▲ Human rights defenders commemorate the victims of forced disappearance in the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires.Photo Afp
Stella Calloni
Correspondent
La Jornada Newspaper
Friday, December 13, 2024, p. 23
Buenos Aires., The government of President Javier Milei, received a severe setback yesterday in the Senate, where the expulsion of Senator Edgardo Kueider, arrested last week, was decided by an overwhelming majority – 61 votes in favor, five against and one abstention. in Paraguay with 200 thousand undeclared dollars in a backpack in his car, means a loss for the approval of the reforms of the Judicial Branch.
Kueider is being investigated by the justice system of that country, and is housed in preventive detentionafter bail of 300 thousand dollars, in a five-star hotel in the Paraguayan capital, while he is defended by the government of the far-right La Libertad Avanza (LLA). The senator, who came to his seat for the opposition Todo por la Patria, ended up voting in favor of what the Argentine president needed.
Regarding the case, it was reported that it was not the legislator’s first trip transferring money without declaring it. With Kuider’s vote, the Milei government managed to approve the so-called Bases law presented on December 27, 2023 before Congress, which violates all constitutional norms, and allowed, among other measures, to be delivered to the It exercises all powers, which is why it governs by decree and maintains the power of veto, among other functions that bring it closer to totalitarianism every day.
Union for the Homeland requested an extraordinary meeting in the Senate, where it was debated this day, with a visible device trying to extend the final decision as much as possible, with requests for an intermediate room, which Milei used to pressure, blackmail or buy votes, but this Once the resolution to expel the parliamentarian is achieved with the support of the right-wing Republican Proposal (Pro), led by former president Mauricio Macri, and by senators from the Radical Civic Union (UCR) in the face of the unconcealable scandal.
In turn, Paraguayan journalists denounced that the current president Santiago Peña Palacios, who answers to the powerful former president and former president of the ruling Colorado Party, Horacio Cartes, close to Macri, is trying to ensure justice, inherited from what was the dictatorship of General Afredo Stroessner (1954-1989), try to reduce the charges for which Kuider and his companion, his secretary, are detained, according to what is recorded in the minutes.
The general suspicion is that this illicit enrichment of Kuider and other legislators is due to the purchase of votes, of which the Milei government is accused, both in the Legislative Branch and by some provincial governors who came for Peronism and force their parliamentarians to vote on everything the government orders.
For her part, Vice President Victoria Villarruel, head of the Senate, warned on social networks that the expulsion of Kueider, which she considered a reaction too fastwill have a very high cost for the governmentsince Senator Stefanía Cora will take over, as appropriate, which will “strengthen the Kirchnerist bloc.
All of La Libertad Avanza’s attempts failed to sustain Senator Kuider’s defense. Even a majority of his coreligionists ended up supporting the decision to dismiss him.
In another attempt by the ruling party, the expulsion of Senator Oscar Parrilli was requested, since he appears in the false cases with which they try to put former President Fernández de Kirchner, now at the head of the Justicialista Party, in prison.
Furthermore, Senator José Mayans, of the Peronist National and Popular Front (Formosa), accused Kueider of setting up a gang to sell votes. What else does Kueider know that they want to protect him?he wondered, and recalled Milei’s insults to legislators, staining the honor of Congress. Who else gets paid in the Senate? How many commissions are there on the debt of 92 billion dollars that Argentines, retirees, pensioners, teachers, police officers are going to have to pay? The new scam of the financial system, that is what we are going to have to payMayans explained.
There was also a judicial setback because the federal justice administrator of San Isidro, Sandra Arroyo Salgado, requested the extradition and arrest of Senator Kueider and the Gendarmerie yesterday carried out various raids on the legislator’s property located in the province of Entre Ríos and at homes in people and companies linked to the alleged act of corruption that is being investigated. Interpol has an arrest warrant for Iara Guinsel Costa, Kueider’s secretary.
In another act of corruption, the theft of auto parts was reported in the Supply and Maintenance Battalion 601, in Campo de Mayo, which adds to the irregularities known last week with helicopter engines that were later sold.
All of the above puts a warning light on the lie of the Argentine miracle with which the government of Javier Milei presents itself.
