After the recent session of the Unicameral, LNM spoke with the radical legislator Brenda Austin on some central issues of the public political debate present among citizens, such as the implementation of a new regulation in the Legislature, the lowering of the age of imputability and the current unfavorable living conditions of the people of Córdoba in relation to the increase in poverty and the decline in employment. He also expressed his opinion on the recent transfer of some opposition provincial leaders to the ranks of the ruling party.
New regulations for the Legislature.
What is your balance – and that of your political space – after Wednesday’s activity at the Unicameral?
-First of all, I want to express that the implementation of the new regulations in the Legislature will result in the arbitrary management of the commissions by the ruling party, which until now chose which topics it put into consideration and blocked the treatment of all the opposition initiatives on campus, are on their way to completion. The reform that we propose establishes clear deadlines for the inclusion in the agenda of the commissions of the projects proposed by the legislators, which will allow a lot of initiatives that the ruling party has been postponing, which have to do with with problems that we have raised in various ways and that until now the only way to bring them to the venue was on boards. In this way, the PJ bench must take a position on crucial issues, such as the 82% mobile and other initiatives that have been presented since December of last year such as: Clean File, the elimination of the Anti-Corruption jurisdiction, the improvement of the health system, Apross , the Retirement Fund and education policy. In this sense, we believe that the dynamics of how the sessions operate will change, allowing it to be an area for debate and search for consensus. At the same time, the impossibility of going to a table treatment with a simple majority will prevent the ruling party from surprising again at the last minute with projects issued by the Executive that not even the ruling party legislators themselves are able to read.
“The new regulations in the Legislature will allow a lot of initiatives that the ruling party has been postponing to be discussed in depth.”
Juvenile delinquency. Age of imputability and new accommodations.
Since the crime of Sebastián Villarreal – at the hands of teenagers – the age for charging juvenile offenders is part of the public and political debate in Córdoba. What is your position in this debate?
-I think that, in truth, here we must focus on an issue that is central for Córdoba, which is security policy. In general terms, the Llaryora Government has been throwing the ball the other way. First, seeking to municipalize prevention tasks and even empowering untrained people to carry less lethal weapons. Then, trying to include in the debate the idea of militarizing the province, making the Armed Forces responsible for the tasks of preventing drug trafficking, when in reality what all this is showing is the collapse of a security policy that is leaking everywhere.. And now, with this new chapter, which is to make it appear that Córdoba’s security problems have to do with the discussion about the age of imputability. I think what we are looking for is to look outward, towards other debates, and not towards the inability of the governor and his minister to hit the nail on the head with a security policy that can give peace of mind to the people of Córdoba, which should express itself comprehensively in various dimensions. On the one hand, in the preparation of police officers, in their equipment, in the conditions they need to be able to provide services; also in the role of the Judicial Branch of Córdoba, in providing resources for investigation and to achieve trials that are quick as well as fair. And, thirdly, a discussion that we must face, which is prison policy, which has been collapsing everywhere, first due to the corruption of its officials. So, the three links that would help provide an improvement in safety standards in Córdoba are failing and that is where the effort must be put.
The Province would intend to carry out a project of new residential establishments for juvenile offenders. Are you aware of the project? Do you have a formed opinion about it?
-Córdoba has a great debt in the housing conditions of young people who are in conflict with the criminal law and there, again, a mea culpa must be made beyond the discussion and pending debate – which is part of the agenda of the National Congress – that it is necessary to modify the age of imputability and build a juvenile criminal regime with appropriate standards for young people.
Poverty, indigence and unemployment.
The Church has reported that poverty reaches 55% and destitution is 17.5%. On the other hand, SME employment is in constant decline. What are the responsibilities that you and your space assign to the provincial and national administrations for the current state of the situation of the people of Córdoba reflected in these statistics?
-That the poverty and indigence indicators in Córdoba are above the national average is really the clearest expression of the failure of the political management of this quarter of a century. Cordoban Peronism has been governing one of the richest provinces in Argentina and has not been able to think of active policies to generate employment, to break the cycle of reproduction of poverty, to think of an educational system that generates equal opportunities and, in definitively, to push a productive framework that does not see the State as a heavy foot that prevents it from growing, but rather as a strategic actor that promotes its development. In this sense, one of the great debts that the province has has to do with how it contributes through the fiscal pressure of the so-called “Córdoba cost” to increasing the cost of production in the province. That is just one of the links in the lack of vision that has meant that, ultimately, the lack of job growth opportunities translates into an increase in poverty and levels of destitution. I think that the Government of Córdoba has the lowest grade there, which is the one that hurts the most and that, in addition, reflects the wrongness of the priorities. While in the campaign they were worried about inaugurating the Ciclovía at high altitude or finishing some of Schiaretti’s lavish road works, the truth is that the people of Córdoba continue to be immersed in the deepening conditions of poverty.
“One of the great debts that the Province has has to do with how it contributes through the fiscal pressure of the so-called “Córdoba cost” to increasing the cost of production in the province.”
Transfers to the “Cordobés Party”.
Last week a sort of mass exodus of provincial radical leaders towards the ranks of the ruling party became visible. What is your reflection on this matter?
-Llaryora and his idea of the “Cordobés Party” the only thing that it reflects is a hegemonic vision of politics, which tries to seek the subordination of those who think differently and not democratic debate, dialogue from the recognition of the legitimacy that different people have. political spaces. This idea of going out to recruit leaders and trying to show them as a war trophy speaks badly of those who do it and speaks badly of those who think that the legitimacy of their actions is going to be built by force of the wallet that disciplines and not of consensual public policies. , as a true statesman would do. On the other hand, it is not a significant number of radical leaders, but rather that photo that was exhibited, which is a fallacious image, which does not reflect the truth from the moment that many of the leaders who appeared there were called to a meeting of management and not to the signing of a pass to this supposed “Cordobés Party”. In fact, days ago I had the opportunity to share a visit in the north of Córdoba with two of these leaders, who clearly expressed their belonging to radicalism. So I believe that this is once again an attempt by Llaryora to try to break the opposition, which has been shown to be strengthened by an electoral result.
