Gov’t pushes back after week of fierce criticism over Santiago Maldonado
Cabinet Chief Marcos Peña defends Macri administration’s actions in Congress as human rights activists and organisations turn fire on the government and host huge rally in Plaza de Mayo
The troubling disappearance of Santiago Maldonado has quickly escalated to take on national interest, dominating all major political events of the past few weeks and sparking a huge march in the Plaza de Mayo yesterday in central Buenos Aires.
For more than a month, the whereabouts of Maldonado, a 28-year-old artisan, have remained unknown. He was reportedly last seen on August 1 in the Patagonian province of Chubut, where he joined a protest of indigenous Mapuches at Estancia Leleque, the property of the billionaire Benetton family. The Mapuches, who claim historical ownership of their ancestral lands, were forcibly cleared by the Gendarmerie (Border Guards). Unclear video images indicate Maldonado was present, his family claim.
The case became immediately politicised, given the intense polarisation of Argentina and its socio-political landscape. Those opposed to President Mauricio Macri have called it a “forced disappearance,” and most major human rights organiaations including the Grandmothers de Plaza de Mayo and Mothers Founding Line have spoken out, along with left- learning political organiaations and unions close to CGT and CTA. Adolfo Perez Ezquivel, winner of the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize, said he held the state “directly responsible” for Maldonado’s disappearance, while Estela de Barnes Carloto of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo called on Security Minister Patricia Bullrich to acknowledge Maldonado’s “forced disappearance.”
The highest-ranking member of the Macri administration to speak about the case this week was Cabinet Chief Marcos Peña, who in his routine third appearance before Congress to report on government policies took on an agressive stance, defending the government’s actions.
“I want to be very clear on behalf of the President, we are the first to want Santiago Maldonado to appear.” Peña said on Wednesday after fierce questioning, before going on to claim, “there are no concrete elements to indicate this is a forced si appearance.”
The most fervent defender of the state’s security forces was Bullrich, who has repeatedly stoodbesid et he Border Guards. “You can’t make people believe that the state sought to kill a person,” she said on live TV on A Dos Voces, “We do not accept that insinuation.”
Maldonado, who is originally from the city of La Plata in the Province of Buenos Aires, had been living in the long-standing Patagonian hippie community of El Bolson for about three months, according to his family. He had travelled to neighboring Chile in the weeks before his disappearance, a friend named Marcos Ampuero told the press, after publishing pictures of them together. “He wasn’t involved with the Mapuches,” Ampuero said.
Beyond the political wrangling of the case, the disappearance of Maldonado sparked massive protests on Friday, where thousands congregated to his safe return. With his whereabouts still unknown, a month after his disappearance, the story looks set to continue dominating the news and especially social media, where campaigns expressing the demand he be found have found considerable favour.