The national government confirmed yesterday that it will send some 1,000 gendarmes in the coming days in Buenos Aires territory, in response to the latest cases of insecurity and to prevent advances in drug trafficking. But the reinforcement occurs in another short circuit between the governments of the Province of Buenos Aires and the Nation.
The truth is that the Minister of National Security, Aníbal Fernández, anticipated his participation in Congress, when he went to explain the situation in Rosario, that he diagrammed the installation of five operational bases in the Conurbano, in La Plata, Avellaneda, La Matanza, Pilar and Tigre.
But days ago, by letter, Governor Axel Kicillof asked for explanations about the minister’s decision without, supposedly, making it known to his administration, mainly Sergio Berni, in charge of Buenos Aires Security, although provincial sources assured that this letter was “a an almost protocol note to know where the gendarmes are going and what tasks they are going to carry out”.
Aníbal Fernández, apparently at the request of President Alberto Fernández to lower tensions within the intern, went out to answer that letter although, true to his custom, he did not leave the confrontational tone: “There is nothing to report that is not in the hands of its officials,” said the head of Security in his letter.
The ministerial resolution would be known in the next few hours and, as was said, it enables the creation of five units in Buenos Aires territory -one of them in La Plata, where Mayor Julio Garro came out yesterday to claim them- with members of the four federal forces.
It would be missing to know, for example, how the arrival will be coordinated and the tasks that the federal agents will fulfill. “Why don’t they know? Guys, if you’re watching another channel, it’s not my fault. We work every day in the same way, “said Aníbal F., in a clear message to the governor and his minister, with whom he acknowledged that he still has no dialogue:” The man is very important to talk to us, he does not speak with earthly. He talks to demigods, like in Greek mythology. We talk to the serious ones, ”he ironized in radio statements.
In principle, as reported, the scheme that the Nation provides is a Unified Command, similar to the one implemented in Rosario for the fight against drug trafficking, with the four federal forces: Prefecture, Federal Police, Airport Security Police and Gendarmerie. The political leadership will be in the hands of Mercedes La Gioiosa, Secretary of Criminal Policy of the Fernández portfolio, while the operational leadership would fall to a head of the Gendarmerie.
The mayors have been demanding the sending of federal forces. It had also been raised by Cristina Kirchner in the act at the Estadio Único Diego Maradona in La Plata on November 17, 2021, when she characterized insecurity as one of the debts of democracy.
Strictly speaking, the federal forces already serve in different points of the AMBA. In our city, it will be a novelty.
