As the second round of Argentina's November 19 elections approaches, a disturbing revelation has emerged from the Argentine judiciary about a clandestine espionage network allegedly funded by Kirchnerist officials, targeting a wide spectrum of victims, including members of the Executive and Judicial branches, journalists and prominent business figures.
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EFE
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Leer en español: Justicia argentina desvela red de espionaje ilegal contra políticos, jueces y empresarios
Illegal Espionage Network in the Full Electoral Campaign
In the midst of the electoral campaign toward the November 19 runoff, the Argentine Justice has revealed the existence of an illegal espionage network with investigations into the Executive and Judicial Branches, journalists, and prominent businessmen, allegedly financed by Kirchnerist officials.
With less than two weeks left for the second presidential round between the ruling party Sergio Massa and the libertarian Javier Milei, federal prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita signed an opinion in which the existence of thousands of "targets" spied on illegally, with victims, was exposed. ranging from the president, Alberto Fernández, and part of his cabinet to opponents such as the leader of La Libertad Avanza (far-right).
The prosecutor's revelation follows another judicial case for espionage and identity theft against judges of the Argentine Supreme Court of Justice in April of this year, in which the main defendant is the former intelligence officer of the Argentine Federal Police Ariel Zanchetta, arrested last June.
Two people from the province of Misiones (northwest) are also charged in this case, who allegedly violated the telephone and electronic communications of the judges using personal data collected – presumably illegally – by a company called Sudamericana Data Group.
Illegal Espionage Network in the Full Electoral Campaign
According to the prosecutor's report, those responsible for that database pointed out that the searches for personal information about the judges were paid for by Zanchetta, to whom justice found, after a search, 1,196 reports distributed among computers and cell phones that he had in his can.
From the computer expertise carried out by the Directorate of Judicial Assistance in complex crimes and organized crime (Dajudeco) of the Public Prosecutor's Office, conversations between Zanchetta and the national deputy of Unión por la Patria (Peronist) Rodolfo Tailhade emerge, in that the accused offers 'chats' between a capital official and an advisor to the president of the Supreme Court.
Impeachment and Request for Dismissal
With this information, the impeachment of the judges of the Court was requested, with Tailhade being one of its promoters and whose removal of immunity has now been requested by the main opposition coalition, Together for Change (center-right).
In this sense, he made public a letter addressed to the prosecutor in the case, in which he claims "not to be mentioned in any of the 169 pages that make up the document (report)" and requested access to the illegal intelligence files compiled by the accused on his person.
On the other hand, Zanchetta also received espionage requests from a Kirchnerist spokesperson, who works as head of communications for the Federal Administration of Public Revenues (AFIP) and a man close to legislator Máximo Kirchner, son of Vice President Cristina Fernández, and leader of La Cámpora.
These reports compiled personal data, assets, and names of relatives of the people investigated, and even monitored each of their movements.
The case remains under judicial investigation pending more evidence, which has not yet been released, measures that could lead to other raids, and the prosecutor's request to investigate Zanchetta again since so far he is being prosecuted for spying on the judges of the Court.
Read also: Second Debate: This Is The Panorama Of The Elections in Argentina Two Weeks Before
Files on Nisman and Links with Parallel Intelligence
Among the devices examined by Justice, documents were found that speak of the death of federal prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who was investigating the terrorist attack on the AMIA Jewish Mutual Society, perpetrated in Buenos Aires on July 18, 1994, and who was found dead in his address in 2015 under strange circumstances.
According to the Infobae news portal, these would be links between the former head of the Argentine Army Julio César Milani, and former directors of the Federal Intelligence Agency, who allude to a parallel intelligence service during the last term of Cristina Fernández (2007- 2015).
The material emphasizes the security failures of the Torres Le Parc building in Puerto Madero, in the apartment where the body of Nisman was found, who, prior to his death, had denounced Cristina Fernández for covering up the attack on the AMIA.
