Starting from today all tobacco products going out to public must contain written and graphic warning labels about health related risks for the potential consumers. A new law extends for the actual products and commercials.

The law was confirmed back in April 2012. According to the Ministry of Health, tobacco smoking causes over 40,000 annual deaths in Argentina. Until now, cigarette packs included phrases like “Smoking is harmful to health”, which were not strong enough to prevent their massive consumption.

New written warnings contain phrases that respond to the standards of the World Health Organisation, such as: “Smoking causes cancer”, “Smoking causes emphysema” etc.

Mario Virgolini, a coordinator of the National Tabacco Control Programme in the Ministry of Health, brings examples of other countries like Brazil and Canada, where the strong messages on cigarette packs “stimulated the smokers to give up smoking”. He adds that the new messages “help to raise aware about the damage that a smoking habit causes, as the consumer faces another reality.”

Buenos Aires mayor Mauricio Macri yesterday vetoed the ‘non-punishable’ abortion law passed on the 28th September which would have served to legalise abortion in cases of rape or life endangerment of the mother. This news comes just days after the announcement that the first legalised abortion would take place next Tuesday for a woman who had been involved with human trafficking.

The law would have allowed women who were raped to obtain an abortion at any time throughout the pregnancy, and without parental consent for minors from the age of 14.

According to the city government, the new legislation “exceeds” what was established by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation on the 13th March and that its vetoing will ensure that the resolution of the City’s Ministry of Health remains in force. The law was passed with a small majority of 30 votes to 29, and faced controversy from the outset from pro-life groups and the city government.

The decision to veto the law, however, has met opposition from the city, especially in light of the lack of explanation for it. “Macri does not explain why the law exceeds what was established by the Supreme Court… Because it clearly does not,” states Kirchnerist deputy María Rachid.

The latest veto comes as the 107th since the beginning of Macri’s term in office, marking a new record in the history of the city

Today around 11.30am Chilean students restarted protests in front of the University of Santiago. The demonstration was initiated by the Asociation of Secondary School Students (ACES), Coordination of the Secondary School Students (CONES) and supported by the Confederation of the Chilean Students (CONFECh) and a few other social organizations in the country.

This morning’s protest turned violent within its first minutes. Several students intended to break down the barriers of the authorized line. Police reacted immediately with tear gas and water jets; students responded with stones and Molotov cocktails.

This student protest is directly connected with those that kicked off in May 2011. This time, the objective of the protest is to influence debates about the budget law for 2013, which the government plans to approve by the end of the month. Earlier this week, President Sebastián Piñera signed a tax reform that seeks to increase tax revenues by US$1bn annually in order to fund improvements in the education system. He has already approved a law that would reduce the interest on loans for university students from 6% to 2%.

One of the leaders of CONFECh, Noam Titelman, argues that the government should increase the public education budget rather than pretending to improve it.

Buenos Aires is taking steps to get plastic shopping bags out of the city with a regulation that will slowly take the product away from store checkouts.

Following in the province of Buenos Aires’ footsteps, the regulation will implement a series of steps to gradually replace plastic bags. The first tier came into effect on 19th June, when people should have stopped receiving plastic bags from kiosks, pharmacies and deliveries.

From the beginning of August, supermarkets and convenience stores will have to provide biodegradable equivalents to plastic bags or incentives for people who bring their own bags.

The move is a step toward reducing waste in the city of Buenos Aires, which sends 6,000 tonnes of garbage to landfill each day. The issue of rubbish disposal has been a hot topic in the last few months, as the province of Buenos Aires, where the landfills are located, debates a bill that, if passed, will gradually decrease the amount of waste entering the province. From January 2014, no waste would be allowed to enter the province from another district.

Although the law in question – 3147 – was passed in 2009, the city just resolved to regulate it. In its 9th May official bulletin, the city announced the approval of the schedule that would remove plastic bags from checkouts.

Resolution 155/APRA/12 reads that the law “aims to promote the production of biodegradable bags” and “the gradual reduction and subsequent ban on non-biodegradable bag use by businesses.”

Greener Alternatives

The official bulletin also notes “that the plan should also consider the conversion of the biodegradable bag manufacturing sector, developing a schedule for the gradual replacement of non-biodegradable bags with biodegradable bags as well as awareness campaigns for the population.”

The only industries exempt from the law are those that require plastic bags for sanitary reasons, like meat and vegetable sellers and the hospital sector.

Exemptions will also be made for supermarkets and convenience stores that supply customers with new bags that are 55cm wide and 60cm high, 50% of which are green and 50% of which are black. The move is an attempt to get people to recognise the need to separate garbage into biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste.

Stores who wish to use paper bags must follow other regulations as well, according to the city’s website.

“They must be made ​​with certified paper to ensure environmental sustainability in its production cycle,” it says, noting the paper must follow international certification systems, be made from alternatives like cane sugar or be made with least 80% recycled paper.

The plastic bag ban means the Argentine capital is joining a slew of cities around the world that are banning plastic bags, including Toronto, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Mumbai among many others.

