The Cristina Fernández de Kirchner administration has opened up the debate in Congress over its proposed reform of the intelligence agencies, without the presence of opposition MPs.
The government is confident it will be able to pass the bill and sign it into law before the end of the month.
Today, the current chief of the Intelligence Secretariat (SI, formerly SIDE) Oscar Parrilli and his second, Juan Martín Mena, defended the bill unveiled last Friday alongside Legal and Technical Secretary Carlos Zannini.
Meanwhile, opposition representatives met at 13 pm and decided not to attend the discussion held at the Constitutional Matters and Justice and Crime Commissions. Thus the Radical Party, PRO and the Progressive Front did not participate in the debate over the bill.
Yesterday, Victory Front (FpV) Senator Marcelo Fuentes, chairman of the Constitutional Affairs Committee, took aim at the opposition for their “meaningless” criticism of the bill, saying their proposal to pass all operations carried out by the Judicial Observations Office (DOC) to the Supreme Court was a result of their hatred of Attorney General Alejandra Gils Carbó.
According to the bill, the new intelligence agency will not be allowed to conduct phone-tapping operations, which will be controlled by the Attorney General’s office.
Today, senators from the opposition insisted on passing operations to the Supreme Court and demanded a «broader plan to tackle the Nisman case.»
Source: Buenos Aires Herald