The Juntos por el Cambio (JxC) coalition, which has a majority in the Legislature of the City of Buenos Aires, suspended the last ordinary session of the year, which was scheduled for this Thursday and from the Frente de Todos (FdT) they considered that the objective is to avoid the debate on the request for impeachment of Marcelo D’Alessandro and Juan Bautista Mahiques, for their participation in the trip to hidden lake along with judges and media directors.
The This Thursday’s session would be the last ordinary session of the yearand in it it was planned to deal, in addition to the requests for impeachment, the appointment of 13 Buenos Aires judges and the renewal of the legislative authorities for next year.
JxC sources told Télam that the session “fell” because some issues to be discussed need “more time for debate”, so they do not rule out calling an extraordinary session before the end of the year.
This Thursday’s session was going to be the last regular session of the year, and in it it was planned to discuss, in addition to the requests for impeachment, the appointment of 13 Buenos Aires judges and the renewal of the legislative authorities for next year.
The debate was going to take place in the midst of a rarefied political climate due to the filtering of chats between officials of the city of Buenos Aires and federal judges, which caused the pro-government interblock that answers to Horacio Rodríguez Larreta to be on the defensive and finally decided not to call the session.
After the spread of chats, the FdT sought to move forward with the start of the impeachment of Security Minister D’Alessandro and Attorney General Mahiques for their participation in the exchange of messages in which they planned to cover up a trip to Lago Escondido, in Bariloche.
FdT parliamentary sources informed Télam that they will request a special session to deal with the two requests for impeachment, since, they consider, these issues are “central” and “you cannot move forward without dealing with them.”
“It is absolutely inexplicable that Larreta continues to support a minister who would not only be guilty of the crime of bribes, but also of other crimes and threats, as is clear from the audios”Matias Barroetaveña
Speaking to Télam, the FdT legislator Matías Barroetaveñaaffirmed that “the ruling party suspends tomorrow’s session and decides to close the Legislature until next year to avoid the shame of having to defend the indefensible”, and added that, for him, “it is clear that the request for impeachment presented by the Frente de Todos and the debate that would be generated in the venue is the cause of this decision”.
The deputy also considered that it is “absolutely inexplicable that (Horacio Rodríguez) larreta continue supporting a minister who would not only be guilty of the crime of bribes, but also of other crimes and threats, as is clear from the audios”.
Barroetaveña also referred to the JxC legislators: “It is time for the legislators of Lousteau, Carrió, Ocaña and others to say clearly if they are complicit in these behaviors or if they are effectively going to exercise their institutional role allowing the rule of law to continue in force in the city,” he said.
Impeachment now.
D’Alessandro and Mahiques have to go.
Tomorrow we mobilize.
? See you at 5:00 p.m. at Paseo Colón 1333. pic.twitter.com/lWjWsmuCqI
— Matías Barroetaveña (@mbarroetavena) December 14, 2022
The JxC coalition includes the UCR-Evolución block, whose referent is national senator Martín Lousteau, and the Vamos Juntos block, where there are deputies from the Civic Coalition, the political space of Elisa Carrió, and Public Trust, of Graciela Ocaña.
In this regard, the legislator Alejandrina Barry, from the PTS in the Left Front, who regretted that the ruling party had suspended the session in which his block had requested to deal with the requests for interpellation to D’Alessandro and Larreta “so that they give explanations for the scandalous trip to Lago Escondido and their subsequent attempt to hide it.”
Likewise, Barry affirmed that “the head of government spoke to guarantee the impunity of his Minister of Security. The same attitude of cover-up was seen in other members of the cabinet as it happened with (Soledad) Acuña and (Fernán) Quirós.”
