Christina Kirchner on conviction in Rhodes case: “A judicial malpractice with the sole purpose of banning me” | Injunctive decision of cassation

“They are the kopitos of Comodoro País.” With this very strict definition, former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner aligned the judges of the Federal Cassation with the small group that tried to kill her on September 1, 2022. The former President referred to the headline after the attack “The bullet that killed will not be revealed and the verdict will be revealed”, pointing out that both the group selling sugar cubes and these magistrates ended their physical and political lives. Tried and are still trying Christina released a text on social networks ahead of the hearing this Wednesday. Judges of Chamber IV of the Chamber of CassationIn which most of Comodoro Py’s habits are described – ironically -, A photo session of magistratescourt Six-year prison sentence and permanent disqualification for former president confirmed, However CFK will not go to jail as an appeal will be submitted to the Supreme Court.

Los Copitos and the Impossible Crimes

In her text, Cristina describes judges whom she calls los copitos de Comodoro Paya. “They are Mariano Borinski, who played tennis with Mauricio Macri in Olivos; Gustavo Hornos, who visited Macri in La Rosada and who has been accused of sexual assault and rape; and Diego Barrotevena, leader of the Macrista list of judges on the Judicial Council. All of them would confirm the sentence of an oral court composed of other members of the same gang. Rodrigo Jiménez Uriburu, who along with Diego Luciani, the prosecutor in the case, formed a football team called Liverpool, which played in a tournament held at Mauricio Macri’s private villa. The impartiality of the judges… I am indebted to him for that.”

The former President also referred to the fact that a President does not have the remotest power to interfere in bidding and awards conducted in a province. “Why do Los Copitos de Comodoro Pay condemn me? CFK asks rhetorically. For a crime that as President I could never commit: fraudulent administration in road works, approved by the Parliament in the national budget, tendered, executed and paid by the Government of the Province of Santa Cruz and its accountability approved by the General from 2003 to 2015. Till the audit of the nation and the National Congress. So much so, that no Chief of Staff of the nation – constitutionally responsible for the execution of the country’s budget and administration – was charged and he himself was a national minister. This area was acquitted during our three governments. This is anything but ridiculous,” Christina added.

Furthermore, he emphasized that the issue “began as a show and will end that way.” He reminded that the first hearing of the trial took place on May 21, 2019, which was “in full harmony with the electoral schedule” of that year, and that the Chambermaids had postponed the trial “for the next four years” in order to repeat the process by March 2019. Enhanced”. 2023–another election turning point–, when they read “Grounds of Guilty.” The CFK ended that line of argument by insisting that this Wednesday’s “show” would once again coincide with a political event, this time with his arrival at the presidency of the Justicialista party. “This kind of electoral goal is no coincidence and deserves great attention,” he said.

In several excerpts from the letter, the CFK emphasized that the ruling seeks to ban them “for life” from holding public office. In one of these excerpts, he compared the punishment given to the executioners of the Daman repression of 19 and 20 December 2001, which had left a trail of blood. Fernando de la Rúa’s then-Secretary of Security, Enrique Matthov, and his head of the Federal Police, Rubén Santos, were disqualified for 9½ years and 8 years, respectively. He argued, “I mean: The people responsible for the 31 deaths in the Plaza de Mayo were given much less punishment than I was.”

The comparison, he said, “illustrates the judicial flaws of today’s decision better than anything else” and that the “real purpose” is to outlaw it. “Once again Peronism and sanctions. Nothing new under the sun,” he concluded. He concluded, “Know that no matter what you do, you will not silence me. I was not and will not be a darling of power.”

another shameful chapter

This Wednesday closed another shameful chapter of this story that was born with every intention of torturing the former President. Soon after arriving at the Casa Rosada, Mauricio Macri appointed an ultra-Macrista, Javier Iguacel, to the charge of national highways. His No. 1 resolution was to order an audit of road works, not in all provinces or in some, but only in one district: in Santa Cruz. There is no doubt that it was aimed specifically at Kirchnerism and Christina.

Three auditors appointed by the Macri administration reached the following conclusions:

• “No relevant construction deficiencies are apparent, nor are there any works that have been certified without having been performed…”
• “What appeared to be payment was made.”
• “If we stick strictly to the technical aspects that were part of the assignment assigned to me, and we see that the mismatches were not relevant with respect to the tasks at hand, we are talking about a mismatch of 0.1 per cent. “

In other words, the audit destroyed the propaganda started by Macri and allied media: there was no work that was not done; Nothing was paid for what was not made; What was built was built well.

report, whatever

Despite such findings, Iguacel filed a complaint himself in January 2016, changing the allegations over the months.

