MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Cristina Fernandez lawmaker says “no formal decision” on constitutional reform

Lawmaker Kunkel, considered an “ultra K”: “amending the constitution to the XXIst century”

A close advisor to President Cristina Fernandez lawmaker Carlos Kunkel defended the possibility of amendments to the 1994 Argentine constitution but cautioned that “no formal decision about it has been made on a congressional or party level.”

While strongly criticizing the opposition, Kunkel said that “several political leaders and intellectuals suggest the need to revise the Constitution, but every time we try to introduce a bill calling for it, the right jumps to bite our throats.”

“Now they say that you can’t revise the Constitution in a democracy. I don’t agree with that,” he continued.

“What we’re taking about is an amendment that updates the Constitution to the 21st century,” he said. He insisted, however, that “no formal decision about it has been made on a congressional or party level.”

When asked about the possibility of a re-re-election for President Cristina Fernández, he replied that that is something that would be discussed later on. “Whoever is in office will be determined by the population, candidates and Peronism in 2014. This is not the year to talk about that,” he said.

Kunkel also referred to Buenos Aires province governor Daniel Scioli’s presidential aspirations for 2015. “That year is still too far away,” he replied.

Meanwhile pro government officials and opposition leaders came on stage to, once again, express their views on last Thursday’s massive turnout with different interpretations of the scope of the nationwide pot-banging outburst.

The ruling coalition’s Victory Front Deputy Fernando Navarro said that “it was a protest expressing the discontent of a very specific social sector. Most of those who marched in the City of Buenos Aires are the ones that voted against President Cristina Fernández during last year general election”.

In addition, the lawmaker said: “The protest was aimed at politics in general. If there are 25.000 thousand people in the City of Buenos Aires who can go out to express dissatisfaction against the government is because there is no opposition political party to channel their claims and come up with new proposals”.

Asked about the possibility of calling for a counter-march to support the National Government, Navarro said: “We are not organizing any counter-march. The President had the support of 54% of the vote just a few months ago.

Meanwhile, Transport Secretary Alejandro Ramos aimed at anti-government media groups and said that ”The only pots and pans we have to pay attention are those that are still empty, those of the people who do not have access to the media yet, those who are not shown anywhere by the wealthy economic groups.”

It also clarified that “we live in a country with full democracy, we respect anyone who wants to develop but our goal is to continue to deepen the model reaching the poor people.”

Meanwhile, Socialist leader and former presidential candidate Hermes Binner, remarked that “The people have lost their fear, so they go out into the streets to claim for more democracy. If we [politicians] do not address the demand of the people, the following protests will be more numerous.”

Buenos Aires City deputy mayor María Eugenia Vidal criticized Cabinet Chief Juan Manuel Abal Medina’s comments regarding Thursday’s massive demonstrations and “hoped that he did not express what the President thinks.”

“Hopefully he does not express what the President thinks, because that was a provoking message,” following Abal Medina’s comments stating that the demonstrations were led by “minority sectors who are more worried about what is going on in Miami than in Argentina.”
Vidal insisted that Thursday’s protest were not led by a minority sector and one mustn’t prejudge. “The message is for everyone but particularly for the National Government. What people asked all of us, but particularly to the President, is that we listen and think and take charge of the problems that anguish people every day,” she told a local radio.

“There are a series of measures affecting individual liberties, from the liberty of not being able to leave your house without knowing if you will be alive at the end of the day, to the liberty of deciding that to do with your savings and how much money you will spend if you travel,” she added.

“I think that many of those who voted for the President were there in Plaza de Mayo and this is related to the fact that she did not mention these kinds of measures during her electoral campaign last year”.