ARGENTINA: POLITICAL TRIAL REMOVES MAYOR OF BUENOS AIRES FROM OFFICE.
| Cargo | Anibal Ibarra |
Buenos Aires Mayor Anibal Ibarra has been removed from office after exactly two-thirds of the Sala Juzgadora, the legislative judicial council set up to conduct a political trial, voted against him. The body of city deputies found him culpable for lapses in municipal control leading to a Dec. 30, 2004, nightclub fire that killed 194 people. Ibarra characterized the decision as "an institutional coup" orchestrated by his political enemies, while a majority of family members of the deceased celebrated the decision to remove him.
Ibarra will try to overturn decision in the courts
The vote was a major fall for Ibarra, a 48-year-old center-left politician who had been one of Argentina's rising stars and a key ally of President Nestor Kirchner. Ibarra is the first mayor to be removed in the history of the city.
Since the pre-New Year fire at the Republica Cromanon nightclub during a concert by the rock band Callejeros, there have been increasing calls for Ibarra's resignation or removal (see NotiSur, 2006-01-27). While the relatives of the victims started the movement, support from Ibarra's opponents gave it political momentum.
Conservative Federal Deputy Mauricio Macri of Propuesta Republicana (PRO), the nation's top opposition leader to Kirchner and his allies, criticized Ibarra's handling of corruption among municipal enforcement agencies, although he denied the "institutional coup" allegation.
Another opposition leader, Elisa Carrio of the Alternativa por una Republica de Iguales (ARI), pointed to the majority in the Sala Juzgadora as a fact that "destroys the thesis of a 'coup.'" Considering the removal to be "a historic step," Carrio said that the "plurality of the political rainbow" that made up the Sala had decided against Ibarra, proving the former mayor's allegations of an illegitimate campaign against him to be false.
The day of his removal, March 7, tight security ringed the hearing room, with police insulating legislators, Ibarra, and his defense team from any who might try to break through the cordon. The vote of two-thirds of the 15 deputies was necessary for Ibarra's removal. The panel voted 10-4 against Ibarra with one abstention, leading to tearful jubilation among the hundreds of family members gathered on the streets outside.
Typical statements from those voting against Ibarra said that the failure to regulate facilities within the city and the fumbled response to the fire fell on Ibarra's head. The city administration failed...
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