From defense to internal security: an interesting change in Argentina
This post was written by Lucila Santos, a Regional Security Policy Fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America.
After five years as Argentina’s defense minister, Nilda Garré has been named to a new cabinet post: the Ministry of Security. The government of Cristina Fernández created this ministry after incidents in Buenos Aires’ Indoamericano Park laid bare problems within Argentina’s internal security agencies.
In December of last year, thousands of families illegally settled in the Indoamericano Park, an area of 130 hectares (330 acres). When the Federal and Metropolitan Police tried to evict the squatters, the result was a violent conflict that killed three people and injured many.
The incident revealed several issues within Argentine law enforcement. First, it showed that the Federal and Metropolitan police forces are unable to act jointly, and that their missions are not clearly defined. Second, decades after the end of military rule, police forces still maintain repressive practices, evidenced in the shootings and beatings at the Indoamericano Park, whose victims included many women and children. Third, police forces are not trained to act in social uprisings or to deal with social conflicts, as evidenced by their use of guns in a place filled with women and children. In Argentina, the role of police forces in social conflicts is still highly controversial.
The main result of the Indoamericano conflict was the creation of a new Ministry completely dedicated to public security (it used to be part of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights), headed by Garré. This is an interesting and positive change for several reasons.
First, having a specific Ministry of Security gives citizen security and law enforcement a higher standing in the public agenda, something that was pending given a recent rise in criminality in Argentina. The reform of law enforcement in Argentina is a long-overdue element of the country’s democratic transition. During the dictatorship, the police force was under the control of the military; the legacy of those times has been repressive and authoritarian police practices. Garré has committed to reforming the police forces by eliminating these oppressive practices and democratizing them.
In that sense, and the second reason why this is an interesting change, Garré comes with a background in defense policies. During her tenure as defense minister, she focused on transparency, accountability, and gender, as well as keeping the military out of public security and rationalizing the defense budget. This experience will be useful for Garré’s undertaking of law enforcement reform. Even though the military and the police have different missions and are completely separate institutions, many of the policies Garré implemented in the military system could be applied within the police force, especially those related to transparency, accountability and respect for human rights.
So far, Garré has publicly stated that her goals are: to have a higher number of officers on the streets; to combat narcotrafficking; to have a more efficient, professional and transparent security force; to move forward in the use of new technologies to combat crime; and to achieve a stronger coordination of the Federal Police, Gendarmerie, Coast Guard, Airport Security Police, and all other provincial police forces. Another fundamental goal that she will pursue is to improve the effectiveness of criminal intelligence, that is, to guarantee better access to information on crime and organized crime. On the fight against organized crime, the goal is to target the gangs involved in the drug business, human trafficking and auto theft. The idea is for all security agencies to share information on gangs, narcotrafficking, human trafficking, illegal junkyards (where cars are taken to be stripped and sold for parts), bank robberies, and road pirates (gangs that stop trucks on the road to rob the products they are transporting). Internal Affairs is also a high priority for Garré, especially since corruption is endemic among police officers.
Garré’s first measure has been an institutional purge of the Police Force’s highest-ranking officers. She has removed the head of the Federal Police, along with eighteen general superintendents, 22 high commissioners, and 17 investigative police inspectors. Many of these removals owe to political reasons – because they answered to other political leaders – but many are due to complaints of abuse of power or allegations of corruption.
While clearing the police force of corrupt agents is a logical step, Garré’s success will depend on her ability to move forward with policies that transform law enforcement in Argentina into an institution that confronts citizen insecurity in a way that respects human rights and the rule of law.
The challenges ahead are large. Argentineans today rank public insecurity as one of their main concerns. Although Argentina’s violence rates remain low compared to its neighbors, crime has been on the rise the last years, especially in robberies and kidnappings. The most conservative politicians demand iron-fisted approaches to crime, along with a lower age of legal responsibility for juvenile delinquents and harsher penalties for convicted criminals. The government and the most leftist and progressive sectors in Argentina have spoken against zero-tolerance policies and in favor of a more socio-economic approach to insecurity. However, seven years of kirchnerismo have not brought progress in the fight against crime, nor have they brought about a more democratic police force. In light of this, Garré’s appointment is a welcome step.