalunya from 2009 until 2012, The Espacio del Inmigrante in Barcelona from 2012 until 2016, during the pandemic she was part of the Red de Cuidados Anti Racistas in Barcelona and was founder of the Madrecitas Colectiva against judicialization of motherhood and childhood of migrant families and the removal of custodies. She now is part of the Frente de Lucha Materna in Peru where she currently lives.

BACKGROUND:

Argentina:

On Tuesday, December 6, An Argentine court sentenced Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner to six years in jail and disqualified her from holding public office in a high-profile corruption case.

The vice president, who has temporary immunity due to her current role, will not face immediate prison time and is expected to appeal the sentence, with the case likely to spend years winding through higher courts.

Technically, she could run for office while the appeals are pending, but she said on Tuesday that she "would not be a candidate for anything" in next year's general election.

Fernandez de Kirchner, who served as president for two terms between 2007 and 2015 and commands rock-star crowds of supporters, faced charges of alleged corruption in the awarding of public works during her presidency

The court acquitted her on another count of "illicit association".

Peru:

The crisis in Peru has reached the streets, after Congress dismissed former President Pedro Castillo on December 7 for wanting to dissolve Parliament and establish an emergency government.

The appointment of Vice President Dina Boluarte as President of the Republic, far from bringing calm, has led to a wave of protests in Lima and in the interior of the country.

Faced with this situation, Boluarte declared yesterday a 30-day state of emergency throughout the country and presented to Congress a proposal to advance the general elections to April 2024, two years ahead of schedule. Now possibly 2023.

Many defend the return of Castillo -now detained in preventive detention-, but there are at least three other claims on the streets.

1. The resignation of President Dina Boluarte
2. Closing of the Current Congress
3. A Constituent Assembly

FOLLOW OUR GUESTS

Raul Burbano

Anibal Ibarra

Daniela Ortiz

Frente de Lucha Materna

ADDITIONAL LINKS:

Argentina's Vice President Faces a "Media-Judicial Firing Squad"

Peru Goes to the Polls: 2021 Presidential Elections

Pedro Castillo Assumes the Presidency of Peru

WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean is a Popular Resistance broadcast in partnership with Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Team CODEPINK, Common Frontiers, Council on Hemispheric Affairs, Friends of Latin America, InterReligious Task Force on Central America, Massachusetts Peace Action and Task Force on the Americas.