Argentina 08/08/11

Tensions have continued to rise this week as solutions to housing shortages and illegal land settlement in Argentina’s northern provinces fail to be found.

Following the violent evictions in Jujuy last week when 4 people were killed, more than 10,000 people are illegally occupying public spaces around Salvador de Jujuy in demand for public provision of housing.

Attempts on Friday to push through a decree permitting the allocation plots of land to the needy fell through in the absence of consensus.  A subsequent  call from kirchnerist Governor, Walter Barrionuevo, for settlers to move on fell on deaf ears prompting concerns over a forceful eviction.

Judge Juan Carlos Nieve warned ‘we call on them (the settlers) to voluntarily abandon the occupations and if they don’t do it, we will evaluate acting with public forces’.

Reports are critical of local government’s inability to find a solution to the problem. Governor Barrionuevo has kept a low profile at his weekend home drawing suggestions that he has lost authority on the matter.

Opposition minister Alberto Bernis maintains that the lack of volition to find a sustainable solution to the problem reflects the impending national elections:  ‘its only a week until the primary elections and the only thing that bothers him (Barrionuevo) is trying to keep the lid on the situation’.

Clarin published a shocking photograph of police brutality this week during another forced land clearance in the province of Tucuman – located just south of Salta and Jujuy.

Local police, ordered to remove the 200 families from the plot in the provincial capital, used tear gas, rubber bullets and mounted police to evict settlers.

IN other news, Argentina’s home-grown response to Wiki-leaks has been attracting growing interest. Established in May of this year, ‘Leakymails.com’ has published information from the inboxes of more than 50 public figures including government ministers, members of the judiciary and journalists.

Yet in contrast to the seismic proportions of wiki-leaks’ scoops, the content of Argentina’s mail boxes largely provides a predictable  showcase of nepotism and the murky inner workings of political life. A judge tasked with investigating the Kirchner’s is shown asking for an internship for a daughter in the home office, whilst the amorous adventures of an Argentine ambassador are laundered in public.

The anonymous organisers of the site claim to have a further 6 million archives primed for release. Allegedly working from outside the country they claim that ‘no one will be able to catch them’.

Resounding silence on the official line suggests those exposed are keen to add fuel to the fire by contesting the releases.

As Clarin observes, despite the potential for scandal, the information largely documents the banality of quotidian human communications.

Finally, investigations continue following the discovery of two murdered French tourists in the northern province of Jujuy last week.

Numerous investigations by the police force in Salta have uncovered a range of ‘incriminating evidence’ that has led to the arrest of 7 individuals.

As well as uncovering items belonging to the girls, a firearm has been discovered – a 22. millimetre pistol that matches the ballistic tests found at the scene of the crime.

All detainees will be questioned this coming tuesday by prosecuting judge Martín Pérez