Statements by the Buenos Aires province Security Minister have reheated the debate over Argentina’s military service. Alejandro Granados has expressed his support of a “popular referendum” on the matter.
“It would be important to make a popular referendum; it is always good to know what the majority of people think,” the provincial official told reporters this morning.
It was BA province senator Mario Ishii the first to publicly say that a plebiscite was the way to determine whether the compulsory military service should be re-established in the South American country, where a 1995 Act declared the service “voluntary” following the murder of conscript Omar Carrasco in 1994.
“If the function of the Armed Forces would be that of collaborating with the interior security, it would be great,” the minister added but pointed out that if the measure would make “soldiers to be in the barracks, then its no good.”
Meanwhile, federal government voices ratified their disapproval of the initiative considering the compulsory military service would not help tackling crime. According to national Defence Minister Agustín Rossi, such a move would have “no logic», «neither from the point of view of social policies nor from the point of view of defence policies.»
buenosairesherald.com