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TITLE: ARGENTINA HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1993
DATE: JANUARY 31, 1994
AUTHOR: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
ARGENTINA
Argentina is a federal, constitutional democracy with about
33 million inhabitants. The President, Carlos Saul Menem of
the Justicialist (Peronist) Party, was elected in 1989 through
an electoral college for a single 6-year term. The Constitution
provides for a bicameral legislature and an independent
judiciary. The executive traditionally is the dominant branch
at the federal level. Since the end of military rule in 1983,
there have been two national presidential elections as well as
numerous midterm elections for Congress and provincial
governments, the most recent in October 1993. President Menem
is not now eligible for reelection in 1995; however, efforts
were being made to amend the Constitution to allow for a second
consecutive term.
The President is the constitutional commander in chief, and a
civilian Defense Minister oversees the armed forces.
Responsibility for maintaining law and order is shared by the
Federal Police, which report to the Interior Minister; the
Border Police and the Coast Guard, which report to the Defense
Minister; and the provincial police reporting to provincial
governments. There were continued abuses of police authority
in 1993, although fewer than in previous years.
Argentina has a mixed agricultural, industrial, and service
economy that grew rapidly and experienced significant changes.
An economic reform program is intended to convert a centrally
controlled economy into one more responsive to market forces.
The program reduced inflation dramatically by sharply
increasing revenue collection, fixing the exchange rate,
privatizing virtually all major state enterprises, and opening
the economy to vigorous competition from imports. These
changes forced the business community to increase productivity
in order to stay competitive, often through significant
investment in labor-saving technology.
The Constitution provides for a wide range of freedoms and
guarantees. Nevertheless, institutional weaknesses, political
partisanship, government failure to punish human rights
violators, and the legacy of authoritarian rule resulted in
failure to protect individual rights fully. This was
particularly true in the case of extrajudicial killings, often
committed with impunity, and instances of police brutality.
There were also many threats and incidents of aggression
against the media, as well as attempts to monitor ideological
activities of students and others. Societal violence against
women continued to be a problem, with little visible effort by
the Government to combat it. The Government failed to comply
with a law that calls for indemnification of those who suffered
torture or detention during military rule.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
Freedom from:
a. Political and Extrajudicial Killing
There were no credible reports of politically motivated
killings carried out by government forces in 1993. Police were
involved, however, in a number of extrajudicial killings, often
with impunity.
In Cordoba, an internal investigation of the death in 1989 of a
taxi driver revealed in February that two police officers who
had tried to extort money from the driver had killed him. The
two were arrested and remanded to a civilian court pending
trial. An off-duty policeman working as a security guard at a
discotheque killed a 14-year-old boy in Haedo, Buenos Aires
province. In nearby Quilmes, two Bolivian boys were shot and
killed by a policeman as they exited a church. Legal action
was initiated against both policemen. The efficacy of legal
actions of this nature varies widely, however, depending on the
court within whose jurisdiction the case falls, the attitude of
local authorities, and the efficacy of police internal review
mechanisms.
The 1991 murder of Radical Party politician Regino Maders was
still not resolved by the end of 1993, although ex-police
sergeant Carlos Guidone was arrested in February on suspicion
of involvement in the case. Maders was thought to have been
killed because of his investigation into alleged corruption in
the privatization of a provincial electric utility company.
There were credible reports of attempts to intimidate witnesses
in the case, and of political interference with the
investigation.
b. Disappearances
Unresolved disappearances that may have been attributable to
the police took place in 1993. On August 17, Miguel Bru
disappeared shortly after he filed a complaint for abuse of
authority against the La Plata police for raiding his home
without a search warrant. Bru's parents attempted
unsuccessfully to register his disappearance, but the police
refused to accept the report. It was finally accepted at the
police station where Bru's father worked. A judicial inquiry
has commenced.
In the 1992 disappearance of Pablo Guardati, who was reportedly
abducted by four policemen in Mendoza and seen in police
custody by a witness 73 days later, a body was positively
identified as that of Guardati in June. The 4 policemen most
directly involved were detained for questioning; 10 officers
involved in the coverup were reassigned, and 4 officers were
charged with attempting to pay bribes for false testimony.
