President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has inaugurated the fifth edition of the Tecnópolis science fair held in Villa Martelli, Buenos Aires province, together with Victory Front (FpV) presidential hopeful Daniel Scioli and Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández.
Ms Kirchner dedicated the first minutes of her speech to review recent accomplishments in the country’s economy and stressed that during her mandate, GDP growth has followed a rise in employment rates.
“That is not usual in our country; it means we are growing while including more and more workers in our economy. In other decades, we have growth while excluding workers. That is the difference,” CFK said.
The head of state also affirmed Argentina will again grow this year, following international financial reports that indicated the South American country would return to economic growth.
CFK then announced the distribution of digital mobile classrooms, which include netbooks for students and teachers, and enacted the Universal Child Benefit into law. The bill was approved yesterday in the Lower House.
Before finishing her speech, which was nationally broadcasted, the President spoke about the raid carried out by judicial authorities at the house of journalist and broadcaster Víctor Hugo Morales.
Morales saw his residence in the City of Buenos Aires raided authorities working on the lawsuit held against him by Cablevisión of the Clarín Group.
“I express my solidarity with journalist Víctor Hugo Morales,” the President said.
The procedure was ordered by Fernando Saravia of the 11th Commercial Tribunal, related to a judicial action started by Cablevisión against Morales for having shown on the Channel 7 program «Desayuno» images of the 2000 Intercontinental Cup final between Boca Juniors and Real Madrid. The rights to the game had been bought by the cable company, at a time when all football transmissions were in private hands.
Ms Kirchner interpreted the raid as an attack on freedom of speech: “Have Adepa or Fopea said something about the incident?” she questioned, implying both journalistic organizations are mainly focused on opposing her administration.
“And to think others have charges for money laundering, or committing crimes against humanity, and nothing ever happens, they are not even summoned for questioning,” CFK said in reference of the case against La Nación and Clarín Group owners for allegedly illegally buying the Papel Prensa printing company.
“There are judges who are evidently afraid of Clarín. It is not nice to live in a country where the judiciary fears what a newspaper might say in its front page. This cannot be. It is not democratic. There must be no media pressure on judges. It was not necessary to raid the house of a journalist,” the President concluded.
Fuente: Buenos Aires Herald