The prosecution of Fernando Espinoza for alleged sexual abuse was left out of the internal discussion in Buenos Aires Peronism. Axel Kicillof supported him with his presence at an event in Lomas del Mirador, La Matanza, the day after Judge Fabiana Galletti’s decision was announced. “We must let Justice act”the mayor of the most populated district in the province defended himself, a slogan in this case shared by the governor and the representatives of La Cámpora.
Espinoza was prosecuted a week ago, but the resolution was known this Monday. The reported incident was on May 10, 2021. A woman who worked in the municipality “in black” accused him of pressuring her to have dinner at her house and, according to her statement, the third time the mayor pulled down his pants, pounced on she with “immodest touching”until he gave up due to his resistance and left angry.
Kicillof shared an activity with the mayor and Verónica Magario, the vice governor and former communal chief of La Matanza, in which the province delivered 50 patrol cars to the district. That same day Espinoza sought to discredit the complaint.
“It is absolutely false. None of the reported events ever happened under any circumstances. This is a false lie. Let’s let Justice act,” he alleged in a press release from the municipality. The judge too prosecuted him for disobediencefor trying to approach the complainant despite the fact that a restraining order had been issued.
“It was an act of management, of delivering patrol cars. The key is what Justice says. She is the only one who has the power to say something about it,” they said near Kicillof about the photo that implied support for the communal chief of La Matanza.
Espinoza is one of the mayors who promote the governor -with less visibility than other peers such as Jorge Ferraresi or Mario Secco- to a more central role in Buenos Aires Peronism, in the face of the ongoing dispute with the organization led by Máximo Kirchner over decision-making and the next electoral pen in the main district of the country.
Even so, in La Cámpora they left outside the internal, Kicillof’s support for Espinozaand they agreed not to fall for Espinoza at least until an eventual conviction. “Justice has to act, which should be expressed as quickly as possible and from the ruling the person involved will have to act accordingly.”“, they transmitted the position from the sector of the head of the Buenos Aires PJ.
““We were victims, we are not going to get into that”they added in reference to Cristina Kirchner’s sentence to six years in prison for the Road Traffic case, and rejected the license request requested by PRO leaders: “Macri was prosecuted and later was acquitted.”
References who respond directly to the vice president were also contemplative with Espinoza. “He is the mayor of the most important district in the suburbs. I’m not going to defend him, but he (for Kicillof) has to support him. If I were governor I would have done the same. Then, if they find him guilty, he should be screwed,” justified a leader who reached out to the former president, without ruling out that they would let go of his hand later, in the event of a conviction.
The prosecution also sneaked into Tuesday’s session in the Deputies, when Macrista Silvia Lospennato asked to vote on a repudiation. “The silence of those who defend gender policies is intolerable”said the PRO legislator.
“What they are doing is nonsense. Submit a file, make a project and we will accompany you. Biribiri is not done with women,” replied Cecilia Moreau, and alluded to the prosecution for sexual abuse of Manuel Mosca, former Buenos Aires legislator from the PRO: “They kept it to themselves for four years, he was president of the Chamber of Deputies. “Don’t be cheeky.”
Lospennato demanded that the Buenos Aires Legislature request Espinoza’s license, although the opposition blocks to Unión por la Patria indicated that at the moment they do not plan to move in that direction. “It is a judicial issue. At most we can promote a repudiation, but nothing has been discussed,” said a PRO provincial deputy.
