US embassy cable - 04BUENOSAIRES2419

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BUENOS AIRES 002419 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR STATE WHA/BSC, WHA/EPSC 
PASS NSC FOR TOM SHANNON, MIKE DEMPSEY 
PASS USTR FOR SUE CRONIN 
USCINCSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/25/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, AR, PROTESTS 
SUBJECT: KIRCHNER MOVES SECURITY SECRETARIAT INTO CASA 
ROSADA 
 
REF: A. BUENOS AIRES 02320 
 
     B. BUENOS AIRES 01023 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Lino Gutierrez for reason 1.4 (B) AND (D). 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY: On August 20 President Nestor Kirchner 
announced the transfer of the Security Secretariat from the 
Justice Ministry to the Interior Ministry.  This is widely 
viewed as a positive step that will increase the profile of 
security issues, by both placing one of the most influential 
Ministers in charge of the portfolio and locating the 
Secretariat's offices in the same building as the President. 
 
SIPDIS 
It is also an indication that the President is anxious to 
halt his falling poll numbers by taking a more active role in 
the management of security issues.  The move comes days in 
front of what promises to be the biggest anti-crime protest 
to date by anti-crime crusader Juan Carlos Blumberg, and is 
just one of several recent GOA initiatives designed to 
demonstrate the Government's work to improve the security 
situation.  END SUMMARY. 
 
 2. (C) On August 20 President Nestor Kirchner announced the 
transfer of the Security Secretariat from the Justice 
Ministry to the Interior Ministry.  Newly-appointed Security 
Secretary Alberto Iribarne (reftel A) and his entire staff 
 
SIPDIS 
have been bureaucratically moved from the Justice Ministry to 
the Interior Ministry, and will be physically relocated to 
the Casa Rosada.  The move illustrates the increasing 
importance of security concerns in Argentina, and Kirchner's 
attempts to indicate he is proactively addressing the 
problem.  As a result of the move Iribarne will report to 
Interior Minister Anibal Fernandez, one the most outspoken 
and influential members of the Kirchner Cabinet.  The move 
also locates Iribarne in the same building as the President, 
which is locally being seen as a sign that the President will 
now play a personal role in GOA security policies.  Buenos 
Aires Province Governor Felipe Sola reflected the view that 
the change would increase Presidential involvement in this 
contentious issue when he said: "the security issue will be 
physically closer to the President."  (COMMENT: Not everyone 
agrees-- one local observer told Ambassador that moving the 
Security Secretariat to the Presidency increased the risk of 
further politicization of the Security Forces.  END COMMENT.) 
 
3. (C) In the days leading up to the transfer Fernandez 
seemed to go out of his way to pick a fight with both the 
moderate and the radical piquetero elements.  Other members 
of the Cabinet did not support his statements, but were also 
restrained in their criticism.  Since adding the security 
issue to his portfolio, Fernandez has remained quiet on the 
piquetero issue, but did spend his first weekend in charge of 
the nation's security "personally supervising" the work of 
the Gendarmeria (border guard) and the Prefectura (coast 
guard) working in the Buenos Aires area.  The Government 
announced the change while Justice and Security Minister 
Horacio Rosatti was out of town, and reports indicate he was 
not consulted prior to the announcement.  Rosatti has yet to 
comment publicly on the move. 
 
4. (C) On August 24 the Commander of Operations for the 
Gendarmeria, General Roberto Nieva Malaver, met with the DCM. 
 He expressed concern for the President's current security 
strategy but support for placing the Security Portfolio under 
Fernandez.  He informed the DCM that more then 1,000 of the 
total 17,000 strong Gendarmeria were currently serving in and 
around the Capital.  He stressed that they were filling an 
internal security role that his troops were neither trained 
nor equipped to accomplish, and expressed great concern that 
the diversion of his agency from its traditional border 
security function would lead to a general worsening of the 
border security and drug trafficking situation.  He lamented 
that the current administration is focused totally on 
security in the Buenos Aires area and stated that "for 
Kirchner the national border is General Paz" (a street that 
marks the end of the Buenos Aires suburbs.)  He reflected the 
commonly held view that the security problem has recently 
gotten much worse.  He intimated that the Administration's 
policy of purging the police and involving the Gendarmeria, 
instead of providing sufficient resources to establish a 
credible and clean police force, was a mistake.  He stressed 
that "I do not argue for my force (Gendarmeria) but for my 
country, the problem of security is very serious, I have 
children and when they go out dancing I can't sleep." 
However, he also commented that he felt that transferring 
responsibility for security to the Interior Ministry was a 
positive move.  He stated that Fernandez "is a fighter, and a 
very important person in the Government." 
 
5. (C) The Security Secretariat's move comes days before the 
third protest organized by anti-crime crusader Juan Carlos 
Blumberg (Reftel B).  Blumberg has focused most of his 
attention on the Buenos Aires provincial leadership, but he 
has also made petitions to the National Congress and demanded 
swifter action from the Federal Government.  The move also 
comes during a flurry of security-related activity by various 
government agencies attempting to demonstrate their 
pro-security efforts in advance of the August 26 Blumberg 
march.  Recent changes include: passing of a crime bill 
enabling Judges to order convicts to serve separate sentences 
non-consecutively up to a 50-year maximum jail term; the 
deployment of an 80-man elite provincial police unit that 
will act independently of existing provincial police forces 
in San Isidro, a provincial area known as the kidnapping 
capital of Argentine, to both combat crime and investigate 
police corruption; the start of a cooperative anti-crime push 
between federal and provincial agencies including the 
Gendarmeria, Prefectura, and provincial police in five 
provincial neighborhoods surrounding the Capital; the 
announcement of plans to summon the Federal Security Council 
to increase coordination; and, the appointment of Maria del 
Carmen Falbo as the new prosecutor-general for the Province 
of Buenos Aires. 
 
6. (C) Federal and Provincial leaders have all roundly 
downplayed the importance of Blumberg as a national figure as 
well as the importance of his grassroots social protest 
movement.  Buenos Aires Governor Sola recently attempted to 
minimize Blumberg's importance by stating that "Kidnappers 
are not bothered by marches."  (COMMENT:  While it is 
probably true that marches have little impact on kidnappers, 
it is obvious that politicians including the President, the 
Buenos Aires Mayor and many members of congress do read the 
papers and are clearly bothered by marches and falling poll 
numbers.  Blumberg his anti-crime campaign, and the growing 
public discontent are fueling a slide in the Kirchner 
Administration's approval ratings.  Both the Federal and 
Provincial leaderships are keenly aware that the Greater 
Buenos Aires populace has become increasingly fixated by 
security issues, and are attempting to take concrete -- and 
publicized -- steps to improve the situation. END COMMENT.) 
 
 
GUTIERREZ