Peer Reviewer 1:
I find the report to be accurate and overall fair in its description of the facts. It would be useful though to have an overall analysis on the fight against corruption during the Kirchner administration. Moreover, the report:
1. Does not discuss Kirchner's repeated efforts to further diminish the independence of the judiciary and the pressure he has put on judges handling sensitive cases.
2. Does not say much about the climate of intimidation that Kirchner has created with regard to media reporting, which is, in my opinion, in a worse situation than even during the Menem years.
3. Does not discuss the role of independent agencies, which has been diminished in recent years. It would be useful to briefly analyze the role of the anti-corruption office, which started on a strong footing under de la Rua and is now a much weaker institution since it is staffed with Kirchner's appointees.
4. Does not discuss the way Kirchner has used government ads to keep the media in line with his wishes.
Peer Reviewer 2:
The reporter's notebook is accurate and fair, and I agree with the analysis. Argentina has a long corruption history that the Kirchner government honored. An important detail is that in this country there is a strange relationship between corruption facts and public reaction.
Public opinion turns against compromised officials only when media focus massively on their cases. But public opinion has a short memory and justice is not independent. Moreover, newspapers and TV stations do not help with reminding about these problems, because media have strong business relations with the government.
After the 2001 crisis, the Partido Justicialista returned to the government. In this context, it is impossible to think about changes in the "political color" of the executive in the next years. Opposition is divided, and the fear of another crisis is a strong poison against radical changes. Now that Cristina Fernández de Kirchner won the election, it's improbable that investigations in cases such as Skanska will be independent. Julio de Vido has not been confirmed in the future government yet, but, in line with what Argentine history usually reveals, I believe that we will never know the truth about the suspected contracts in his ministry.
An important issue: Alberto Fernández, the chief-of-staff, has the power to assign public funds (national budget) with no control exercised by Congress, due to a special law known here as "superpowers". This is a significant example of how we live.
Peer Reviewer 3:
The report provides a reasonable overview on corruption and accountability; nevertheless, it presents a few points that should be reviewed for more accuracy and fairness: - in the 2nd paragraph, the author states that the Kirchner administration's only positive step was naming Supreme Court justices Lorenzetti and Zafaroni. I would hold that the more relevant contribution was changing the nominating procedure, and the fact that it was well put in practice when these and other credible judges were named (including the first two female members of the court, Highton de Nolasco and Argibay). More importantly, the statement ignores that in December 2003 the administration passed Decree 1172, which was a major step in providing executive branch freedom of information, as well as public audiences and other transparency/integrity measures that should be noted. This decree has allowed for civil society and media access to information during the past years. - to provide a broader narrative and context, the report could have included some review of media coverage of corruption issues during the period, as well as elements dealing with the opposition's actions on corruption issues (especially from ARI and PRO), congressional and judicial affairs (where most corruption scandals were institutionally tackled), budgetary matters, provincial issues, and citizen participation.
Other minor corrections which should be noted are: - in the 8th paragraph, in using the expression "beyond the government of Kirchner" I believe the author means to say that irregular economic activity occurred long before the Kirchner administration; - in the 11th paragraph, the word despite is followed by "spite" that should be removed. And at the end of the paragraph the reporter mentions that Kirchern accepted "her dismissal," which would better be expressed as "her resignation" (June 16, 2007) - in the 17th paragraph, the name Caludio Uberti is repeated before and after his title.
Other that this, the report does a good job in covering a broad set of corruption aspects, mostly related to the executive branch, and it provides a useful manifestation of what the average citizen's concerns have been during the period under review.
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