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ARGENTINA: Civil Society Keeps Eye on First Lady's Tours
By Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES, Apr 24, 2007 (IPS) - A non-governmental organisation in Argentina
is monitoring the trips made by Senator Cristina Fernández, President
Néstor Kirchner's wife, who travels with a large entourage and an
appointments schedule worthy of a head of state.
Two and a half months ago, the Fundación Poder Ciudadano (Citizen Power
Foundation) asked the government to provide information on who accompanied
the first lady to France in February, their positions, the working agenda,
and the daily accommodation costs for each member of the delegation.
The Foundation, part of the Transparency International network, is
dedicated to promoting citizen participation and fighting corruption. Its
request relied on a 2003 presidential decree which authorises any citizen
to ask the executive branch for information.
"We heard of the trip through the media, and there were reports of very
high accommodation costs, so we decided to ask for information," Pablo
Secchi, of the Foundation's area of action with politicians, told IPS.
The request was made on Feb. 9 to the office of the presidency, which sent
Senator Fernández as its representative to the signing ceremony of the
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Forced
Disappearance, held in Paris on Feb. 6.
Kirchner's wife, a potential presidential candidate for this year's
Argentine elections, met with French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin,
then interior minister and governing party presidential candidate Nicolas
Sarkozy, and socialist candidate Ségolène Royal.
According to the media, Fernández, whose ratings in the polls suggest she
could succeed Kirchner, travelled with a large contingent of officials
including the presidential spokesman, and stayed at the luxurious Le
Meurice hotel in Paris.
Buenos Aires newspapers said that a room at Le Meurice, located next to
the Place de la Concorde and with views over the Jardins des Tuileries,
costs between 615 and 1,615 euros (between 835 and 2,200 dollars) a night,
and no official denial of this information was issued.
The government has kept mum. After the 10 working days established by the
decree for the executive branch to hand over the information requested, it
asked for an extension. But when the new deadline was up there was still
no answer.
In late March, Poder Ciudadano took the next step in the procedure, by
appealing to the Anti-Corruption Office in the Justice Ministry, which now
has the case file.
"The decree on access to information is one of the most widely used tools
for monitoring the administration, and usually we get a high level of
response, but in this case we still have no news," Secchi said.
The Foundation reported the non-fulfilment of the decree's provisions to
the Anti-Corruption Office, and took it to mean, in practice, "a refusal
to provide the public information requested."
The Anti-Corruption Office has now launched an internal inquiry to find
out why no reply was given. Meanwhile, Fernández has continued to
travel - to Ecuador, Venezuela and Mexico - and Poder Ciudadano is
monitoring her trips closely.
On every trip, the senator meets with academics, members of the business
community and top government figures. "Her appointment schedule is that of
a head of state," the Argentine ambassador to Mexico, Jorge Yoma,
acknowledged prior to the official start of her visit on Monday.
Fernández spoke about Argentina and its relations with the rest of Latin
America at the Colegio de México, a prestigious higher education institute
in the social sciences and humanities, and also spoke to about a hundred
members of the Mexican business community. On Wednesday she will meet with
President Felipe Calderón.
"We are looking into the various trips that the senator has already taken
this year, and those she is planning to the United States and Spain, and
if necessary we can also ask for information on all of these," Secchi
said.
Maria Julia Georgelli, of the information access area of the Civil Rights
Association (ADC), told IPS that "Poder Ciudadano does very good work. It
has an impact, and it contributes to educating citizens about monitoring
public affairs."
Georgelli said that the decree on access to information provides for
reporting to the Anti-Corruption Office if there is no official reply, or
if the reply is not precise, and for an investigation to be carried out.
"In most cases a phone call or an informal request from the
Anti-Corruption Office to the section involved is enough for the
information to be handed over. Taking recourse to legal action is seldom
necessary," she said.
However, there has already been one case of a journalist who did not get a
reply from the Interior Ministry to his request for information about
expenditure of public funds, who initiated legal action in the federal
courts.
A draft law on access to public information was presented in 2001, and
spent several years being debated in both houses of Congress until it lost
active status in early 2006.
Senator Fernández was one of the main critics of the failed draft law,
which had been drawn up with broad participation of civil society
organisations. She wanted private companies to be obliged to disclose
information as well.
To make up for this failure, the president decreed in 2003 that the
executive branch must supply information requested, but this did not
include Congress, the judicial branch nor the office of the public
prosecutor, as the draft law did.
The decree is frequently used, but civil society organisations that
monitor state governance maintain that it is a weak, limited and defective
instrument.
(END)
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