Tag: argentina

  • Ex-Argentina president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s properties raided

    The Argentine Federal Police (PFA) takes part in a raid at the house of former Argentine President and current senator Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in Rio Gallegos, Santa Cruz Province, in southern Argentina, Symbol copyright AFP Image caption Police outside one of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s houses in Santa Cruz Province in Patagonia

    Police in Argentina have began searching houses belonging to the previous president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, as a part of a major corruption research.

    Forensic scientists, canine and firefighters helped carry out the raids on properties in Patagonia and one in Buenos Aires.

    It comes after Pass Judgement On Claudio Bonadio asked to partially raise Ms Fernández’s immunity as he investigates bribery allegations all through her presidency.

    Ms Fernández denies any wrongdoing.

    In a defiant speech on Wednesday, the senator – who has immunity from imprisonment, however now not prosecution – described the research as “shameless”.

    Symbol copyright Getty Pictures Image caption Officials also raided her flat in Buenos Aires

    Thursday’s search relates to the so-known as laptop scandal, which relates to a batch of data kept by way of Oscar Centeno, a driving force for a public works respectable, over a 12-12 months period.

    In the notebooks, Mr Centeno writes about delivering baggage of money from building bosses to executive officers, which prosecutor Carlos Stornelli says totalled some $160m (£125m).

    Mr Centeno’s notebooks include a reference to money replacing arms on the house shared by means of Ms Fernández and her late husband, Néstor Kirchner, besides as the presidential residence and executive headquarters. Then Again, none of this has been confirmed.

    more than a dozen folks, including businessmen and former government officers, have been arrested after the notebooks had been passed to authorities by way of L. A. Nación newspaper earlier this yr.

    Ms Fernández is also below investigation in every other 5 cases. She denies all allegations, and says she is the victim of a political witch hunt.

  • Argentina abortion: Senate defeats invoice legalising it at as much as 14 weeks

    Anti-abortion activists outside parliament in Buenos Aires Image copyright Reuters Symbol caption Anti-abortion activists were celebrating out of doors parliament

    Argentina’s senate has rejected a invoice which might have legalised abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.

    After a marathon debate, 38 senators voted in opposition to it and 31 in favour. Its defeat approach lawmakers will have to wait a yr to resubmit legislation.

    Currently abortion is authorized in Argentina best in circumstances of rape, or if the mother’s well being is in danger.

    Demonstrators on both sides of the talk collected out of doors parliament as balloting came about.

    No going again in Argentina’s abortion debate

    Pro-abortion campaigners have for years tried to get bills passed, but their efforts won new impetus while President Mauricio Macri – who himself opposes abortion – called on Congress to think about it.

    In June, the lower area narrowly passed after a consultation lasting nearly 24 hours even as loads of hundreds of ladies held a vigil outdoor.

  • Argentina’s former Vice-President Amado Boudou jailed for corruption

    Argentina's former vice president Amado Boudou during his trial in Buenos Aires on 0 August 2018 Image copyright EPA

    Argentina’s former Vice President Amado Boudou has been sentenced to five years and 10 months in jail for corruption.

    The fees associated with his try to buy a money-printing corporate through a entrance business.

    Boudou used to be in energy during the administration of former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

    The ex-president herself has been summoned to offer proof in some other extensive-ranging corruption investigation next week.

    Both say they’re sufferers of political persecution by means of the present President, Mauricio Macri.

    Driver’s diaries detail ‘decade of bribes’

    Boudou was accused of lifting a chapter assertion towards currency corporate Ciccone Calcográfica in go back for an fairness stake when he used to be financial system minister in 2010, before changing into vice-president.

    The court docket in Buenos Aires found him in charge of committing passive bribery and conducting trade “incompatible with public place of business”.

    He has been banned for life from protecting public office, and is expected to appeal against the conviction.

    The corporate’s former proprietor Nicolas Ciccone used to be also given a four-and-a-half-year sentence.

    In 2011, the British newspaper The Guardian dubbed Boudou “Argentina’s first rock’n’roll vice-president”, in response to his guitar playing, his love of Harley Davidson bikes and his resolution to take a rock band at the marketing campaign path.

    Due To The Fact President Macri came to energy in December 2015, a large number of individuals of earlier administration had been associated with corruption fees.

    Last week, greater than a dozen other folks had been arrested after it used to be discovered that a driving force for a former govt reliable had reputedly been noting down bribes as he added them. The so-known as “notebooks of corruption” were shared with a neighborhood newspaper, which then handed them to justice officers.

  • Argentina steps towards legalising abortion

    Pro-choice activists wait outside the Argentine Congress in Buenos Aires before the approval of a bill to legalise abortion. Symbol copyright AFP Symbol caption Supporters of the invoice were jubilant when the end result was once announced

    Catholic Argentina’s lower area has backed a invoice legalising abortion within the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.

    After a divisive debate lasting more than 22 hours, 129 individuals of the Chamber of Deputies voted in favour and 125 towards even as one abstained.

    The invoice will now must go to the Senate.

    President Mauricio Macri is strongly opposed to the invoice but has said that he wouldn’t veto it if it used to be passed by each houses.

    Last-minute turnaround

    Abortion is lately illegal in Argentina, except in cases of rape or whilst the existence or health of the girl is at risk. Girls in quest of abortions additionally need to practice to a judge for permission, which critics say can unnecessarily prolong the procedure.

    Symbol copyright Reuters Image caption Thousands had spent the entire evening camped out of doors the Congress construction

    Many also took to social media to rejoice with #AbortoSeraLey (#AbortionWillBeLaw), a hashtag that may be trending on Twitter in Argentina.

    Amongst the ones celebrating the vote as a “ancient step” was the secretary common of human rights staff Amnesty World, Salil Shetty.

    Symbol copyright EPA Symbol caption Opponents of the invoice will now lobby senators to vote towards it

    Analysts say it faces an uphill battle within the higher chamber, where a number of senators have already expressed their competition.

    Ladies’s rights activists stated they’d continue to marketing campaign vigorously for the bill to be passed.

    They argue that legalising abortions is a public health factor, with many ladies these days taking huge risks with their health and infrequently even their lives when they hotel to unlawful terminations.

    Some of the lawmakers taking part in the debate said they’d been swayed by means of the argument. They mentioned that whilst they personally remained opposed to abortions, they noticed the desire for women to have get admission to to protected, legal terminations.

    However many others did not amendment their minds. Horacio Goicoechea of The Radical Civic Union made an impassioned plea for his colleagues to vote “no”, saying: “We’re development a legislation on blameless blood.”