Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07BUENOSAIRES1007
2007-05-23 11:24:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Buenos Aires
Cable title:  

ARGENTINA INAUGURATES OFFICE DEDICATED TO

Tags:  SENV AR 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0018
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #1007/01 1431124
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 231124Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8213
INFO RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 6175
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 6043
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 6452
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 0423
RUEAEPA/HQ EPA WASHINGTON DC
UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 001007 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR OES/PCI LARRY SPERLING AND WHA/BSC
EPA FOR CAM HILL-MACON
BRASILIA FOR JIMMY STORY

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV AR
SUBJECT: ARGENTINA INAUGURATES OFFICE DEDICATED TO
PROSECUTING ENVIRONMENTAL CRIMES


-------
Summary
-------

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 001007

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR OES/PCI LARRY SPERLING AND WHA/BSC
EPA FOR CAM HILL-MACON
BRASILIA FOR JIMMY STORY

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV AR
SUBJECT: ARGENTINA INAUGURATES OFFICE DEDICATED TO
PROSECUTING ENVIRONMENTAL CRIMES


--------------
Summary
--------------


1. Argentina has created its first prosecutorial body
dedicated to fighting crimes against the environment. The
establishment of that office, known by its Spanish acronym
UFIMA, is the latest in a series of steps taken by
Argentina's active environment secretary toward a more
vigorous protection of Argentina's environment. UFIMA's
chief plans to begin his efforts with several high profile
prosecutions, which he hopes will have a deterrent effect on
polluters and others who have never had to fear any legal
consequences from their actions. The creation of such an
institution augurs well for Argentina's nascent movement
toward a real enforcement regime for environmental law.

-------------- ---
A First - Prosecutors Dedicated to Enviro Crimes
-------------- ---


2. The Government of Argentina has for the first time
created an office specifically dedicated to tackling crimes
against the environment. The office, known by its Spanish
acronym UFIMA, began to function only as of mid-April 2007,
and has yet to prosecute its first case.


3. Ramiro Gonzalez, the federal prosecutor who heads UFIMA,
told an Embassy visitor he hopes he and his staff of eighteen
will provide better access to justice for victims of
environmental crimes and serve as a resource for provincial
officials, whom he described as often less sure of their
legal footing when confronting such crime. UFIMA has a
national mandate, and its enabling decree appointed the
federal prosecutors in charge of five regional offices to act
as UFIMA's representatives to ensure coverage in each of
Argentina's twenty-four provinces.


4. UFIMA is the product of an unprecedented cooperation
between the Secretary of the Environment, Romina Picolotti,
and Argentina's attorney general equivalent, Esteban Righi.
Their agreement provides UFIMA relatively generous funding
from Picolotti's recently flush coffers, while giving
Picolotti's secretariat a direct pipeline to feed case leads
to UFIMA's independent prosecutors. Note: Gonzalez stressed
that independence, saying that UFIMA was not just "a stick
for the environment secretary."

--------------
Things are Changing
--------------


5. Picolotti has taken a number of steps to serve notice to
polluters and others who commit crimes against Argentina's
environment that they might be called to account for their
actions. For example, the number of uniformed environmental
inspectors has risen from three to 250 under her watch. Last
month two high level officials from the environment
secretariat traveled to EPA offices in Washington and New

SIPDIS
York to learn about U.S. environmental enforcement. The
unexpected and abrupt May 21 closure by Picolotti's
secretariat of five companies alleged to be dumping directly

SIPDIS
into the massively polluted Riachuelo river, which runs
through Buenos Aires, is another sign that Argentina's
environmental enforcement apparatus is growing teeth. Those
cases will be referred to UFIMA.

--------------
Comment
--------------


6. The establishment of UFIMA will further expand the
relevance of an environment secretariat that has become a
more important part of government since Picolotti took over
almost one year ago. While UFIMA's staff will likely soon be
feeling crushed under the weight of an outpouring of
complaints from victims -- UFIMA will represent for many
their first recognizable opportunity for redress -- Gonzalez
has a plausible plan to ensure UFIMA's effectiveness. He
will focus UFIMA's efforts on a few solid and high-profile
prosecutions early on, and believes their successful
resolution will have an enormous deterrent effect that will
in turn make UFIMA's task more manageable. Even if UFIMA is
initially overwhelmed, the creation of such an institution is

a sign that Argentina's nascent movement toward a credible
enforcement regime for environmental law might be for real.
WAYNE