Congress expected to vote after midnight (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

The government is trying to approve one of the most criticised projects of the judicial reform – the Council of Magistrates. After the first round of bills was passed, the ruling party in the Senate expects to have the necessary votes to expand the body of Magistrates’ Council to 19 members, electing 12 of them through popular vote.

“There will be no major surprises, the main issues have already been discussed,” said Senator Fuentes, who is also a member of the Council of Magistrates representing the upper house of the legislature. In his comments, he referred to the two amendments made in the Chamber of Deputies altering the original project which was approved by the Senate on 17 April.

Ever since the debate on the bill about reforming Magistrates’ Council began, it has been strongly questioned by the opposition, attorneys, and magistrates who already warned that they will demand it to be declared unconstitutional. The text also received some objections from lawmakers who acknowledged it has “some serious obstacles”, until the Supreme Court sent a letter signed by judges from across Argentina to Congress, stating that “a real paralysis of Justice process would happen.”

In the debate, which started at noon and will be followed by voting – expected to take place after midnight, the senators are supposed to pass another two bills: one establishing online publications of affidavits given by members of all three branches of power and another reserving judicial access for senators.

Even though new protests against the judicial reforms are supposed to start at 7pm, there have already been some early gatherings in front of the Congress. The area is already crowded due to the strike of judicial employees, members of Julio Piumato’s union – one of the strongest critics of judicial reform. With the slogan to become “guardians of the Constitution” through social networks, seven organizations have called the people to join the march.

Palacio del Congreso de la Nación Argentina by wallyg, on Flickr

With the support of 132 lawmakers, a critical debate in the judicial reform process has begun.

The debate will focus on three of the most controversial propositions: modifications to the Magistrates Council, the creation of new Courts of Appeal, and the proposed changes to injunctions.

The government has responded to recommendations made by the country’s Boards of Presidents of National and Federal Chambers as regards the budgetary and administrative powers of the reformed Magistrates Council. This will ensure that the Supreme Court is not divested of its powers. It will remain in control of the budget, salaries, and of the Magistrates council which is responsible for the selection and appointment of judges.

The opposition argues however that the government did not respond sufficiently to their concerns about the election of members to the Magistrate’s Council, nor did they respond adequately to worries that the government would be able to amass a large enough majority in the Council to be able to have complete control over the judiciary.

In order for the debate to take place, Congress had to secure the backing of at least 129 members. Meanwhile, leaders of the opposition waited in a white tent outside the Congress building until the results were announced, at which point they made their way back inside.

Upon hearing that the necessary majority had been met, Kirchnerist legislators leapt up from their benches and celebrated with a Peronist song.

This sentiment was not shared by all. Hugo Moyano’s workers union, Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT), Julio Piumato’s union for the judiciary, and another workers union, La Central de Trabajadores de la Argentina (CTA), staged a protest outside of the Palacio de Tribunales.

Julio Piumato offered the following point of view, “the [proposed] laws are still in violation of the Constitution”, whilst Pablo Micheli, head of the CTA proclaimed, “with the judicial reforms, the government intends to take all of the political power for itself, something which seriously weakens democracy”.

Both supporters and opponents of gay marriage have gathered in Bogotá’s Bolívar Square to conduct protests as lawmakers planned to discuss the issue of same-sex marriage. However, the debate has been postponed until 23^rd April, when it will it will be televised live across the country.

Colombia’s Congress started debating on Wednesday over a same-sex marriage bill, spearheaded by opposition senators Armando Benedetti and Alfonso Prada.

Various social and political sectors have critised the Colombian government for not supporting the bill. Benedetti, a prominent promoter of gay-marriage said: “There has been a disregard among congressmen, political parties, and the government to legislate on the subject.”

Regarding the indifference of the Colombian Government, the senator claimed that the authorities do not want to lose an important ally in the Catholic Church, which has expressed their disapproval of same-sex marriage, calling it “a nonsense approach” that goes against the country, where 80% of the population is Catholic.