Ecoexist is a company that makes eco-friendly bags in Argentina. “The ecological bags have many advantages,” Ecoexist member Sebastián Javelier says in a blog post, publicised on the company’s site, which notes the city’s new stance. “The main one is that the consumer is fully aware that an environmental problem exists, but doesn’t know quite what to do as an individual. These bags intuitively help to reduce garbage, one of the three most important problems of urban life, along with water care and disposal of batteries and electronic waste.”

The province of Buenos Aires moved to limit the use of non-biodegradable plastic bags in 2008, and gave stores a two-year period to adjust before enforcing the law.

To find out what locals think about the initiative, click here.

With an overwhelming 55 votes in favour, Argentine Senators approved a law last night that allows people to change their registered gender to that which they are, not necessarily the gender they were assigned at birth.

The law – which passed at 9.10pm last night – says everyone has the right to recognition of their gender identity, as each person feels, which may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth. As such, any person may request a registry correction regarding gender, and change of first name and image if they do not coincide with their self-perceived gender identity, without any judicial or administrative proceeding.

Moreover, the Argentine newspaper La Nación pointed out today that minors can now change their name with a parent’s permission. If they cannot get a parent’s permission, they can do so through the court system.

La Nación pointed out that more than a thousand supporters waited yesterday in front of Parliament for the passage of the law, which also provides that the hormone treatments and gender reassignment surgery should be covered by health plans without having to wait for a judge’s approval. Minors, too, can be operated on, but only if a judge authorises and someone who wishes it must wait 60 days.

The Parlamentario, an Argentine outlet that focuses on changes in law, reported on the discussion before the law was passed.

Front for Victory Senator Ada Itúrrez, who is also head of the General Law Committee of the Senate, said it was sad the law had not yet been passed.

“It is sad to have in our hands to be able to change these realities and we have not done it,” the senator said. “What are we waiting for? More deaths? More humiliation? More abuse?”

Radical Civic Union Senator Eugenio “Nito” Artaza said that “after this law, many will face the sun,” referring to the party support the project.

The humanitarian organisation, Amnesty International, has appealed to the Mexican Senate to approve a law that would sanction the protection of journalists and human rights activists.

The human rights group claims that the implementation of this amendment will safeguard these groups against threats and attacks.

Amnesty reminded the government that the UN has accorded Mexico the status of the most dangerous country in Latin America for journalists. Sixty-six journalists have been killed in the last 10 years.

In addition, the organisation stated that between 2006 to 2010, 61 human rights activists were killed in the country.

Daniel Zapico, the Amnesty mobilisation coordinator, stated that “every time a journalist or human rights activist is threatened or murdered, Mexico becomes a poorer place; Mexico loses the people who safeguard everyone’s access to information; the people who fight to defend everyone’s rights.”

The National Human Rights Commission has reported a 180% increase in cases of attacks on activists who defend human rights.

Amnesty have launched their appeal through a social media campaign with the hash tag ‘LeyProtección’. More than 20,000 people have shown their support of the petition thus far.

Thousands of illegal miners took to the streets in Peru yesterday to protest new guidelines that would put them behind bars.

About 5,000 demonstrators in the Madre de Dios region protested, demanding that the government repeal the law that would see illegal miners sentenced for up to 10 years.

The law, which will go into effect on 16^th March, sees informal mining criminalised and guidelines for prison sentences being set. Miners involved in the illegal extraction, exploitation and development of minerals have been told to cease activities within 120 days of the bill becoming law.

The new guidelines also set sentences for the employment of minors in the industry, environmental pollution and government officials who authorise informal mining.

Representatives from smaller mining operations argue that the law will mainly affect them, but will benefit larger mining companies. Luis Otzuka, president of the Mining Federation of Madre de Dios, said these small-scale miners are not criminals, but productive people.

According to official data, illegal mining in the country generates around US$1 billion a year and employs more than 100,000 people.

The government argues that the legislation will prevent environmental exploitation and prevent indigenous tribes from being displaced.

Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri has often been criticised by the opposition for taking too many holidays. However, January seems to have been a busy month for the Mayor, who used up much of his time undoing what the legislature did before the closing of the 2011 parliamentary sessions.

Macri’s vetoes have been the talk of the town in the last month, when he rejected 16 laws that had been passed by the legislature between November and December. Over the past four years, Macri has vetoed – totally and partially – more than 100 bills (approximately 7% of all bills passed). As a comparison, in the same period of time President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner vetoed two bills in full (one of which was passed again two years later) and 16 partially.

Vetoes: a constitutional tool

Vetoes are a legitimate tool for governments in presidential systems. Their aim is to give the executive some flexibility and to provide a counterbalance to the legislative power. They are especially useful when the governing party does not have a parliamentary majority. The Constitution of the City of Buenos Aires allows the mayor to veto bills in full or partially (i.e. only certain articles). In both cases, the bill must return to the legislature and the veto can only be lifted with a two-third majority. Overturning a veto can be, then, very difficult.

