Homes, offices of three Macri opponents ransacked in Argentina over the past week; computers taken. [View all]
The homes and offices of three prominent public figures in Argentina - journalist Cynthia García, former Commerce Secretary Guillermo Moreno, and human rights lawyer Laura Figueroa - were broken into and ransacked in three separate events over the past week.
Computers, hard drives, and research material were stolen. All three are vocal critics of the right-wing Mauricio Macri administration.
The first of these incidents took place on Sunday, August 7, at the apartment of journalist Cynthia García in the upscale Palermo section of Buenos Aires. Her two computers, external hard drives, tablet, and several spiral notebooks were taken - all of which contained large amounts of research on both past and upcoming projects for the well-known investigative reporter. A television was also taken; but no cash or other valuables.
García, 44, is best known in Argentina for her work as a panelist for the former Argentine Public Television news roundtable program 6,7,8. While at 6,7,8, García's investigative work revealed in 2015 that syndicated right-wing op-ed writer Luis Majul, known as a mudslinger against Macri's predecessor, former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, had received over 14 million pesos ($2.5 million at the time) in vaguely-worded municipal publicity contracts under then-Mayor Macri.
Majul, who writes for the country's largest media conglomerate, the Clarín Group, staunchly supported Macri in elections last year - even referring to him as being "like Mandela." Numerous similar contracts signed by Macri as mayor are currently under investigation.
The theft at García's apartment was followed that afternoon by a similar incident at the downtown office of former Commerce Secretary Guillermo Moreno. Computers, accounting books, and 40,000 pesos ($2,700) in cash were taken by four young men captured by surveillance cameras in the building; as in the García case, no arrests have as yet been made.
Moreno, 60, was one of the leading economic advisers for both Mrs. Kirchner and her predecessor, the late former President Néstor Kirchner, and was known for his pugnacious style. He has been highly critical of Macri's austerity and free-trade policies, calling them "the most elitist in 70 years - more so even than the Videla dictatorship."
A third such incident took place on Saturday, August 13, at the home of human rights lawyer Laura Figueroa in the northwestern city of San Miguel de Tucumán. According to witnesses, six hooded men entered her home while she attended a funeral in another city. Her home was ransacked; but nothing was taken. The perpetrators remain at large.
It wasn't the first such incident for Ms. Figueroa, who noted that similar acts of vandalism on her home and automobile took place just as cases related to the Dirty War - which killed 30,000 Argentines in the 1970s and hit Tucumán Province especially hard - were going to trial.
Figueroa served as one of the plaintiffs' attorneys in the Arsenales II/Jefatura II (2nd Arsenal/2nd Police Headquarters) case, which in 2013 resulted in 35 convictions (out of 41 defendants) for abuses and murders committed during the 'Operation Independence' anti-insurgency campaign in the mid 1970s. She has likewise been critical of the Macri administration, under which Dirty War-related prosecutions have nearly halted and Dirty War apologists such as Cecilia Pando have been allowed to influence official policy.
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