Argentina: Reporters Without Borders alerts on push by right-wing lawmakers to intimidate reporters
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) issued an alert over an attempt to intimidate three independent journalists in Argentina by right-wing lawmakers.
RSF condemned a criminal complaint filed this week against Ari Lijalad, Franco Mizrahi and Roberto Navarro of the popular center-left news journal El Destape ('The Reveal'), by four congressmen from the right-wing 'Together for Change' coalition.
The complaint is over the publication of snippets from intelligence files linked to a political espionage scandal dating from the 2015-19 Mauricio Macri administration.
The files, obtained from the Federal Intelligence Agency (AFI), showed that Julián Stornelli, the son of a federal prosecutor with close ties to Macri (Carlos Stornelli), had been an AFI agent as recently as 2016.
Julián Stornelli's AFI post appears to confirm allegations that the AFI had colluded with his father Carlos in a wide-reaching espionage and extortion campaign against opponents and public contractors during Macri's tenure.
Extornelli
Numerous AFI agents - as well as Federal Prosecutor Carlos Stornelli - have been indicted since 2019 in connection with the related d'Alessiogate extortion and espionage case, in which Stornelli is alleged to have collected at least $12 million in ransom payments from framed victims.
Both Marcelo d'Alessio and Stornelli have close and longstanding ties to former President Macri.
"The selectivity of the complaint for a crime with penalties of up to 6 years in prison acquires retaliatory overtones for the information about a widespread illegal espionage plot that would have operated between 2016 and 2019," RSF declared in its Spanish Twitter page.
"The essential commitment of journalism is with the right of people to be informed. Excuses such as 'breach of secrets concerning security' should not be used to censor voices for other purposes."
At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&tab=wT&sl=es&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eldestapeweb.com%2Fpolitica%2Flibertad-de-expresion%2Freporteros-sin-fronteras-condeno-la-persecucion-del-macrismo-contra-periodistas-de-el-destape-2020101619170
Journalists Ari Lijalad, Franco Mizrahi and Roberto Navarro of the popular Argentine news journal El Destape.
A criminal complaint filed against them this week by four right-wing congressmen for revealing further links between Argentine intelligence and indicted prosecutor Carlos Stornelli in a 2016-19 espionage and extortion case was condemned by RSF as an "attempted intimidation."
The four congressmen are close to former President Mauricio Macri, under whose tenure the abuses took place.
= new reply since forum marked as read
During Macri's four years in office - which in many ways resembled our experience under Cheeto - McCarthyism and a weaponized judiciary against opponents very much became centerpieces of political life.
But four years of trickle-down, abuse of power, ineptitude, fake news, large-scale corruption, and crisis ultimately did Mr. Macri in - and his army of media, judicial, and corporate backers couldn't save him.
Stop me if any of this sounds familiar...
Argentina's Macri and friend: parallel fates?