DistantNews
Support us
🇦🇷 Argentina /Crime & Justice

Diego Santilli taunts Kicillof after court blocks lower age of criminal responsibility, calls for investment and an end to "buying wooden penises"

From Clarín · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Interior Minister Diego Santilli criticized Buenos Aires Governor Axel Kicillof after a court suspended for 60 days the implementation of a juvenile criminal regime lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 14.
  • Provincial Security Minister Javier Alonso said the reform would require specialized courts and prosecutors, detention centers, infrastructure and staff, as well as funds he said the national government owed the province.
  • Santilli responded with sarcasm, invoking a 2021 purchase of wooden penises by the national Health Ministry.

A court ruling suspending for 60 days the application of a lower age of criminal responsibility in Buenos Aires triggered a sharp online clash between national and provincial officials.

Kicillof's silence over the suspension of the new Juvenile Criminal Regime is deafening. In the province, if a 14-year-old criminal kills you while robbing you, he goes unpunished.

· Diego SantilliThe national Interior Minister criticized the Buenos Aires governor after the court suspended the juvenile criminal regime.

Interior Minister Diego Santilli attacked Governor Axel Kicillof for remaining silent after the decision by Marta Elba Pascual, a judge in Lomas de Zamora. "Kicillof's silence over the suspension of the new Juvenile Criminal Regime is deafening. In the province, if a 14-year-old criminal kills you while robbing you, he goes unpunished," Santilli wrote on X. He added: "Once again, the governor is on the criminal's side, never the victim's."

Javier Alonso, Buenos Aires' provincial security minister, answered on Kicillof's behalf. He told Santilli to focus on his own responsibilities and return resources that, he said, the national government had taken from Buenos Aires. "Lowering the age of criminal responsibility is not enough," Alonso wrote. He asked whether the reform would not also require new specialized courts and prosecutors' offices, detention centers, infrastructure and personnel.

Once again, the governor is on the criminal's side, never the victim's.

· Diego SantilliSantilli accused Kicillof of siding with offenders rather than victims.

Without that structure, resources and investment, Alonso said, the reform would be "merely a change on paper. A campaign slogan." He also challenged Santilli for demanding action from the executive branch over a judicial decision, asking whether the country was still a republic or whether expressing outrage on social media was the only thing officials knew how to do for Argentines.

Lowering the age of criminal responsibility is not enough.

· Javier AlonsoThe Buenos Aires provincial security minister argued that the reform would need broader institutional investment.

Santilli then turned to irony and sarcasm, recalling that in 2021 the national Health Ministry, under Alberto Fernández's administration, had purchased wooden penises. He asked Kicillof why he did not sit down with the governor and tell him to stop "buying wooden penises."

Merely a change on paper. A campaign slogan.

· Javier AlonsoAlonso described the reform without additional infrastructure, funding and personnel.
About this summary

Originally published by Clarín in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog