In the March 3rd hearing of Case 14.458 Diego Lamagna y family y otros vs. Argentina before the IACHR, the Argentine State withdrew its acknowledgment of responsibility for the repression carried out in 2001, despite having accepted it in 2023. The Argentine government provided no justification for this shift in position during the hearing, attributing it solely to a change in political direction under the current administration. It did not respond to questions regarding the State’s current assessment of the events of December 2001.
The events of December 19 and 20, 2001, were an extreme manifestation of state violence following its unjustified declaration of a State of Siege. The government repressed the right to social protest, resulting in 36 deaths, hundreds of injuries, and 198 arbitrary detentions, all without court orders or legal grounds. Security forces fired lead bullets, killing Diego Lamagna and Gastón Riva, and others.
The evidence, gathered over many years and through court rulings, demonstrates that the country’s top government officials were responsible for these crimes: President De la Rúa, whom we denounced before the IACHR in 2015, and the heads of Security, who unjustifiably declared the state of siege and ordered and carried out the repression.
Human rights violations
The Argentine State is responsible for violating multiple articles of the American Convention on Human Rights:
- The right to life and personal integrity, due to the disproportionate use of force resulting in deaths and serious injuries.
- The right to personal liberty, for arbitrary detentions without legal grounds.
- The right to protest, through criminalization and repression.
- The unconstitutional declaration of a State of Exception, without valid cause, used as a pretext to break up the protest.
- The lack of justice and reparations for the victims and their families.
Impunity prevails
Nearly 25 years later, the investigations remain inconclusive. While some authorities were convicted, former President De la Rúa and those directly responsible for the homicides and injuries caused by police gunfire have never been held accountable. The fragmentation of the proceedings and the lack of State commitment have allowed most of those responsible to avoid trial.
Never again
We requested that the IACHR require the Argentine State to:
1. Acknowledge its international responsibility for the human rights violations committed in December 2001.
2. Reform its legislation on social protest and repeal policies that criminalize it.
3. Regulate the use of force in the context of protests, prohibit the use of lethal weapons, and establish limits on so-called “less lethal” weapons.
4. Create independent organizations to oversee police action and establish protocols to preserve evidence in operations involving repression.
5. Train security forces and justice agents in human rights and the proportionate use of force.
6. Adopt measures of symbolic and material reparations for victims and their families, including the placement of commemorative sidewalk tiles and the implementation of public acts of memory.
The repression of December 19 and 20, 2001, was an attack on democracy. The right to protest cannot be treated as a matter of state security. The discussion before the IACHR remains timely: since December 2023, the government has sought to restrict the right to protest.
Photo: Gonzalo Martínez