The Constitution does not set a limit to the number of bills that can be vetoed, however it is usually understood that the power of veto is to be used exceptionally, so as to not encroach in the constitutional division of powers that makes up the base of the political system. Judging whether Macri has used this prerogative responsibly or whether he has abused it can become a very subjective exercise. Political scientist and researcher Facundo Galván believes that the situation in the City of Buenos Aires does not differ greatly from other cases of tension between legislative and executive powers, and that rather than the number of vetoes, it is the justification given in each case that should be considered. On the other hand, Hernán Charosky, the Executive Director of the NGO Poder Ciudadano -where Galván also works -, has recently shown concerns not only about the amount of vetoes carried out by Macri, but also about the mostly social content of the laws that have been rejected by the City government.

Indeed, a report by former legislator Gonzalo Ruanova (Nuevo Encuentro), shows that the most vetoed categories are public space and urban planning, health, labour, human rights and social communication, whilst other sensitive areas like housing, education and culture have also received a significant share of the vetoes. The handling of these areas by the government during its first term has often been controversial, so despite Vice-mayor María Eugenia Vidal’s claim that the laws have been vetoed purely on technical grounds, questions remain as to whether the reasons are really ideological.

Legislature vs. government?

Whether the amount of vetoed laws is excessive or not is debatable. It may not be surprising that the government rejects laws that are ideologically inconsistent with their programme, although it does raise concerns about the encroachment of the executive on the equally legitimate legislative power. But there is one issue that has been brought to attention by the media and the opposition that seems much more difficult for the government to justify: many of the laws vetoed by Macri had been passed with broad majorities and had been voted in by his own party.

According to Ruanova’s report, over 90% of the laws that Macri vetoed over the last four years had been voted by PRO legislators. Furthermore, some of them had been informed by ministerial reports or had been agreed upon with members of the executive -such as the recently vetoed call for an education congress, which was the result of an agreement between Minister Esteban Bullrich and Coalición Cívica legislator Sergio Abrevaya.

Whilst Ruanova acknowledges the legality and legitimacy of the veto as a tool which allows the executive to counter the weight of the legislative power, he considers the current veto frenzy to be yet another show of contempt by Macri towards democratic coexistence. He does not believe that the laws were vetoed because of technical defects, as most of the bills were extensively debated and agreed upon before being voted. “Macri has a contemptuous attitude towards the work of Parliament and the legitimacy of the legislators, whichever party they may be from” he says, adding that “[Macri] looks at the coexistence with other political actors as an annoyance”.

Other members of the opposition, such as Nuevo Encuentro legislator Gabriela Cerruti, have expressed their concerns about what they see as foul play by PRO members who enter political agreements in the legislature only to have them revoked by the executive’s vetoes. Such behaviour could breed mistrust amongst legislators, hindering future negotiations and effectively interfering with the law-making process.

PRO legislators have mostly kept silent about this issue. Most of the public comments on the matter have come from members of the executive, such as Vidal or Chief of Cabinet Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, who have insisted on the technical nature of the vetoes.

In an interview with The Argentina Independent, the head of PRO’s parliamentary group, Fernando de Andreis, minimised the importance of the issue by highlighting the cooperation between government and legislature in their everyday activities. He did not believe the number of vetoes carried out by Macri was a matter of concern and attributed the high percentage of vetoes to laws that had been backed by the PRO bloc as an expression of democracy within the party. Dismissing the notion of party discipline, De Andreis emphasised the freedom awarded to his party’s legislators to hold different views to those of the executive. However, this idea is somewhat weakened by the fact that only three vetoes -out of more than 100- were overturned by the legislature, thus showing that, in practical terms, the government has the final say.

Lead image courtesy of Mauricio Macri on Flickr

The director of the Restitution and Management of Lands Unit, Ricardo Sabogal, has acknowledged that the Victim and Restitution of Land law, which has been passed last December by president Juan Manuel Santos, cannot be applied.

The law, which came into force on the 1^st of January, plans to compensate the victims of the Colombian armed conflict and give back the lands of have been dispossessed. Sabogal is responsible for returning lands to 13 thousand people.

However, according to the government employee, complications have arisen because those who are now in power of stolen lands refuse to return them. He blamed armed groups for the situation.

Therefore, Sabogal explained that the government will try to deliver the lands when security allows them to do so.

He also stated that they will deliver lands in different regions to where the families had originally been dispossessed. This is when the victims fear returning to their place of origin or have established themselves elsewhere.

Since the Victim’s Law bill passed several people who claimed their rights to their lands have been threatened or murdered.

The head of the city government cabinet, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, has confirmed that they will veto the law that plans to regulate trapitos (car parkers).

According to Larreta, legalising the practice is unthinkable because of the mafia-style way in which the car parkers behave. “In many cases… there is pressure, extortion” he told radio station ‘La Red’, “and we are going to veto the law because legalising such an activity doesn’t seem to make sense”.

The law, which was approved by the city council last week, would create a register of car parkers, giving them a set time and place to work, near to sporting, cultural or entertainment events. It would also require that they have a permit issued by the city.

Larreta expressed the city government’s desire to go further, adding “we wanted to ban the activity of the trapitos (car parkers), but we don’t have majority in the city council.”

Instead, he explained, the government should be looking to help them in other ways. “For these people that are doing this job today, we have to help them with employment plans and training, but not by legalising this activity.”