Hundreds of children whose biological parents disappeared
during the 1976-83 military dictatorship were--either
innocently or fraudulently--adopted by others. Largely as a
result of pressure from the "Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo"
group, a National Commission on the Right to Identity was
created in the Interior Ministry in November 1992. According
to this group, in 1993 there were still some 500 children whose
true identity had not been established or restored. In the
case of the Reggiardo-Tolosa twins, fraudulently adopted by
police officer Samuel Miara and his wife after their biological
parents were murdered, a federal court nullified the adoption;
charged Miara with falsification of official documents;
canceled their fraudulent birth certificates and other
documents; and in May ordered that their true surname be
restored. Miara is serving a sentence for fraud and the twins
were temporarily housed in a foster home in anticipation of a
custody award to their biological relatives.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment
The Constitution prohibits torture and the Criminal Code
provides penalties for torture which are similar to those for
homicide, from 8 to 15 years in prison. The level of reported
incidents of police brutality, particularly directed against
young men, declined somewhat from 1992. At the same time,
disciplinary and legal action against police officers accused
of beating and killing youths continued. In mid-July the
Secretary for Security of Buenos Aires province announced broad
new measures to control the police and improve their image. As
a result, at least 1,000 provincial police were separated from
the force.
In Rosario, Santa Fe province, two police officers were
suspended from the force during the investigation of charges
that they had tried to extort money from two youths, aged 19
and 15, and, failing in their objective, beat them and shot at
them. In addition, an internal police investigation of the two
officers' actions was pursued. At Villa Carlos Paz, near
Cordoba, two police were arrested in March for torturing a
suspect during interrogation, and a third officer was suspended
for covering up the crime.
Prison conditions vary widely, but on the whole are acceptable.
Many of the facilities are old, and some are dilapidated and
crowded, but the primary complaints seemed to be the lack of
fresh fruit and vegetables in some facilities. Conjugal visits
are permitted in some prisons, depending upon the facilities
available. Abuse of prisoners by guards is punished in at
least some cases. In Santa Fe, in April, 12 guards were
suspended and tried for abusing 4 prisoners.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
Although the Penal Code contains explicit protections for
individual rights and places limits on the arrest and
investigatory powers of the police and judiciary, the laws are
often ignored and meaningful sanctions seldom applied against
those who break them.
The Interior Ministry conducted courses for public officials
designed to heighten awareness about human rights issues, and
the Justice Ministry attempted to educate the public about the
legal rights of detainees. The Government created an ombudsman
to oversee the observance of individual rights in the prison
system.
A December 1991 law provided compensation (in government bonds)
for those who were illegally detained and held by the executive
or the armed forces during the 1976-83 military dictatorship.
The Interior Ministry has approved 4,000 of the 8,300 requests
submitted for indemnity payments. The lengthy process produced
many complaints from those people who believe themselves
entitled to compensation. The Supreme Court is responsible for
settling disputes over the amount of compensation.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The Constitution and Penal Code call for trials before panels
of judges using written presentations and for appellate review
of all judicial rulings. The system of oral public trials in
penal cases, instituted in September 1992, functioned on a
partial basis in 1993. Once fully implemented and funded, oral
trials may significantly accelerate rulings in the judicial
process. The right to bail is provided by law and recognized
in practice.
While the judicial system is independent and impartial in
theory, there were continued allegations that the executive
branch exercised undue influence on the courts. Growing public
awareness of the shortcomings of the system, which is slow and
cumbersome, had an impact on official actions. The first oral
tribunal in the federal capital freed a young man accused of
robbery in June because he had not been notified by the
prosecutor of his right to refuse to testify against himself.
In one notorious case of a prisoner who was detained for 7 years
without ever having been convicted of a crime, the detainee was
released in July.
