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CFK names professional politician and bureaucrat Defence minister

Wednesday, December 15th 2010 - 02:57 UTC
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Former Santa Cruz Governor Arturo Antonio Puricelli  Sociedad Former Santa Cruz Governor Arturo Antonio Puricelli Sociedad

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner appointed on Tuesday former provincial governor Arturo Antonio Puricelli to replace Defence Minister Nilda Garre, who will be taking the reins the new ministry responsible for domestic security.

Puricelli was governor of Mrs. Kirchner’s home province of Santa Cruz from 1983 to 1987, and since 2006 has been in charge of the country's munitions and explosives factories, Fabricaciones Militares, run by the Planning Ministry.

Puricelli will head a ministry that for years has been assigned a low priority for funding. The government's 2011 budget proposal earmarked 15.16 billion pesos (3.8 billion USD) for the Defence Ministry, equivalent to 4.1% of the overall budget.

The incoming Defence minister also held jobs under the administrations of Carlos Menem and Eduardo Duhalde (post office, airports regulator and liaison with provincial governments) but ‘in spite of coincidences and differences” with former Nestor Kirchner, in 2006 on taking office as head of Fabricaciones Militares he said “the President can be absolutely certain that I will be the most loyal, sacrificed and interested party that the task I have been assigned will be accomplished in the best possible way”.

Garre, a human rights lawyer and former guerrilla, was named Defence Minister by former president Nestor Kirchner in 2005 and staid on after Cristina Fernandez took office in December 2007. Her achievements included improvements in pay, housing and education for members of the armed forces and their families.

However, Garre's final months at the ministry were marred by accusations that she denied promotions to officers who were family members of military personnel accused of human rights violations during the military dictatorship that ruled the country from 1976 to 1983.

Last Friday, Mrs Kirchner named Garre to head the newly created Security Ministry that will oversee the federal police, coast guard, Gendarmerie and airport security services. Previously, those domestic security bodies fell under the jurisdiction of the Justice Ministry, although Cabinet Chief Anibal Fernandez was widely believed to exercise considerable control over the federal police force.

The cabinet shake-up coincided with last week's occupation of a large public park in the capital Buenos Aires by squatters that in recent days has snowballed to include several copy-cat land takeovers in other parts of the city.

Garre and Puricelli are scheduled to be sworn into office on Wednesday 17:00 hours at Government House.
 

Categories: Politics, Argentina.

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  • xbarilox

    That guy is just another ball-less prat and will be Nilda Garré's wife.

    Here's a GIF with Nilda Garré in the 70s in Tucumán. She's the one in the area marked by a square. This is the kind of people Cristina Fernández de Kirchner feels proud of :) Nilda Garré is known with the funny nickname of “Comandante Teresa”

    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_JwB7PaDUvfQ/StgWw6_rKdI/AAAAAAAABeU/0Kut5xtIT0g/s1600-h/1.GIF

    And Nilda Garré was also part of dictatorships: Onganía, Levingston and Lanusse. During the government of Perón and Isabel, she voted for the famous “Operativo Independencia” which aimed to anihilate all subversive elements throughout the country. During the government of Menem, she also earned big money. In 1983 she was paid 400,000 and 600,000 american dollars for her participation as a “guerrillera”. It's so easy to be a revolutionary with your pockets full of money :) People don't want to know, that's why this woman Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is “president”. She's a huge floater that just don't want to sink, but it will.

    Dec 15th, 2010 - 05:31 pm 0
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