‘Macri would also help his friends make money off the state’

Margarita Stolbizer

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Margarita Stolbizer talks to the Herald after relaunching her campaign on Wednesday.

By Sebastián Lacunza & Luciana Bertoia
Herald Staff

Progressives candidate Margarita Stolbizer talks to the Herald about her presidential bid

Margarita Stolbizer is the Progressives presidential candidate, whose coalition mustered 3.51 percent of the votes, ranking fourth after Victory Front (FpV) candidate Daniel Scioli, Let’s Change’s Mauricio Macri and A New Alternative’s (UNA) Sergio Massa.

Last week, the lawmaker relaunched her campaign in a hotel near Congress, seeking to improve her performance at the polls. In conversation with the Herald, she sought to make it clear that she has differences with the top three candidates.

“My human rights stance is what differentiates me from them,” she said.

What would be your foreign policy priorities?

Kirchnerites have weakened the strategic regional unity, the Mercosur and Unasur blocs. The priority for us would be these neighbouring countries so that we could then negotiate with the rest of the world.

An important sector of Kirchnerism defines itself as part of the centre-left but its presidential candidate is Scioli, who lacks those credentials...

Those who define themselves as part of the centre-left had to accept a candidate who doesn’t have that political leaning.

Sergio Massa and Mauricio Macri have a more clear centre-right ideology. Why is it that a political group with a name like Progressives could not benefit from this scenario in the primaries?

Several reasons. First, because the vote has become less ideological. We’re often concerned about how pragmatism shapes platforms but voters are also pragmatic. Secondly, and this should be taken as self-criticism, we failed to become closer to people as a centre-left political option. Macri was able to modernize the right, but we could not do the same for the left nor the centre-left.

You vow to preserve the Kirchnerite human rights policy. What’s your view about the criticism by newspaper La Nación or the request by some sectors of the Catholic Church to bring dictatorship-era trials to a close?

I’m the only candidate — I think Nicolás del Caño also did — to include the continuity of the trials in my platform. My human rights stance marks the difference with the top three candidates.

But the only ones who seem to have criticized the La Nación editorials were Kirchnerite officials...

I did not hear about (the editorials). Our stance is clearly in favour of the trials.

You reaffirmed your centre-left leaning by rejecting the idea of a deal with Macri but your party is part of coalitions in several provinces that have conservative elements. Don’t you think those coalitions undermine your centre-left stance?

We’ll have to examine each case. I don’t think it is undermined because those are local coalitions.

The attack against the AMIA Jewish community centre will remain on the agenda. What’s your proposal to solve it?

We added the case to the commitment signed with Amnesty International because we linked it to the trials for crimes against humanity. We want to derogate the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Iran and to move forward with the judicial investigations.

What’s your concrete proposal on how to move forward?

We’ll have yo go back to the courts. The MOU represented an abandonment of the country’s principles. A congressional commission endorsed by the relatives is a guarantee, but the investigation should be conducted by the courts.

What’s your opinion of how late former AMIA special prosecutor Alberto Nisman carried out his investigation?

As in any other case, justice delayed is justice denied. The same happens with crimes against humanity and corruption cases.

But what do you think about AMIA relatives who are critical of Nisman and those who say he was implicated in corruption, which was tolerated by the government?

I’m critical of how the probe was handled. I try not to mix everything up as the government has done in order to turn Nisman from a victim to an abominable human being. I think there are irregularities that have to be investigated, such as Nisman’s alleged embezzlement or the money deposited abroad.

Eight months after his death, what’s your opinion about his complaint accusing the president and other top officials of seeking to whitewash the Iranian involvement in the AMIA attack?

Despite the weaknesses that some say it had, I still think his complaint had to be investigated — even if it was going to be dismissed.

Isn’t there a feedback loop between members of the opposition and judges whose performance can be questioned? Kirchnerism has some allied judges such as Norberto Oyarbide and the opposition has close ties to Claudio Bonadío. It seems as if both have disastrous judicial alliances.

The opposition is heterogeneous and we don’t see eye to eye in cases like this. I don’t have any link to Bonadío. I met him once in a TV studio when he was removed from the Hotesur probe. I don’t like it when political issues are brought to the courts and nor the other way round.

You’ve been focusing criticism on Macri recently...

It’s become evident that Macri and the Kirchners have the same idea of the state. They consider it to be part of a bounty. Macri and Nicolás Caputo are the same as CFK and Lázaro Báez. We have to put an end to the idea that the state can be used to make profits. Macri will not do that. If he becomes president, he would only change the names of the friends who benefit.

Isn’t it a bit late for you to start to differentiate yourself from other opposition leaders?

I have my own stance. In the Lower House, I vote with one or the others according to my view. In the campaign, I try to make it clear that we have a different agenda. I have nothing to do with Elisa Carrió, who must have filed around 800,000 complaints against Kirchnerite officials. I have only filed one and I hit the bulls-eye (Hotesur). I keep track of that case, but that is not the basis of my political strategy.

You’ve been allied with Carrió, who has been turning right at least since 2007...

Not in 2007. I had an alliance with the Civic Coalition then and it had a centre-left leaning. In 2007, I campaigned with her and I did not feel uncomfortable.

But in 2011, Carrió’s shift was clear, why did you go back?

That warrants self-criticism. I believe in Hermes Binner. I was wrong about Carrió. I wouldn’t have sealed a deal with Carrió, but I trusted the UCR and I got tangled up.

The Supreme Court will have three members by the end of the year, mainly because 28 opposition senators refused to vote for a replacement for Eugenio Zaffaroni. What’s your opinion of this opposition strategy?

The stalemate will come to an end soon. Regardless the electoral result.

But over the past year the Court operated without one of its members...

But that did not cause any problems. They say it can even operate with three justices. I don’t like a three-justice Court. I would like to go back to the times when the tribunal was made up of seven members. I don’t agree with generic refusals. But I think the government made a mistake by nominating Roberto Carlés to the Court.

Why?

I have ideological similarities with Carlés, but I don’t think he is experienced enough to hold a seat at the Court.

Who would you nominate for the Court?

(Manuel) Garrido.

Your caucus opposed the Broadcast Media Law. How do you believe media concentration should be tackled?

I don’t think you can tackle media monopolies with political speeches. The government never used the anti-trust law against Clarín. In fact, it negotiated with Clarín as much as possible. The Media Law is not what it was thought to be and it has been poorly enforced. It is also old-fashioned.

Do you think Clarín has a dominant position in the media market?

I don’t have enough information to say either way. You may or may not like the law but it has to be put into practice.

Are you concerned about the tough-on-crime narratives that your top three contenders have?

Of course. That is my main difference. I’m concerned about the country because they could place a 14-year-old behind bars for having robbed a store while he was on drugs, but they do nothing to prevent him from taking drugs and dropping the school.

Do you think drug use should be decriminalized?

Of course. It is unconstitutional, but it should not be on the electoral agenda.

Do you think the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the UK Labour Party opens up an opportunity regarding the Malvinas issue?

Expectations grow when a more popular leader is elected, but they should be moderate since we are talking about the UK. At the very least, his appointment could promote new channels of dialogue.

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