Complaint filed against Argentina's Macri for wide-reaching illegal surveillance

A complaint filed in an Argentine federal court on Tuesday against former President Mauricio Macri, his head of intelligence and former business partner, Gustavo Arribas, and Arribas' deputy, Silvia Majdalani, after files were discovered in the Federal Intelligence Agency (AFI) pointing to extensive warrantless surveillance during Macri's tenure.

In what current AFI Director Cristina Caamaño called a "systemic process of illegal intelligence," the surveillance operation involved warrantless hacking of e-mail accounts of at least 87 individuals - many of them prominent figures in Argentine politics, journalism, labor, law enforcement, and the legal profession.

At least four police departments and one governor were also under surveillance in the program, which files show to have begun no later than June 2, 2016 - six months after Macri took office.

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The complaint, submitted to Federal Judge Marcelo Martínez de Giorgi and prosecutor Jorge di Lello, has rocked Argentine politics not only for the scope of the operation - but for the fact that it included numerous staunch supporters of the former president.

Macri, 61, who was defeated for re-election last October amid the worst recession in two decades, has been the focus of numerous scandals involving alleged warrantless wiretapping of both public figures and relatives - including his own sister, the late Sandra Macri.

Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta, currently Minister of Gender and Diversity, today announced her intention to become the first formal plaintiff in this case. Gómez Alcorta, 47, represented jailed indigenous activist Milagro Sala - a staunch opponent of Macri.

"In my law firm I suffered a rather peculiar robbery, on January 10, 2018," she noted. "They took nothing but my computer."

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Former Argentine President Mauricio Macri; his head of intelligence and former business partner, Gustavo Arribas; and Arribas' deputy (and operational head of intelligence), Silvia Majdalani.

All three are now the focus of a complaint stemming from Federal Intelligence (AFI) files showing extensive (and warrantless) surveillance against both opponents and supporters alike during Macri's 2015-19 tenure.

Macri has been the focus of numerous prior espionage scandals (see https://www.democraticunderground.com/110869037).