“They don’t want to lose that ally and they have preferred to keep silent when the rest of the planet is already talking about equal marriage,” continued Benedetti.

Supporters of the bills held up signs reading, “God loves me just the way I am,” and demanded respect for their rights. Those against the bill wore wedding dresses to symbolise “traditional values,” according to one protestor.

Cristina emitting the pre-project on the memorandum between Argentina and Iran. (Photo courtesy of Casa Rosada)

President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner will speak today at 12pm in front of the Argentine Congress to open this year’s legislative sessions.

The Congress met under extraordinary circumstances in February to address the agreement signed with Iran over the AMIA case. However, it is to begin regular sessions after today’s address.

Although topics of today’s speech have not been officially confirmed, the head of state is expected to address the need for a ‘democratization’ of the justice system and possible methods to counter inflation, as prices on goods continue to rise despite the recently implemented price freeze measures. She is also expected to address public transportation concerns.

Carlos Urquiaga, mayor of José C. Paz, commented to Infobae that he hopes that Congress will open this year’s sessions with a sense of support and cooperation. He confirmed his support yesterday, stating, “Our boss is coming to Congress and we are going to accompany her.” He commented that along with other supporters, he would wait outside of Congress until the speech is given.

Last year’s congressional address was the longest that the president had given, an announcement that highlighted the project to modify the Charter of the Central Bank, addressed issues with control of the subte in Buenos Aires, and called for “national unity.”

Expectations are high for what President Fernandez will make in her announcement to Congress today, as the address at the start of sessions traditionally indicates what the legislative body will try to tackle that year. The president will address the assembly for the seventh time while in office, and today’s speech will inaugurate the 131^st congressional sessions. The presidential address will be presided by Vice President Amado Boudou, the head of the Senate. Supporters of the president have gathered in front of the Congress since yesterday in anticipation of today’s speech.

Camila Vallejo (Photo: Marcos González Valdés)

Next November’s ballots will list the name of iconic student leader Camila Vallejo in Chile’s parliamentary elections. Vallejo will vie to represent the metropolitan area’s 26^th district in the Lower House as a Partido Comunista (PC) candidate.

“The matter is how we form a channel that allows the making way for social movement in decisions of national politics.” Vallejo said in an interview with La Tercera last December. “In 2013 we will open that pathway, that will be the debate, how we as directors, representing a program of transformation, break into parliament.”

Guillermo Teillier, PC president, made the announcement Saturday, naming the former University of Chile Student Federation (Fech) president among seven other nominations. Vallejo will campaign alongside fellow activists Camilo Ballesteros and Karol Cariola, former presidents of the University of Santiago Student Federation (Feusach) and Concepción University Student Federation (Fec), respectively. Teillier highlighted their presence during his speech on Saturday, declaring, “the young faces demonstrate the new face of the Partido Comunista”.

Teillier explicitly refused to name a presidential candidate for the time being, putting off any announcements to be made until March. “We are going to decide if we will bring a candidate to the primaries, on the contrary we will decide who to back in the first round.” Amidst rumours of PC support of former president Michelle Bachelet, Vallejo is equally noncommittal. “Bachelet said, ‘we will see in March’, I cannot ensure that I will support Bachelet when she is not saying anything and there is no common program.”

Vallejo, Ballesteros, and Cariola all played key roles in 2011, when the student movement demanding dramatic reforms in an education system criticised as unequal rocked president Sebastián Piñera’s first term. Vallejo in particular became symbolic of the movement both in Chile and abroad.

Over a thousand people took part in a protest march in the city of Arequipa, in southern Peru, throwing eggs and garbage to the office walls of several congressmen.

Recently, the Peruvian Congress has approved a measure to increase the amount of their representation bonus, which means that the salaries of congressmen will increase to 30,000 soles a month.

This means that members of the Peruvian Congress will earn Us$11,700 , which is the equivalent of the combined total of 41 minimum salaries in Peru.

