Fernández orders investigation against Macri government for spying on union members and opponents.
President Alberto Fernández said it was necessary to "put an end to the illegal habits of the Macri intelligentsia" and "reassess the rule of law."
Sputnik - Argentine President Alberto Fernández announced on Tuesday (4) that he had ordered an investigation into the previous government of Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) for "illegal espionage" and "judicial persecution against union members and opponents."
The president's request comes after a complaint filed by Federal Intelligence Agency (AFI) inspector Cristina Caamaño against officials in the Macri government. She had access to videos of meetings of the then Minister of Labor of Buenos Aires, Marcelo Villegas, in which he discussed actions against union leaders.
The Federal Justice Department is investigating a complaint I ordered the Federal Intelligence Agency [FIA] to file against the previous government's actions that promoted illegal espionage and various lawsuits against union leaders and opposition members.
Fernández said that, at the beginning of his term, he denounced the existence of more than 100 encrypted cell phones provided by the AFI, which included those of public and judicial officials and political and business allies of the then-ruling party, Cambiemos.
According to him, some of the cell phones belonged to the former governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Maria Eugenia Vidal, the prosecutor Julio Conte Grand, the former president of the Boca Juniors soccer club, Daniel Angelici, the former Minister of Justice of Buenos Aires, Gustavo Ferrari, the businessman Nicolás Caputo, and the former Attorney General, Martín Ocampo.
"Why were these phones encrypted? What secrets did judicial officials and politicians keep from the businessmen? What secret conversation did a sports businessman who became a judicial operator have with political officials, prosecutors, or judges?" the Argentine president inquired.
For Fernández, these questions require an answer, because "the use of the rule-of-law state intelligence service to carry out internal espionage and promote criminal proceedings is definitively repugnant and therefore inadmissible."
The president emphasized "the duty to put the intelligence service at the service of national interests" in order to "end the illegal habits of the 'Macrist' intelligence service and reassess the rule of law and democratic coexistence."
In Argentina, there is another ongoing investigation into alleged espionage during the Macri administration at the Federal Court of Dolores, in the province of Buenos Aires.
In this case, the former president became a defendant for illegally spying on relatives of the crew of the Argentine Navy submarine ARA San Juan, which sank in 2017.
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