RIGHTS-ARGENTINA: Hunger Strike Affair Mars President’s TV Appearance

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Dec 22 2000 (IPS) - The government and public opinion in Argentina expressed concern Friday over the ease with which a man in the audience grabbed President Fernando de la Rúa’s tie on a popular local TV show to urge him to do something to save 13 political prisoners who have been fasting for 109 days.

Ernesto Belli, 22, accosted De la Rúa Thursday night before the cameras on the set of the ‘Videomatch’ variety show, hugging the president and grabbing his tie, in a gesture more of entreaty than of aggression, and asking him “to do something” for the hunger strikers, “who are dying.”

The 13 hunger strikers were convicted for the 1989 assault on the La Tablada military garrison, near Buenos Aires, staged by the leftist ‘Movimiento Todos por la Patria’. The attack left a death toll of 39 army troops and guerrillas. The perpetrators also claim that three of the group’s members disappeared.

Presidential spokesperson Ricardo Ostuni said Friday that changes in the president’s security arrangements were being studied.

Meanwhile, viewers who saw the Thursday episode of ‘Videomatch’, Argentina’s most popular evening comedy programme, expressed on radio talk shows and to other media a mix of surprise and indignation over how easy it was for Belli to approach the president.

De la Rúa’s public relations advisers agreed that he could appear on the show to respond in a friendly manner to the jokes of an actor who imitates him. The character is a somewhat disoriented old man who mumbles, forgets the punchlines of his jokes, frequently wanders about and gets lost, and is ridiculed by the entire cast.

But what was supposed to be a friendly gesture aimed at showing a relaxed president a few days after his announcement of a 40 billion dollar IMF-led bail-out turned into an awkward, tense experience.

Belli, the son of one of the guerrillas killed in the La Tablada assault, was in the studio audience, but not to watch the show: his aim was to approach the president and ask him to come up with a solution to the hunger strike.

This was not the first time a member of the public approached De la Rúa unannounced to plead for the hunger strikers. In October, as the president was taking part in a ceremony at the Spanish Royal Academy in Madrid, a man tossed him a note asking him to take measures to resolve the situation of the 13 prisoners.

Those detained in connection with the La Tablada assault were tried under a special law on “defence of democracy,” which deprived them of an appeal. Nearly all of them were sentenced to life in prison, in a short trial replete with irregularities.

Human rights groups filed complaints, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) recommended three years ago that the Argentine state take measures to grant the prisoners an appeal, a retrial, or freedom.

But when the government failed to act, the prisoners, who have spent more than 10 years in jail, began an initial hunger strike, which they called off after 45 days when legislators from the ruling alliance and the opposition and government officials pledged to come up with a quick solution to the IACHR’s demands.

But Congress subsequently failed to ratify any one of several bills which were aimed at modifying the law on “defence of democracy” to give the prisoners the right to appeal their sentences, and the 13 declared a second hunger strike, which has lasted 109 days.

The president acknowledged the need to seek a solution to the case, and ordered the attorney-general to present a plea to the appeals court. The court rejected it, and on Thursday, the Supreme Court did the same.

The president described the Supreme Court decision as “bad news.” He added that he was considering further steps to take, such as a decree to allow the prisoners to appeal their sentences.

De la Rúa’s presence on ‘Videomatch’ was designed to be a moment of light, easygoing humour in a busy schedule. But the relaxed atmosphere turned tense when Belli confronted him on the set.

The president said the case was important, and stressed that the government cared. He added that he had been disappointed with the Supreme Court verdict, and that he was checking into the next step to be taken.

On Friday, the hot issue of the critical state of health of the La Tablada prisoners was overshadowed by the question of the president’s security.

Spokesman Ostuni admitted that there were flaws. But he also protested at the scarce security measures taken by the programme’s production team, which could have saved the president an awkward experience.