Peronist Alberto Fernández, former president of Argentina (2019-2023), was indicted this Wednesday (4) by the Public Ministry on suspicion of having abusively extended the lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to information from the newspaper Clarín, prosecutor Carlos Stornelli accused him of abuse of authority and violation of the duties of a public servant for his management of the pandemic, between 2020 and 2021.
The measure was taken by the MP after a representation made by deputy Yamil Santoro, from the City of Buenos Aires, based on comments about the restrictive measures made by Martín Guzmán, Minister of Economy during the Fernández administration between 2019 and 2022.
In an interview earlier this week with a YouTube channel, Guzmán said that “the management of the pandemic was what strengthened the government” and that “the extension [do lockdown] was longer than it should have been.”
In the complaint, Stornelli, from the National Criminal and Correctional Federal Prosecutor’s Office No. 4, stated that in the interview the former minister, “given the technical information he had, [disse que as medidas de enfrentamento à pandemia] were longer than they should have been” and that he complied for “reasons of political convenience.”
In order to continue the investigations, the prosecutor requested that copies of all regulations imposing restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic issued by the Fernández government be requested; information from the World Health Organization (WHO) on what and for how long measures were taken by other countries and what their consequences were on the freedom of citizens and the prevention of contagion; and that economists and representatives of business organizations provide information on the impacts of health measures on the Argentine economy.
Fernández, who left the Casa Rosada in December 2023, had already been indicted by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in August, on accusations of assaults against former First Lady Fabiola Yañez, and in February, on evidence of an alleged scheme to embezzle public funds at the National Social Security Administration (Anses), the country’s social security agency.
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