The independence and indeed, the physical safety, of judges were
also affected by threats and attacks on their persons. There
is credible reason to believe such attacks were sometimes
perpetrated by the police or the military. A federal judge in
La Plata who had been investigating the involvement of military
personnel in a band of highwaymen was threatened and his
daughter was almost kidnaped. Unknown persons sent the judge a
series of photographs showing his mother, his daughter, and his
house. The house of a judge in Lomas de Zamora (Buenos Aires
province) was fired upon by unknown individuals in July, and
provincial authorities acknowledged that virtually all of the
federal judges working in the province have received threats at
one time or another. Two judges, one in Parana (Entre Rios
province) and one in Rosario, received threats related to
trials of corrupt police officers and narcotics traffickers.
The Government's response to these threats was to offer police
protection while investigating the incidents.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence
Although prohibited by the Constitution from doing so, the
Government sometimes intruded into the lives of private
citizens. With the privatization and modernization of the
telephone service, denunciations of telephone tapping
diminished. However, reports continue of illegal monitoring by
government agencies and private entities. The Government
reserves the right to monitor telephones in special cases, with
a court order. An October 1992 presidential decree assigned
the State Intelligence Secretariat (SIDE) supervision of
judicially ordered telephone taps, replacing an office that
existed in the formerly state-owned telephone company. A
federal judge questioned the decision to place this authority
within the national executive.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
In its September 1992 presentation to the Inter-American Press
Society meeting in Madrid, the National Editors and Publishers
Association (ADEPA) characterized that year as the worst year
for freedom of expression since the return of democracy in
1983. The problems that characterized 1992 continued in 1993.
The most serious problem in the area of freedom of expression
was the heightened level of threats and overt aggression
against reporters, radio and television stations, media
personalities, union leaders, and opposition politicians.
Two journalists were attacked physically, one on two
occasions. Marcelo Bonelli, a reporter for Clarin and Radio
Mitre who was investigating the activities of government drug
"Czar" Alberto Lestelle, was assaulted by two men on his way to
the radio station. Then Deputy Interior Minister Gerardo Conte
Grand admitted that the attack was probably part of an
"intimidation campaign," while President Menem condemned the
attack, denied any official involvement, but improbably
attributed the incident to those who wanted to make the
Government look bad.
The second case involved journalist Hernan Lopez Echague of
Buenos Aires daily Pagina 12. He was investigating reports
that a gang of thugs operating out of Buenos Aires' central
market was being used to mobilize support for Peronists and to
intimidate opponents. Lopez Echague was first attacked by two
men on August 25. On August 30, Interior Minister Carlos
Ruckauf announced that two men had been arrested on suspicion
of carrying out the attack. They were released 2 days later,
however, after Lopez Echague was unable to make a positive
identification. In statements to the press they accused the
police of planting incriminating evidence on them at the time
of their arrest.
Lopez Echague was attacked a second time on September 9 in a
Buenos Aires suburb. Two men forced him into a car where, with
the help of a third, they bludgeoned him unconscious. He was
then driven several blocks and dumped. President Menem and
government officials strongly condemned both attacks and
attributed them to unspecified enemies of the Government who
were attempting to undermine its support prior to the October
elections. An alleged witness provided the license plate
number of the vehicle used by the assailants. A search of
provincial records revealed that a similar automobile was
registered to the Buenos Aires provincial government, but
records indicated that it had not been used the night of the
attack. The credibility of the witness was questioned, and
President Menem appointed a Special Prosecutor to investigate
the case, but as of year's end the identity of Lopez Echague's
assailants was unknown.
President Menem ordered the government television station to
restore a political commentary program which had been canceled
by station managers after it revealed unflattering aspects of
the Government's purchase of a new presidential aircraft. A
federal court absolved the producers of the satiric television
program "Peor Es Nada" of libel charges brought by a military
officer who alleged that he had been defamed by a comedy
program about Argentine participation in the Persian Gulf war.
In March, in a suit brought by the Government related to an
investigation into the adulteration of wine, a federal judge
ruled that it is not unlawful for journalists to interview a
fugitive from justice and that a journalist who refuses to
reveal his sources is not guilty of concealment. Finally, in
May the Senate repealed a statute penalizing offenses against
the dignity of a public official.