• For example, he said that a lot of routes were given to Santa Cruz, while the reality is that the actions – as CFK points out in its text – were voted on in the National Congress. More or less 12 percent of the total kilometers allocated throughout the country were built, a proportion similar to that of the province’s expansion: 12 percent of the national territory.
• The central argument later became that the CFK government favored Lázaro Báez because he won 51 of the 81 volumes tendered in Santa Cruz, was awarded in Santa Cruz, and was controlled in Santa Cruz. As several businessmen testified at the trial, including Macri’s cousin, Angelo Calcaterra, it was logical that Báez would win because he had employees and machines in Santa Cruz and because he had the knowledge to operate in the very difficult terrain. Was. The same phenomenon was repeated in many provinces: construction companies in the region came to dominate operations while operating locally.
• Not a single expert report was presented during the entire process of the case. In other words, there was a verbal trial stating that there were excessive prices in the works, but in four years not a single study was ordered to support such an allegation.
• Prosecutors said the Kirchners profited from the work because, since they rented two hotels and offices to Lázaro Báez, those rents were a type of bribe paid by the builder. CFK’s counsel offered to include the Hotspur-Los Saus file into the oral hearing to get a comprehensive look at everything. The judges refused. The thing is that the proportions did not fit at all: Báez worked for 21,000 million pesos and the rent – ​​specified at market prices – totaled 10 million pesos or 0.04 percent. Obviously there was no proportion.
• A core point of accusation against Cristina is that the President signed Decree 54 of 2009, which authorizes the use of a trust created on the basis of fuel tax to pay for road works. In fact, the decree enabled the mechanism for actions throughout the country: about 500.

But the central point is what CFK said in its statement: The then President did not interfere in anything, there is no signature on behalf of the President in any tender, award or payment – ​​nor can there be.

eternal justice

The road case was heard for three and a half years. nothing less. At that time, lawyer Beraldi requested the removal of prosecutor Diego Luciani and court president Rodrigo Jiménez Uriburu because they played football at Mauricio Macri’s country house, Los Abrojos, and Judge Jorge Jorge for meeting with Macri’s minister, Patricia Bullrich. Gorini was also challenged. The lawyer said there were reasonable doubts to cast doubt on his impartiality.

• Throughout testing, no greater value of actions could be demonstrated. The three experts called did not agree and the two official experts from the court and the prosecutor’s office got into a heated argument. In an unusual way, the judge himself became the expert and said that the state had suffered losses of 646,000 million pesos, an arbitrary calculation he had made based on five of the 81 road works in Santa Cruz. No one knows how this calculation was done.
• Throughout the trial, neither the prosecutor nor the judge could explain why Baez’s competitors, i.e. other construction companies, did not object to the tenders and adjudicate the awards. The magistrates said that they were all involved in the ruse, something impossible because other businessmen grouped in the Construction Chamber hated Báez. Furthermore, no one was accused of being a collaborator.
• A central point is that in the three and a half years of hearings – witnessed by this historian – not a single witness named Christina indicated any interference by the then President, there were no emails, messages or any element through which the The representative will indicate that Baez will be given some benefits.
• At the end of the alleged orphans of evidence, prosecutors Luciani and Diego Mola alleged that on the cell phone of José López, the Secretary of Public Works caught throwing millions of dollars in a convent, messages appeared in which a meeting was agreed between the CFK and Thi Baez, at the end of Cristina’s mandate in November 2015. It was argued that a payment of millions of pesos to Báez was agreed upon at that meeting. No meeting took place and no payment was made. Still it was called an operation clean everything up
  Before leaving the government. Pure predatory marketing.

conspiracy to stalk

The oral Court decision was reviewed by Chamber IV of Cassation. The three judges were challenged by Beraldi and his partner, Ari Lernovoy. As Cristina explains: Mariano Borinski stayed with Mauricio Macri 18 times, playing tennis in Olivos on some occasions. Gustavo Hornos because he visited the Casa Rosada six times, always on the eve of important decisions, and in those visits he also met Macri. Baroatevena because he had already given his opinion against Cristina in another equally scandalous case – the so-called Money Route, where no Kirchner account or company ever came to light – and, in addition, he had given his opinion to magistrates aligned with Machrismo. led the list. In relation to Hornos, allegations of sexual violence, including rape, have also been made by two of his colleagues. Any judge faced with such allegations withdraws from all his cases until a definition is arrived at. The truth is that all the challenges were rejected. So, what would happen this Wednesday was predictable.

Ultimately, the shocking visit of North American Justice Department officials to Comodoro Pai this Tuesday afternoon is still symbolic. Everyone has known for two months that the verdict against Christina will be announced on November 13. The Cassation visit of the Washington troupe, a day before, is still a public support for a policy – ​​the use of justice to the law, persecution – that does not have an original Argentinian design: it was used against Lula in Brazil; Against Rafael Correa in Ecuador; against Evo Morales in Bolivia; Against Fernando Lugo in Paraguay. The script is dictated by the North and goes against any progressive President or leader.