Argentina Live this Tuesday a new one controversy related to the Javier Milei’s government and its relationship with the media, after the Executive limited, via decree, the law on access to public information.
Civil organizations and the press They remain concerned about the President’s regulation of the law on access to public information – published this Monday in the Official Gazette – by which the State is not obliged to provide information on the private life of public officials or anything that is preparatory to a State decision – work papers, prior meetings, etc. – In addition, it increases the criteria for exceptions to not provide public information.
For seven years, Argentina has had a law on Access to Public Information, which allows citizens, through a mechanism, the right to access information considered to be public, which has revealed improper behavior by the authorities, has collaborated in the investigation of legal cases or has shed light on meetings of public officials.
According to the decree signed by Mileicitizens would not be able to inquire about who enters the official residence of Olivos, in the province of Buenos Airesor how many dogs accompany the president, because the right of access to public information now excludes that which “pertains to the private sphere of the official or magistrate, especially when the request seeks to enter a typically domestic sphere.”
The Citizen Power Foundation He stressed on his social networks that “no decree can restrict Access to Public Information beyond what is done by the Law democratically sanctioned by the Congress” and recalled that “access to public information is a human right “enshrined in international pacts and treaties” and that “information is in the hands of the State but belongs to the citizens.”
The executive director of Poder Ciudadano, Pablo Secchi, told Radio Mitre on Tuesday that the institution is “analyzing” taking the case to court to “declare the decree unconstitutional.” The alternative is for the government to “realize that what it did was wrong” and reverse the decree.
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He Argentine Journalism Forum (Fopea) rejected the changes introduced by the Milei’s governmentwarned that they “imply a serious democratic setback” because “it discourages citizen participation in state affairs and obscures public management,” and warned that “it attacks all the principles of active transparency.”
Fopea pointed out that the regulation also introduces an article that establishes that “the violation of the principle of good faith by all the intervening actors” that could imply the imposition of compensations.
The forum recalled that “it must be presumed as a rule that all information held by public bodies can and should be disclosed” and that “citizens are the owners of the information.” public information and not the State, so allowing its knowledge is not a discretionary concession of the governments but a regulated imperative.”