Argentina’s Federal Intelligence Agency (AFI) has called for an investigation into former Argentine president Mauricio Macri for allegedly spying on more than 400 journalists, a source said on Sunday.
Dozens of foreign journalists, including several representing Agence France-Presse, appeared on a list of people to be investigated in relation to the G20 and WTO summits held in Buenos Aires in the past few years.
“The complaint was lodged on Friday and tomorrow [Monday] all the evidence will be presented,” the official source said on condition of anonymity.
Photo: AFP
About 100 academics, businesspeople and prominent figures from civil society also appeared on the list.
The documents relating to the case were found in three dossiers labeled “2017,” “G20 Journalists” and “Miscellaneous,” in a safe in the office of the AFI’s former director of counterintelligence.
Buenos Aires hosted the 11th WTO ministerial conference in 2017 and the 13th G20 summit a year later.
“The investigation into the journalists was straightforward. They dug up information from social media and that way built an ideological and political profile,” the source said.
The complaint was lodged by Cristina Caamano, who has been tasked by Argentine President Alberto Fernandez to carry out an audit of AFI as part of a reorganization process.
According to the complaint, the profile information included “political preferences, social media posts, sympathy for feminist groups, or political and/or cultural content among others.”
The comments included whether or not “they were critical of the current government” of Macri, who held office from 2015 until last year, or showed “affinity for Peronism” or if they “signed a petition for legalized abortion.”
Each profile was marked in either green, yellow or red, supposedly an indication aimed at assisting the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the accreditation processes for the events.
Caamano has asked for an investigation to be opened against former AFI director Gustavo Arribas and his deputy Silvina Majdalani, as well as Macri as the person “responsible for setting strategic guidelines and the objectives of national intelligence policy.”
The complaint states that the background checks on journalists were “neither ordered nor authorized by any magistrate.”
The foreign correspondents association hit out at Macri for the “inadmissible” investigations, while two Argentine press unions also blasted the former administration.
Macri is already under investigation for spying during his presidency on allies and opponents.
On the Chinese microblogging platform Sina Weibo, enthusiastic slackers share their tips: Fill up a thermos with whiskey, do planks or stretches in the work pantry at regular intervals, drink liters of water to prompt lots of trips to the toilet on work time, and, once there, spend time on social media or playing games on your phone. “Not working hard is everyone’s basic right,” one commenter wrote. “With or without legal protection, everyone has the right to not work hard.” Young Chinese people are pushing back against an engrained culture of overwork, and embracing a philosophy of laziness known as “touching
‘STUNNED’: With help from an official at the US Department of Justice, Donald Trump reportedly planned to oust the acting attorney general in a bid to overturn the election Former US president Donald Trump was at his Florida resort on Saturday, beginning post-presidency life while US President Joe Biden settled into the White House, but in Washington and beyond, the chaos of the 45th president’s final days in office continued to throw out damaging aftershocks. In yet another earth-shaking report, the New York Times said that Trump plotted with an official at the US Department of Justice to fire the acting attorney general, then force Georgia Republicans to overturn his defeat in that state. Meanwhile, former acting US secretary of defense Christopher Miller made an extraordinary admission, telling Vanity Fair that
The Palauan president-elect has vowed to stand up to Chinese “bullying” in the Pacific, saying that the archipelago nation is set to stand by its alliances with “true friends,” Taiwan and the US. Surangel Whipps Jr, 52, a supermarket owner and two-time senator from a prominent Palauan family, is to be sworn in as the new president tomorrow, succeeding his brother-in-law, Tommy Remengesau Jr. In a forthright interview, Whipps said that the US had demonstrated over the years that it was a reliable friend of Palau, most recently shown by its delivery of 6,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. “It’s important for
DELIVERING HOPE: The Japanese PM pledged to push ahead with plans to stage the Games, despite polls showing about 80% think they will not or should not happen Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga yesterday vowed to get the COVID-19 pandemic under control and hold the already postponed Olympic Games this summer with ample protection. In a speech opening a new session of parliament, Suga said that his government would revise laws to make disease prevention measures enforceable with penalties and compensation. Early in the pandemic, Japan was able to keep its caseload manageable with nonbinding requests for businesses to close or operate with social distancing, and for people to stay at home, but recent weeks have seen several highs in new cases per day, in part blamed on eased attitudes
RSS