Weekly Report - 27 January 2004
ARGENTINA: Kirchner shines as bribery trials begin
Perhaps the most important achievement of President Néstor Kirchner's government so far is to have persuaded about half of the country that his ministers are honest (as emerges from a `confidence index' produced by a private university). This stands in stark contrast to the widespread assumption of guilt regarding the four former officials charged last week in the biggest corruption scandal of the de la Rúa government.
Investigating magistrate Rodolfo Canicoba Corral filed charges of bribery against former intelligence chief Fernando de Santibañes, former senators José Genoud and Emilio Cantarero, and former senate official Mario Pontaquarto — the latter being the whistleblower whose revelations in December brought this dormant case back to life.
What is alleged is that, in April 2000, Santibañes gave Pontaquarto US$5m from the coffers of the state intelligence service, Side, to deliver to Genoud and Cantarero, for distribution among opposition senators to buy their support for labour reform legislation then before their chamber. The bulk (US$4.3m) went to Cantarero for his colleagues in the now-ruling Partido Justicialista (PJ); the rest to Genoud, provisional president of the senate belonging to the then-ruling Unión Cívica Radical (UCR).
Pontaquarto claimed that apart from Santibañes, then-President Fernando de la Rúa was also fully aware of these dealings. When this scandal first came to light, Vice-President Carlos Alvarez resigned in disgust, and prime minister Rodolfo Terragno followed suit after refusing to sign documents which appeared to be part of a cover-up. The episode not only demolished the reputation of a government that had successfully campaigned on an anticorruption platform, but also led to the loss of credibility in all parties and politicians embodied in the `everyone out' slogan raised in the protests that forced both de la Rúa and his successor Adolfo Saá out of office. De la Rúa claims that the Kirchner government has paid Pontaquarto to discredit him and his government.
Building confidence
The Indice de Confianza en el Gobierno (Index of Confidence in Government) devised by the Universidad Di Tella shows that by January this year 50% of respondents believed that Kirchner's ministers were honest, 56% that the government was working for the common good, and 78% that Kirchner knows how to solve the country's problems but needs time to do so. Kirchner, who took office in May 2003, was voted for by only 22% of the electorate.
Over the past couple of months his rating had fallen a bit, but between December and January Kirchner achieved remarkable increases in several components of the index: government's performance (up 19%), quality of public spending (+18%) and commitment to the common good (+16%).
Investigating magistrate Rodolfo Canicoba Corral filed charges of bribery against former intelligence chief Fernando de Santibañes, former senators José Genoud and Emilio Cantarero, and former senate official Mario Pontaquarto — the latter being the whistleblower whose revelations in December brought this dormant case back to life.
What is alleged is that, in April 2000, Santibañes gave Pontaquarto US$5m from the coffers of the state intelligence service, Side, to deliver to Genoud and Cantarero, for distribution among opposition senators to buy their support for labour reform legislation then before their chamber. The bulk (US$4.3m) went to Cantarero for his colleagues in the now-ruling Partido Justicialista (PJ); the rest to Genoud, provisional president of the senate belonging to the then-ruling Unión Cívica Radical (UCR).
Pontaquarto claimed that apart from Santibañes, then-President Fernando de la Rúa was also fully aware of these dealings. When this scandal first came to light, Vice-President Carlos Alvarez resigned in disgust, and prime minister Rodolfo Terragno followed suit after refusing to sign documents which appeared to be part of a cover-up. The episode not only demolished the reputation of a government that had successfully campaigned on an anticorruption platform, but also led to the loss of credibility in all parties and politicians embodied in the `everyone out' slogan raised in the protests that forced both de la Rúa and his successor Adolfo Saá out of office. De la Rúa claims that the Kirchner government has paid Pontaquarto to discredit him and his government.
Building confidence
The Indice de Confianza en el Gobierno (Index of Confidence in Government) devised by the Universidad Di Tella shows that by January this year 50% of respondents believed that Kirchner's ministers were honest, 56% that the government was working for the common good, and 78% that Kirchner knows how to solve the country's problems but needs time to do so. Kirchner, who took office in May 2003, was voted for by only 22% of the electorate.
Over the past couple of months his rating had fallen a bit, but between December and January Kirchner achieved remarkable increases in several components of the index: government's performance (up 19%), quality of public spending (+18%) and commitment to the common good (+16%).
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