There are images that sum up an era. While the Justice system continues to pile up case files for corruption allegations involving Martín Insaurralde, former chief of staff of Axel Kicillof, we saw him reappear relaxed, smoking a cigar with a group of friends while enjoying an Argentine national team match during the World Cup. The scene conveyed and continues to provoke a feeling hard to ignore: that of a leader with a truly stone-faced demeanor, convinced that the passage of time, endless judicial delays, and the hidden yet sustained political support he retains will always work in his favor.
Far from dissipating, suspicions about the man who was once one of the most powerful figures in Buenos Aires politics continue to multiply. Recently, a journalistic investigation linked him to an alleged irregular financing structure through the photo fine business in the province of Buenos Aires, based on public contracts that would have strikingly coincided with his arrival at the Chief of Staff office and with family connections under investigation. It will be up to the Justice system to determine responsibilities, but the accumulation of numerous, serious, and consistent clues once again places Insaurralde at the center of a mafia network that exhibits too many coincidences to be ignored.
The photo fine business has been one of the most opaque cash cows of the Buenos Aires state and municipalities for decades. Conceived as a tool to improve road safety, they ended up becoming a formidable collection mechanism, a clear speed trap — as they have been well defined — that punishes taxpayers with increasingly burdensome fines through perverse mechanisms, such as placing cameras in locations where, for example, it is impossible to reduce speed in very short stretches of road.
In fact, this month new increases were applied in that district. For instance, a speeding ticket can range between 340,650 and 2,271,000 pesos. It is clear that these are offenses that should not be committed and that their commission must be punished, but it often happens that behind such a flow of resources there is neither proper control nor the necessary and firm will to prevent accidents or educate drivers, but rather a blatant strategy to increase the vile structure aimed at financing political deals.
The link involving Insaurralde now under investigation by the Justice system adds to other cases against him for illicit enrichment, money laundering, and maneuvers that also involve people in his circle. Added to this are suspicions about his possible connection to the gambling business in the province of Buenos Aires, another activity historically linked to enormous economic, political, and business interests. A recent accounting expert report by Supreme Court specialists and party experts determined that the former mayor of Lomas de Zamora declared lower consumption levels to the tax authorities to make his sworn statements balance, while his lawyers have requested the closure of the illicit enrichment and money laundering case on the pretext that Insaurralde received a loan from his ex-wife Jesica Cirio.
Even more serious is the desperate slowness on the part of the Justice system. Almost three years have passed since the so-called yategate scandal, and no concrete progress commensurate with the magnitude of the case has yet been seen. The case files advance at a pace incompatible with the seriousness of the allegations.
The same sluggishness is observed in the investigation into the millions of dollars found in a dressing room, which only now the Justice system attributes to Insaurralde. What in any country should have provoked an immediate judicial reaction continues to dissolve amid delayed expert reports, procedural tricks, and all kinds of ruses.
As if nothing were happening, the former official continues to maintain political contacts from various offices, accompanied by security guards. This persistence of power ties, even under the weight of such accusations, constitutes another expression of the institutional deterioration that we Argentines have tolerated for too long.
If it is already unsustainable that certain criminals remain free of guilt and punishment, that they continue to show off as they do can only be explained by the expectation of impunity they keep intact.
The credibility of institutions demands that investigations move forward swiftly, respecting guarantees and not allowing time to become the main and most precious ally of those who must answer to the law and citizens.
Para mí este tipo es la mugre kirchnerista, fumando puros mientras el país se va al carajo. La Justicia duerme cómplice, como siempre. Esto huele a impunidad total, basta de privilegios para estos delincuentes. ¡Que les caiga todo el peso de la ley, carajo!
Para mí este burgués de mierda se fuma un habano mientras chorea hasta las fotomultas y la Justicia duerme como siempre. Si fuera peroncho de barrio ya estaría podrido en Devoto. Me parece un asco tanta impunidad para los amigos del poder. ¡Basta de privilegios, aguante la lucha de clases carajo!