The number of reported telephone threats increased during the
June to October pre-electoral period. Journalists working for
the newsmagazine Somos, for Buenos Aires daily La Nacion, for a
television station in Quilmes, for the newspaper La Manana in
Formosa province, for Radio Continental and the television
station Telefe in Buenos Aires, for El Cronista in Buenos
Aires, and for the daily La Capital in Rosario, all received
telephone threats. A Molotov cocktail was thrown at an FM
station in Buenos Aires, and a similar transmitter in Santiago
del Estero province was deliberately burned. A journalist in
Salta was arrested in April and a tape that she had made during
an interview with a public official was confiscated by police.
A print media journalist's car was firebombed in Buenos Aires
in May, and a reporter for Clarin had his camera snatched from
him and smashed by an unidentified person in June.
A government initiative in June was widely condemned as an
effort to muzzle the independent press. An official communique
announced the Government's intention to seek a new radio
broadcasting law; to license new television stations; to
enforce legal provisions regarding broadcast transmissions; to
ensure equal access to newsprint; and to enforce antimonopoly
laws. The communique asserted that the Government's objective
was to prevent the kind of monopoly over information that
characterized Argentina before the return to democracy in 1983.
The media reaction was immediate and negative. ADEPA and the
Inter-American Press Society expressed concern. The day after
the communique appeared, two of President Menem's ministers
denied that the Government was seeking to control the media.
Although the President reiterated his plans to send legislation
to Congress that would impose limitations on radio
broadcasting, no bill was sent by year's end.
Academic freedom was generally respected, but in June the press
reported that the provincial police ordered the gathering of
information on student political activities and ideologies.
Evidence of similar attempts to gather information on student
activities subsequently surfaced in several other locales of
Buenos Aires province and in the provinces of Neuquen,
Corrientes, Misiones, Cordoba, and Tucuman. Then Interior
Minister Gustavo Beliz testified that the order to update
intelligence files had been issued under his predecessor and
was a "bureaucratic mistake."
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
The Constitution and laws provide for the right of groups and
political parties to assemble and demonstrate. Retirees,
public school teachers, students, gay rights groups, farmers,
political activists, and other organizations exercised this
right, generally without interference. Nevertheless, local
authorities sometimes interpreted these constitutional
protections restrictively, as in the case of 25 members of a
government workers union who were detained briefly in Jujuy
province in September for demonstrating in demand of better
wages.
c. Freedom of Religion
The Constitution provides for the free exercise of religion but
gives the Roman Catholic Church a privileged position in
society. Only a Roman Catholic may be elected President, and
many institutions are, in practice, closed to Jews.
Missionaries are free to proselytize, provided they register
with the Secretariat of Worship in the Foreign Ministry. The
number of Protestant and evangelical groups has risen.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
Documented international travel, internal travel, and
emigration remained unrestricted.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens
to Change Their Government
For over a decade Argentina has held periodic, free elections
to choose federal, provincial, and local officials. Universal,
adult suffrage is obligatory in national elections. The
Constitution and Civil Code provide for full participation in
the national political process, regardless of sex, ethnic
background, or national origin. Although President Menem was
ineligible for reelection in 1995, efforts were being made to
amend the Constitution to, among other changes, allow for a
second consecutive term.
A 1991 law mandating that 30 percent of the candidates on party
lists be women was in force for the October 1993 legislative
elections. In late September, the Supreme Court ruled that a
female candidate for the Chamber of Deputies for Entre Rios
province should be ranked high enough on the Peronist party
list of candidates to give her reasonable assurance, based on
the number of deputies that the party returned in the 1991
elections, that she would be elected. The October elections
saw 26 women elected for the first time to the Chamber of
Deputies. One female deputy was reelected, and seven female
deputies continue to serve the balance of terms to which they
were elected 2 years before.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
of Human Rights
Local human rights monitoring groups operate freely without
government restriction or interference. The Ministry of the
Interior has a Sub-Secretary for Human Rights. Among the
measures designed to control police abuses and improve their
image are special courses on human rights issues organized by
the Ministry and the creation in early December of a national
ombudsman or people's defender. There were no requests by
international or nongovernmental organizations to investigate
human rights abuses in 1993, but the Government has been
cooperative in this regard.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Sex, Race, Religion,
Disability, Language, or Social Status
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of the above
criteria. There is no evidence of a systematic effort to
abridge these rights by the federal or local governments, or by
private groups or individuals.
