A man accused of human rights violations under Argentina’s military dictatorship (1976 to 1983) has launched a telephone campaign from prison to be elected deputy in next month’s elections.
“Hi, this is Patti. I would like to ask you to vote for me,” his voice says.
This is how former senior police officer Luis Patti, accused of involvement in several kidnapping, torture and murder cases, introduces himself to voters.
His informal tone stands in stark contrast with the message that first greets recipients of his calls: “You are receiving a call from a prison.”
Patti is a candidate with a right-leaning provincial front inspired by three-time former Argentine president Juan Peron — founder of the Peronist brand of socialist and nationalist politics espoused by Argentine President Cristina Kirchner and her husband, former Argentine president Nestor Kirchner.
The 56-year old detainee of Marcos Paz, located 40km northwest of Buenos Aires, laments that he cannot use a cellphone.
“They put me in prison because my name is Patti and I am a politician,” he told reporters, speaking from prison. “If we abided by the law, I should be freed.”
In the 1990s, he was twice mayor of Escobar, 50km north of the capital, and was even elected as deputy in 2005. But he was preventeds from taking his seat by a vote from the Chamber of Deputies because of the allegations against him.
The former policeman’s platform, heavy on national security, remains popular for both poor and wealthier voters in the province of Buenos Aires.
But human rights activists and jurists oppose what they see as an attack on democracy.
“If Patti wants to run in the elections to obtain parliamentary immunity and make justice fail, it’s because of amnesty laws,” said Deputy Remo Carlotto, son of the president of the rights group Grandmothers of May Square.
Since Nestor Kirchner came to power, serving from 2003 to 2007, 1980s amnesty laws were canceled and trials were reopened, and the government wants to bring torturers to justice.
But 25 years after the return of democracy to Argentina, the country is still debating how to try its torturers of times past.
“Patti’s candidacy is fresh proof that impunity is still present,” said Gaston Chillier, director of the Center for Judicial and Social Studies, a human rights group.
The very same Chamber of Deputies who voted to bar Patti from taking his seat during the last election “has still not passed a law to prevent candidacy” for individuals facing allegations of past crimes, Chillier said.
“According to the Pact of San Jose, Costa Rica [American Convention on Human Rights], no person can be prevented from running in an election unless that person has been convicted,” constitutional scholar Daniel Sabsay said.
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