The citizens of Arequipa rejected the bonus increase for congressmen and marched carrying posters with statements such as ‘shameless and corrupt congressmen’ or ‘Shut down the bonus increase of these miserable people’.

The leader of the Assembly of the People of Arequipa, Jorge del Carpio, said that they will come every day to protest against the Peruvian Congress, conducting marches and cacerolazos.

The salary raise of the Peruvian congressmen has provoked various workers and students  manifestations. Representatives announced that protests would continue until the Congress annuls the increase of their revenues.

In response, several congressmen explained that it is not a raise, but a bonus for improving their work and reaching areas where the government was not previously present.

Story courtesy of Agencia Púlsar, the AMARC-ALC news agency.

Over 100 deputies from opposition parties signed an agreement against a second re-election of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and presented it to the chamber today at noon.

To run for a third term, President Fernández would require a constitutional amendment, which can only be passed in Congress with a two-thirds majority vote. Though the president has made no announcement that she intends to run again in 2015, members of Frente Peronista, Pro, UCR, the Coalición Cívica and Proyecto Sur came together to sign an agreement to block any such motion. The 107 signatures represent around 40% of the 257-seat Chamber of Deputies.

“We are going to defend the constitution until the end and we are not going to let a Chávez-style model be installed in Argentina,” said Federico Pinedo of the Pro party. “It is guaranteed that there will be no constitutional reform.”

A similar agreement was made in the Senate earlier this year with the signatures of 28 senators.

Claudio Lozano of the Frente Amplio Progresista (FAP) did not sign today’s agreement saying “We will not be forced to sign with these people that cannot guarantee anything. That is for the people to decide in 2013.”

Next year, 70 of the opposition-controlled seats in the lower house will be contested in legislative elections.

Lawmakers convened today at noon in the lower house of Congress to debate the proposed changes to the Work Injury Law put forward by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in September. The suggested changes have been met with fierce opposition from workers and unions, who amassed today outside the Congressional Palace in protest.

“This is a new reparative system, that is more just and equitable”, said Chubut Deputy Mario País of the Frente para la Victoria (FPV). He added “It is a program that seeks to substantially improve what we have in place today.”

The potential amendments stipulate that employees seeking compensation for work-related injuries must choose between a pre-established indemnity issued by a private insurer, or taking legal action. Under the current legislation, workers can benefit from the compensation system and then take the matter to court if they feel their compensation was not sufficient.

Furthermore, the proposal would have all compensation cases take place in civil rather than labour courts, and workers will have 15 days from the time of their injury to file a claim.

Pablo Micheli of the anti-Kirchnerist faction of the Argentine Worker’s Union (CTA) and Hugo Moyano of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) united today in denouncing the potential reforms, calling its approval “a victory for businessmen”.

The law “is a step back for workers because it imposes death over life and increases the likelihood of work-related accidents and illnesses”, said Micheli.

He announced that both unions would participate in a general strike sometime in mid-to-late November if their concerns were not addressed by the government.

The CTA and CGT were joined by various left-wing and social organizations such as Barrios de Pie, Corriente Clasista y Combative, and Movimiento Socialista de los Trabajadores.

At the plan’s unveiling, President Fernández announced that it was intended to “give greater competitiveness to the whole economy.”

Economy Minister Hernán Lorenzino delivered the 2013 budget proposal to Congress today, giving the nation a peek into the executive branch’s vision for the coming year.

The proposal predicts an exchange rate of $5.10 to the dollar, growth at 3.4%, and growth in investment at 7.4%. The official inflation rate is estimated to hit 10.7% by the end of 2012 and 10.8% in 2013. Tax revenue is expected to total over $822bn, a 22.7% increase from 2012, reflecting at least in part, a rise in inflation. The trade surplus, according to official estimates, will be more than US$13bn.

The current policy of paying off foreign debt with reserves will be continued up until US$7.8bn. This cap exceeds the US$5.7bn paid in 2012 by 40% and 2011’s US$7.5bn by 5%.

