A group of citizens, union leaders, members of human rights organizations, workers and university students from Entre Ríos challenged the appointment of one of the members of the General Council of Education chosen by Governor Rogelio Frigerio for his denialist profile. This is Santiago Laumann, a university official until last December and part of the denialist and neo-Nazi political space Renacer, chaired by Carlos Pampillón.
“Someone who integrates and militates in a denialist space, who denies memory and discusses justice regarding the crimes of the last dictatorship, cannot be an educational counselor,” explained Fabiana Dato, a worker at the Autonomous University of Entre Ríos (UADER) and a of the promoters of the Laumann impeachment process, which this Wednesday the 24th will be discussed in the Agreements Commission of the provincial Senate.
Until last December, Laumann was an official at the UADER Faculty of Science and Technology. After assuming the provincial executive, Frigerio appointed Alicia Fregonese to occupy the presidency of the General Council of Education, the highest-ranking public body at the level of local educational policies – Entre Ríos does not have a Ministry of Education – and its three members: Elsa Chapuis, Nora Duré and Santiago Laumann. Although the four took office on December 10, they require the approval of the provincial Senate to remain there.
On March 5, the body of legislators announced the opening of reception of accessions and challenges. Then, videos began to circulate showing the other side of Laumann, who is a teacher and university official. “This person presented himself – in the videos – as a member of the Political Operation Team and coordinator of the province of Entre Ríos of the Renacer Party, a group that clearly endangers democratic values, the rights and guarantees founded in our National Constitution” , raises the challenge that entered the Entre Ríos Senate with more than 200 signatures, among which are those of artists such as Víctor Heredia and Teresa Parodi, and the academic Rita Segato.
“We firmly believe that those who seek to occupy public positions must honor them based on their commitment to democratic values and the defense of the right to truth, justice, reparation and non-repetition of human rights violations,” they maintain in the first paragraphs of the presentation that discusses the member.
Laumann participated in the installation of the Renacer party in Entre Ríos, the “first right-wing party of Argentine patriots, made up entirely of citizens who do not come from politics,” such as its official presentation. “I am one of the five political operators along with a monumental team with tremendously phenomenal leadership from Carlos, whom we are going to support to the death,” he is seen saying in a live broadcast he made three years ago through the You channel. Space tube. He then defined himself as “excited” to have presented the “bases and values” of the party before the local justice system.
Among these bases, which appear on the Renacer website, stands out article 18 dedicated to the “complete memory” that proposes a denialist reading of the crimes against humanity of the last dictatorship: “Review and demystify the figures of the 30 thousand missing, since there is no such number, but rather they do not exceed 6,800,” the text maintains, while advocating “opening a debate on true numbers and bases, not on lies.”
“He cannot be a counselor. He has a denialist profile and in our country it has been decided for a long time that we raise and protect the flag of Never Again, that we defend democratic values. We cannot allow the defense of state terrorism,” Dato postulated.
There are 17 senators who must debate their approval of Laumann. The official bloc, headed by Gustavo Vergara, has eight votes. This Wednesday the collective challenge will be presented at a meeting of the Agreements Commission of the provincial Senate, headed by Senator Juan Cosso, from Villaguay. The group that promotes the discussion hopes that next week they will be summoned to present their reasons.