Women
The Constitution provides for the equality of all citizens,
provisions which are generally reflected in civil, penal, and
labor law. Nonetheless, women encounter discrimination in the
workplace, especially the growing number of urban women who
also are heads of household. Women's groups charge that
employed women are disproportionately found in the lower
ranking positions in the lowest paid sectors of the formal
economy and in unregulated and underpaid work in the informal
economy. They also report increasing numbers of women seek
employment in the informal economy owing to lack of training
opportunities and scarcity of child care and other provisions
to assist working women in the formal sector.
The Government created the National Women's Council in 1991 to
develop and coordinate women's policies; it reports to the
Presidency. The Council promotes equal opportunity for women
and nondiscriminatory education, training, and orientation
programs, as well as special programs for women at risk. The
problems of spousal abuse and violence against women are
drawing more public attention, but there are no government
programs aimed at combating such abuse.
Children
The Government is committed in principle to the protection of
children and the defense of their human rights and welfare.
Historically, Argentina has been a leader in Latin America in
programs to provide public education, health protection, and
recreational services for all children, regardless of class or
economic status. Endemic economic problems over the past three
decades, however, have made it difficult for the State and for
society in general to attain these high standards.
Indigenous People
The degree to which indigenous peoples participate in the
political process, their exercise of civil rights, and the
extent of their control over natural resources and land varies
widely from one ethnic group to another, and from one region of
the country to another. The indigenous population, estimated
at 100,000, is concentrated at the northern and southern
extremities of the country. The province with the highest
concentration of indigenous peoples, Chaco, has about 30,000
native peoples divided into three nations. Like most of
Argentina's indigenous peoples, their indices of
undernourishment, illiteracy, tuberculosis and other diseases,
and unemployment are higher than national averages.
In 1987 Congress passed a law designed to return Indian lands.
It has yet to be implemented. In 1990 President Menem
implemented a 1924 law granting some 150,000 hectares of land
to one of the Chaco nations and budgeted the equivalent of
$150,000 to undertake a survey and delimitation of individual
plots. The survey, however, did not take place because
competing national and provincial authorities could not agree
who would carry it out and how it would be funded.
Religious Minorities
There were fewer incidents of overt anti-Semitism in 1993 than
in previous years. A Jewish cemetery in Formosa province was
desecrated in late 1992, and in September 1993 the large
cemetery at La Tablada, Buenos Aires province, was vandalized.
The Government's 1992 decision to make public old files
purportedly dealing with the immigration of an estimated 60,000
former Nazis to Argentina after World War II attracted
attention again in 1993, when the local Jewish community and
others criticized the Government's failure to follow through
with access to significant records, including central bank
archives that may contain evidence of large currency transfers
in that era.
People with Disabilities
Disabled persons' rights are protected by law, and some
provisions have been made (i.e., curb ramps in some urban
areas) to accomodate persons with physical disabilities. A
comprehensive federal law protects the rights of disabled
persons and mandates special concessions in employment, but its
observance is difficult to judge. The media generally
highlight instances in which the rights of the disabled appear
to be violated or ignored, such as in the case of a 19-year-old
woman in Buenos Aires with Down's syndrome who was banned from
voting in the October elections. Such reports were infrequent.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
With the exception of military personnel, all workers are free
to form unions. The labor movement is organized in a large,
national labor central, the General Labor Confederation (CGT),
and represents about one-third of the work force. Each
province has a local CGT, and some large national unions (e.g.,
commercial workers, automobile workers, metallurgical workers,
light and power workers) are significant economic and political
powers. Some factions of the CGT were quite hostile to the
Menem Government's proposed reform of laws governing labor,
social security, and social welfare because they were perceived
as a threat to the traditional economic and political power of
Peronist labor.
