Argentina: Report by Human Rights organization indicates that the State murders one person every day
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano
The Dawn News
December 23, 2017
The Coordinator Against Institutional and Police Repression (Correpi) presented its Report against Repression on December 22 in the Plaza de Mayo. The report unveils that in the 721 days of the Cambiemos government (the ruling coalition of parties), 725 people perished due to police repression and torture. They also described this period as one of the most repressive of the Argentinian history.
For the first time, Argentina surpasses the mark of one death per day due to police brutality or torture, informs Correpi.
This is a record reached by Macri’s government.
Since 1996, the Coordinator Against Institutional and Police Repression (Correpi) has gathered information on deaths caused by police brutality and deaths in jails and police stations. They look for information on the judicial processes for the cases of institutional violence.
In the past 2 years (721 days of Cambiemos administrations), Correpi registered 725 deaths by the repressive apparatuses in their different modalities. This means that one person is killed in less than 24 hours due to institutional violence.
While in 2015, the last year of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in the presidency, 300 cases were registered, in 2016 the record of 441 cases was reached. And this year that is currently finishing has presented 258 murders by the state so far.
If Kirchnerism murdered one person every 28 hours, Macrism is killing a person in less than 24 hours. This means that with Macri, the State murders at least one person a day.
Within the partial data given in the Plaza de Mayo presentation, one may say that between Security and Penitentiary forces, the Penitentiary Forces have the biggest impact on these numbers.
Several personalities from Human Rights organizations and those who struggle in the name of democratic freedoms participated in the act. Hernán “Vasco” Izurieta, general delegate of ATE (Association of State Workers) of the Buenos Aires division and member of the Revolutionary Left, gave a short speech. Isabel Huala, a Mapuche woman and mother of Facundo Jones Huala, sent a recorded message that was heard from the stage. She called to keep fighting in the name of the youth they killed and demanded freedom for her son (Facundo is a Iongko -leader- of the resistance in the Pu Lof Mapuche community of Cushamen) and for all of the people that are imprisoned for struggling and defending their rights.
Horacio Ramos, militant of the Front of Organizations in Struggle (FOL) and victim of Cambiemos savage repression which costed him an eye, also sent a message of support.
Tomás Eliaschev, journalist and delegate of SiPreBa, stood at the balcony along his comrade Agustín Lecchi, delegate of the Public TV and Organization Secretary for SiPreBa, and said that “we are workers and comrades of the people that express themselves in the street. They shoot at us because they don’t want us denouncing the role the police and the State are playing”.
The event also had a homage to Nilda Eloy, who passed away a month ago, leader of the Association of Ex Detained and Disappeared and key witness in the trial against Miguel Etchecolatz -a leader in the repressive dictatorship that shook the country in the 70s and linked to the disapparition of key witness Julio López-. Etchecolatz was this week unfairly granted with Home Detention, when he should spend the rest of his life in common prison.
Nora Cortiñas, a Mother of Plaza de Mayo from the Founding Sector, also sent a recorded message in which she called on people not to give up.
The founder of Correpi, lawyer María del Carmen Verdú, closed the event. She denounced the state repression and the criminalization of protest. And reminded folks that this is the first year in which they had to change the date of the presentation, since on December 14, the day previous to the pre accorded date, the government unleashed a fierce repression against protesters that were protesting against the Pension and Social Welfare reform. The repressive operative left dozens of wounded and more than 40 detainees that were freed on Sunday at dawn.
Dozens of relatives of youths murdered by the Security Forces were present, in addition to Human Rights organizations like the CeProDH, the Party of Socialist Workers, Venceremos (We Shall Overcome) and Popular Power among others.