Agustín Rossi, Congressional Head of the Frente para la Victoria (FPV), the same party to which President Cristina Fernández de Kircher belongs, was optimistic about the proposal. He applauded the continuation of “social investment” and debt reduction, and commented that the proposal used a “level of reasonable expectations” for growth. He predicted the Budget and Treasury Commission would begin to consider the proposal next Wednesday and that by late October, the congressional Lower House would have approved it and passed it to the Senate.

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (courtesy of Wikipedia)

When Cristina Fernández de Kirchner won last year’s presidential election with a landslide 54% of the votes, it was not only the amount of support but how far she was ahead of her competitors that made the victory so impressive.

The 46% of the votes she did not win were split between six opposition parties, with second-placed Frente Amplio Progresista (FAP) obtaining a meagre 17%. It was a pretty good reflection of the situation of government and opposition at the time.

After the government lost its parliamentary majority due to a disastrous result in the 2009 election, the opposition did not manage to live up to the expectations placed upon it. Renamed “Group A”, the illusion of a strong, coordinated opposition capable of snatching the political initiative from a weak government quickly faded away. It soon became evident that, unable to set a common agenda, the only thing holding “Group A” together was its animosity towards the government. To paraphrase Borges, they were not united by love, but by horror.

The lack of initiative and fragmentation of the opposition were apparent in the poor performance of an almost paralysed Congress throughout 2010 and 2011, when only 70 and 65 bills were passed respectively, well below the ten-year average of 116.

And so we arrived at October 2011. In the two years since the fateful 2009 election, the government managed to regain control of the agenda, aided by its own initiative, the shock caused by the death of former president Néstor Kirchner, and the lack of a serious and organised political opposition.

It only takes a quick look around, however, to realise that there is an important, and very vocal, sector of society that does not feel represented by the government. As opposition is an integral part of democracy, the question of who represents those people is one that must be asked.

It has become quite evident for many in the past few years, specifically since the campo crisis of 2008, that the weakness of opposition parties has resulted in certain economic groups affected by governmental policies taking political matters into their own hands. At the forefront of this new opposition are those with the most influence on public opinion: the media corporations.

The 'cacerolazos' in Plaza de Mayo (Photo: Luciano Signorelli)

In Argentina, politics has become to a large extent a war between pro and anti-government media groups unabashedly campaigning for their own interests, without much regard for the traditional laws of journalistic ethics.

An interesting debate about the role of the media has since ensued, not only in Argentina, but also in Latin America and other parts of the world. The sanctity of journalism and its classic role as the “fourth estate” have been brought into question as big media groups are, analytically speaking, stripped bare and shown for what they mostly are: businesses. Powerful businesses, with political interests and a massive influence over public opinion and politicians alike.

There is a positive side to this situation, as nothing in a democracy should be immune to analysis, discussion, and criticism. Media groups have always had political and economic interests, and it is a positive thing that people have become more aware of this and can see through their supposed neutrality.

The obvious negative side is that businesses are not elected and are not accountable to society as politicians, government officials, union delegates, and other political institutions are. This is not exclusive to media businesses, as it is becoming clear all over the world that uncontrolled corporations are openly displacing elected politicians from their decision-making roles.

In Argentina, this situation has evolved from a more-or-less open support of certain media groups to specific political parties and candidates, to the current situation where they seem to have mostly given up on politicians altogether. Nowadays, it is journalists like Jorge Lanata with his Sunday TV show that seem to set the opposition’s agenda for the rest of the week.

The debilitating effect of such political weakness was demonstrated by the recent cacerolazos in Buenos Aires. They were small, unorganised gatherings of individuals without any clear direction or common ideas, other than a visceral rejection of the government. It is worrying that for many, being unorganised was seen as a virtue rather than a weakness.

A political movement without solid ideas and organisation is doomed to fail. And politics, like nature in Aristotelian physics, abhors a vacuum. If the vacuum left by a weak opposition is not filled by legitimate and solid political institutions, it is going to be filled by whoever has the power to impose their point of view.