In response, and with an eye to the October elections, the
Government downplayed these initiatives, thus helping to
solidify Menem's support among traditionally Peronist organized
labor. On the other hand, the International Labor
Organization's (ILO) Committee of Experts concluded that the
text of a draft amendment prepared by the Government did not go
far enough in removing excessive conditions set out in Act No.
23551 for granting trade union status, noting that a trade
union at the enterprise level could only be granted status when
another union did not already exist within the same unit or
area of activity.
Unions have the right to strike, subject to compulsory
conciliation and arbitration by the Labor Ministry. Union
members and leaders who participate in strikes and other
activities are protected by law. Several unions, especially
education workers, exercised that right in 1993 without
government interference. Argentine unions are free to
associate internationally, and some leaders play active roles
in regional and international labor organizations.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
These rights are protected by federal law throughout the
country; complementary provincial labor laws often go beyond
these rights. Antilabor practices are prohibited. Labor and
management are legally bound by collective bargaining
agreements which, in theory, set basic wage levels and working
conditions on an industry wide basis. In practice,
particularly in the last 5 years, these agreements have tended
to be less global in their scope, with the current trend in
both practice and theory moving toward company- and in some
cases region-specific agreements. The Federal Government's
role in this process is limited to ratifying these contracts to
give them legal status. The ILO's Committee on Freedom of
Association, however, asked the Government to remove
limitations on collective bargaining, imposed in 1991 as a
stabilization measure, which exclude wage indexation agreements
and require that wage increases be based on productivity
gains. The labor reform bill introduced in Congress in 1993
would give management more flexibility to hire and fire, more
control over hours and vacations, and would further reduce the
Government's role in labor-management relations.
In December the Supreme Court upheld the executive branch's
annulment of 65 labor contracts affecting 15 unions in the port
and maritime sector. The Court's decision had its origins in a
decree issued in mid-1992 which struck down all labor contracts
affecting maritime and port activities as part of the
administration's projected reform of that sector. Previous to
the Supreme Court's decision, a Labor Court had asserted that
the decree was unconstitutional. The affected unions have
filed a complaint with the ILO.
Workers may not be fired for participating in legal union
activities and those who prove they have been discriminated
against have the right to be reinstated.
There are no officially designated export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
Forced or compulsory labor is illegal and is not known to be
practiced.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
Employment of children under 14 years of age, except within the
family, is illegal. Minors aged 14 to 18 may work in
restricted types of employment with regard to hours and safety
and health conditions, although exceptions are allowed in cases
of extreme necessity. A recent increase in the level of
unemployment encouraged some families to send their children
out to seek work, often resulting in the illegal employment of
minors, mostly in the informal sector and on farms. Federal
and provincial labor authorities were not well equipped to cope
with this situation due to budgetary and personnel limitations.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
The national minimum wage is $200 (200 pesos) a month.
Federal labor laws contain elaborate, albeit somewhat
inflexible, provisions for guaranteeing acceptable conditions
of work, especially with regard to hours, rest periods, safety
and health, and job security. The maximum workday is 8 hours,
and the maximum workweek is 48 hours. Premiums are paid for
work beyond those limits, which is frequently the case, as
employers seek greater productivity without having to acquire
legal obligations to new workers under the present system.
Federally legislated occupational and health standards are
comprehensive but the Federal Government and many provincial
governments lack the resources and training to enforce them,
despite union vigilance against violations. Workers have the
right to remove themselves from dangerous or unhealthful work
situations, after having gone through a claim procedure,
without jeopardy to continued employment. Nevertheless, workers
who leave the workplace before it has been proven unsafe run
the risk of being fired; in such cases, the worker has a right
to judicial appeal. According to Labor Ministry authorities,
this appeal process can take up to 5 years. Worker lawsuits
provoked by on-the-job injury or job-related disability remain
a major industry, and a very large number of retirees are on
disability, both legitimate and questionable. Much of the work
force, including children, is employed in small owner-operated
enterprises, making it difficult to enforce workers' rights as
well as health and safety standards.
[end of document]
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