CACEROLAZOS throughout the country in rejection of the house arrest of prisoners

In the midst of the quarantine and the relative political truce imposed by isolation, the Government saw a new focus of crisis appear before it. The discontent over the granting of numerous home prisons to convicts – under the pretext of avoiding the spread of coronavirus in prisons – was evident on Thursday night in the form of massive casseroles throughout the country.

It is about the maturation of a social tension that the Casa Rosada had already perceived and that motivated – this Wednesday – messages on the president’s social networks Alberto Fernández and the governor Axel Kicillof. The President affirmed that there is a “media campaign” against his administration and recalled that it is Justice that makes decisions about prisoners. The former Economy Minister spoke in the same direction.

Despite the Government’s clarifications, the saucepans were heard in the metropolitan area of ​​Buenos Aires and in the main cities of Argentina in rejection of the home prisons of the prisoners serving sentences in different penalties, ordered by members of the Judiciary. in the framework of the advance of the coronavirus pandemic.

The claim, called through social networks under the slogan, “Casseroles 30A: Noala“, was noted in most of the neighborhoods of the City, especially in Recoleta, Villa Crespo, Colegiales, Agronomía, Palermo, Núñez, Caballito, Belgrano, Almagro, Flores, and also in Villa Lugano, Mataderos, Floresta, in the Buenos Aires Microcenter, Villa Soldati, Coghlan, Villa Devoto, Liniers, Villa del Parque, Retiro and Villa Luro, among others.

The same thing happened in different cities and towns in Buenos Aires, such as Olivos, San Isidro, Martínez, Bahía Blanca, Mar del Plata, and in other provinces such as Santa Fe, Mendoza, Jujuy, Salta, Córdoba and La Pampa.

The protest, called for 8:00 PM, found thousands of people beating saucepans or clapping on balconies of buildings or patios of houses in rejection of the release of prisoners as a preventive measure against a possible spread of the coronavirus in prisons.

The complaint was also noted with the honking of motorists excepted from the quarantine who returned from work at home.

On social networks, leaders of the opposition joined the initiative and supported the protest: “To ignore the victims is to ignore the law. It is a pride to be part of a society that makes itself heard by asking for a Justice that acts responsibly. # Cacerolazo30A it shows that impunity has no place for Argentines, “said deputy Cristian Ritondo, head of the PRO bloc in the lower house.

“The rejection of impunity is exciting. We are not few, we are not alone. # Cacerolazo30A”, emphasized, for her part, the Buenos Aires legislator of Together for Change Carolina Piparo.

For her part, PRO President Patricia Bullrich insisted on Thursday night that there is a “political, ideological decision” on the part of the Government to release prisoners with “the excuse” of the coronavirus pandemic.

Renowned riots and jails

Amid the coronavirus pandemic and the mandatory quarantine that the Government ordered from March 20 to combat the spread of the disease, a series of riots in different jails in the country have been recorded in recent weeks, since the end of the month. past.

In prisons, inmates began demanding sanitary measures to prevent the virus from spreading in prisons, but also releases, through the granting of home prisons to those who have been arrested, in principle, for minor crimes and integrate groups considered “at risk” against the Covid-19.

In this context, according to the press in recent days, hundreds of prisoners, even accused of aggravated robbery, sexual abuse, fraud, extortion, illegitimate deprivation of liberty and / or sale of drugs, among other crimes, left prisons in different parts of the country, especially in the province of Buenos Aires, which motivated the massive pan casserole registered this Thursday.

Even Justice granted him the benefit of home prison earlier this month to Beloved Boudou, sentenced to five years and ten months in prison for the purchase of the Ciccone printing press, despite the fact that the former vice president of the Nation is not part of any “risk” group.

According to official information, until April 22, 753 prisoners from the Buenos Aires Penitentiary Service (SPB) and 320 from the Federal Penitentiary Service (SPF) benefited from house arrests.

However, it is calculated that the figure could have doubled in this last week, since until last Friday there were 2,600 inmates who presented collective habeas corpus.

Fernández blames the judges

Warned about the growing popular displeasure with the situation, President Alberto Fernández assured this Wednesday that there is “a media campaign” that seeks “to accuse the Government of wanting to facilitate the freedom” of detained people who were sentenced and recalled that international and human rights organizations made recommendations to “avoid overcrowding in prisons” in the current context of the coronavirus pandemic.

“My opposition to exercising the power to pardon is known. I say this at a time when a media campaign is unleashed accusing the government that I preside of wanting to favor the freedom of those who have been sentenced,” the President said Wednesday through a series. of messages published in his official account of the social network Twitter.

In this sense, the head of state remarked that “Argentina, like everyone else, is facing a pandemic of enormous proportions” and “the risk of contagion is enhanced in places of high human concentration, which is why prisons become an environment conducive to the spread of disease“

“International organizations such as the United Nations Organization or the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have formulated recommendations to prevent overcrowding in prisons from putting inmates’ lives at risk,” Fernández emphasized.

In addition, he affirmed that “in the world, many governments have provided liberties trying to minimize that risk” and maintained that “some have commuted sentences, others have pardoned sentences and others have left the matter in the hands of the Justice”.

“In Argentina the solution to the problem is in the hands of the courts. It is the natural judges who, if deemed necessary, have freedoms. Cassation chambers have made very timely recommendations to deal with the problem, “he stressed.

The president also clarified that he formulates “these clarifications only in the face of the malicious campaign that has been unleashed in networks and the media, leading the public to believe that the Government is preparing a massive departure of people detained under criminal proceedings.

“I regret the behavior of those who, in circumstances as crucial as those we live in, show their unappreciable human condition, making society uneasy at a time when it precisely needs to be contained the most,” he said.

Find out the latest on digital economy, startups, fintech, corporate innovation and blockchain. CLICK HERE