Verbitsky's CELS came out in defense of the K 'ñoqui' who threatened Espert with death

In a new display of ideological cynicism, the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), led by former spy and Kirchnerist operativeHoracio Verbitsky, came out in support of Alesia Abaigar, former official of the Ministry of Women of the province of Buenos Aires, who was arrested for throwing excrement and leaving death threats at the home of liberal lawmaker José Luis Espert.

Abaigar, identified as an activist aligned with the most radicalized Kirchnerism, was arrested after her participation in a violent attack at the legislator's house. The intervention, which included intimidating graffiti and the throwing of fecal matter, was classified by the Judiciary as an act of political violence. After her arrest, she spent 48 hours incommunicado and was transferred to a federal prison, a measure that government officials justified as appropriate given the gravity of the incident.

However, CELS denounced her imprisonment as a case of "selective criminalization", accusing the national government of carrying out a "political persecution". In its statement, the organization asserted that "selective criminalization sends a political message: those who dissent with this government will suffer reprisals, including prison. Those who support it can do and say anything."

This position not only trivializes the seriousness of the attack on a democratically elected official, but also exposes the double moral standard with which the supposed defenders of human rights operate. For CELS, guarantees exist only for those who think like them: if you are a Kirchnerist, everything is permitted; if you are a liberal or right-wing, punishment is the rule.

The statement adds that Abaigar's detention is part of a "political persecution scheme" that would include "harassment on social media," "use of artificial intelligence to create fake news," and "ideological cyber-patrolling." In other words, any state action against crime or violence is reinterpreted, through CELS's activist lens, as an act of fascist repression.

In addition, precedents such as the case of Milagro Sala, arrested for corruption and running a paramilitary organization in Jujuy, and the arrests of March 8, 2017 and June 12, 2024 are cited. In all these episodes, CELS adopts a narrative that equates crime with protest and turns violent actors into victims of a "authoritarian State."

Meanwhile, the organization remains silent in the face of threats, attacks, and hate campaigns suffered daily by current government leaders at the hands of Kirchnerist and piquetero activists. There are no statements regarding the attacks on Javier Milei, Patricia Bullrich, nor about the assaults suffered by liberal journalists and economists.

The supposed "fight for human rights" of CELS is nothing more than an ideological smokescreen to justify the violence of its political allies. The defense of Abaigar doesn't respond to a legal principle, but to partisan loyalty. As in the worst times of the Kirchnerist narrative, impunity is disguised as guaranteeism, and the perpetrators dress as the persecuted.