Caught between soldiers and police officers: police violence in contemporary Argentina
2014; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 24; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/10439463.2014.912651
ISSN1477-2728
Autores Tópico(s)Crime, Deviance, and Social Control
ResumoAbstractThe central aim of this study is to examine the continued police violence that followed Argentina's return to democracy in 1983. This article shows that although a clear continuity of violence can be traced in the deployment of security actions between the last military dictatorship of 1976–1983 and the recent democracy of the 1980s and 1990s, instances of variations can be displayed as well: while under military rule hard-line security operations were carried out to neutralise ‘subversion’, under new democracy these were mostly targeted at problems related to ‘violence’ and ‘criminality’. This article begins with a contextualisation of contemporary Argentina before engaging with the relevant literature on legacies of violence. It uses Foucault's theory of discontinuity to address both continuities and changes in the violence and introduces a case of violence that occurred during the dictatorship, comparing it to the practices of the Policía Federal Argentina [Argentine Federal Police; PFA] of the city of Buenos Aires during the democracy. Finally, it addresses the question: Was Buenos Aires guarded by police officers or by soldiers?Keywords: policemilitarycontinuity of violencedemocracy Notes1. The National Commission on the Disappeared (CONADEP; 1986) has officially reported 8960 cases of disappearances, but CONADEP itself and human rights organisations believed the number is closer to 30,000.2. For an analysis of the military trials, see Nino (Citation1996).3. For an analysis of the military reforms, see McSherry (Citation1997) and Saín (Citation2000).4. It beyond the scope of this article analyses police reforms in Argentina. For an analysis of police reforms in Argentina, see Chillier (Citation1998), Tiscornia and Sarrabayrousse (Citation2000), Pita (Citation2003), Hinton (Citation2006) and Saín (Citation2008).5. The PFA's jurisdiction covers the city of Buenos Aires as opposed to the province of Buenos Aires, but from now on I will just say Buenos Aires to refer to the city of Buenos Aires.6. Levels of unemployment increased considerably between the 1980s and 1990s. In October 1983 – just prior to Alfonsín taking office – 3.9% of the population was unemployed. In October 1989, right after Menem took office, the rates of unemployment had increased by 7.1%. While in May 1995, the rates of unemployment reached 18.4%. By October 1998, the rates of unemployment had fallen to 12.4%. So far, the highest rates have been seen in May 2002 (21.5% unemployment), mainly as a result of the economic crisis of the end of 2001 (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos [National Institute of Statistics and Census; INDEC Citation2003a]).7. CELS is a non-governmental organisation founded in 1979, during the last military dictatorship of 1976–1983. Since then, it has been one of the human rights organisations which has worked the most on the problem of police violence. See www.cels.org.ar8. For a similar work, but on an earlier period (1900–1955), see Kalmanowiecki (Citation1995). For a work on contemporary police violence which also takes into account moments of discontinuities, see Stanley (Citation2010).9. From 1985 to 1998, the numbers there were between 30 and 77 police killings per year. For 1985 to 1987, see CELS (Citation1988, p. 38). For 1988, 1989 and 1990, see Pérez and Mochkoffsky (Citation1991, p. 18, 19). For 1991 and 1992, see CELS (Citation1992, p. 3). For 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997, see Tiscornia (Citation1998, p. 80). Although there is no public record of police killings carried out between December 1983 and 1984, the existence of this year's data can be inferred by looking at journalistic sources from 1984. See La Nación (Citation1984, p. 12), Clarín (Citation1984a, p. 41), Clarín (Citation1984b, p. 47). For a general overview of police killings, see Mendez (Citation1999, p. 20).10. The two most significant ‘guerrilla’ movements were the Movimiento Peronista Montonero [Montonero Peronist Movement] and the Ejercito Revolucionario del Pueblo [People's Revolutionary Army] (Novaro Citation2006, p. 47).11. This is seen when an Argentine citizen said, ‘I was very shocked about how they [security forces] left the house [after conducting an operation], but of course, subversives were living there’. Quoted in Novaro and Palermo (Citation2003, p. 134).12. In 2005, the Airport Security Police (PSA) was created and replaced the Aeronautical Police, which has historically depended on the Argentine Air Force.13. The main police norms, the Law No. Decree 333 (Ley Orgánica de la Policía Federal [Organic Law of the Federal Police] Citation1958) was sanctioned under de facto President General Pedro Aramburu (1955–1955) and Ley para el Personal de la Policía Federal Argentina [Law for the Personnel of the Argentine Police; 1979] was sanctioned under the de facto presidency of Rafael Videla (1976–1981) (Oliveira and Tiscornia Citation1997, p. 61)14. Adrián Pelacchi, Chief of the PFA said, ‘(Under the last dictatorship, the police) had a dependence on […] military authority’ (Página/12 Citation1995a, p. 5).15. Until February 2010, the PFA was the only police force in charge of providing security in the city of Buenos Aires. In February 2010, the national government created a local police and carried out a transfer from the Federal Police to the Metropolitan Police (Glanc Citation2011, pp. 242–244).16. By comparing an officer's average monthly salary with the value of the basic food basket per adult, the low income of police officers can be appreciated. In May 1990, an average patrol officer earned an average monthly salary of Australes 650,000.00 – equivalent to US$129.87 – while the value of the basic food basket per adult was Australes 137,130.01 or 21.09% of the basic salary. In the late 1990s, an average patrol officer earned an average monthly salary of Pesos 700 – equivalent to US$700 – while in April 1998 the value of the basic food basket per adult was Pesos 68.22 or 9.74% of his salary. For references to the value of the basic food basket; see Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos [National Institute of Statistics and Census Citation2003b]. For references to wages, see Decree No. 856 (Citation1990) and Hinton (Citation2006, p. 39).17. By the end of 1983, the new chief of the PFA, Antonio Di Vietri said, ‘we are always criticised […] Policemen are connected to torture’ (La Razón Citation1983, p. 8). By 1997 policemen were still seen as ‘prone to abuse power and commit crimes’ (Clarín Citation1997, para. 1).18. As CELS and HRW (Citation1998) show, in 1994 the educational level among the security forces personnel was low: only 3.6% held a technical or university degree; 31.73% a high school certificate, while 64.28% held a primary school qualification and a 0.39% had not completed a primary school qualification (p. 81).19. Given that the problem had continued, in 2011 the Ministry of Security issued the 562/2011 decree which established that extra activities of PFA officers were to be controlled directly by the Ministry of Security, and no longer by the PFA (CELS Citation2012, p. 104).20. The Organic Law of the Federal Police (Citation1958) and the Law for the Personnel of the Argentine Police (1979).21. See Reglamento General de Armas y Tiro (RGPFA 8), Orden del Día No. 167, 28 July Citation1977 [General Guidelines for Firearms and Shooting for the Argentine Federal Police, Daily agenda]. This document was issued under the de facto presidency of Rafael Videla (1976–1981).22. Police edicts were largely drawn up in 1932, but it was not until 1944 that the PFA became authorised to issue and apply edicts. In 1958, with the sanction of the Organic Police Law, the PFA was in charge of the application of the edicts, but no longer of issuing the texts. In 1998, the edicts were revoked. For a detailed analysis of police edicts, see Pita (Citation2003).23. An analysis of the repeal of police edicts is beyond the scope of this article. For an analysis of the repeal of the edicts, see Chillier (Citation1998), Pita (Citation2003) and Tiscornia and Sarrabayrousse Oliveira (Citation2000).
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