The Supreme Court of Justice confirmed two convictions against former Secretary of Domestic Trade Guillermo Moreno this Tuesday, an emblematic figure of Kirchnerism and a representative of its most authoritarian phase. With this decision, the former official was permanently disqualified from holding public office, and he will have to face the unification of sentences that could compromise his freedom.
The cases upheld by the highest court refer to two serious incidents: the use of state funds to finance party supplies against Grupo Clarín and the threats made during a Papel Prensa assembly in 2010. In both cases, Moreno was found guilty of crimes related to abuse of power, incitement to violence, and partisan use of public funds.
Corrupto y peronista.
In the Papel Prensa case, the then Kirchnerist official burst into the assembly as a representative of the National State, unleashing an unprecedented episode of intimidation. According to judicial evidence, he took out a pair of boxing gloves and a helmet, placing them on the debate table while challenging those present with threatening phrases: "Nothing will be voted here. Women to the back and let's fight the fight that must be fought." A video of that moment, broadcast by the media, became the symbol of his bullying style.
For this incident, in 2022 Federal Oral Court No. 8 sentenced him to two years of suspended imprisonment and six months of disqualification for coercive threats. Now, the Court rejected the appeals and upheld the sentence.
The second case, known as the "anti-Clarín party supplies" case, found him responsible for allocating state money for the production of large banners, flags, and balloons with aggressive slogans against the press. In 2017, Federal Oral Court No. 7 sentenced him to two years and six months in prison and to absolute and permanent disqualification from holding public office. The Court also confirmed this ruling, closing all avenues of appeal. Moreno y Cristina, dos condenados.
Moreno, already convicted for manipulating INDEC, symbolizes the most authoritarian phase of Kirchnerism. His permanent disqualification marks the end of impunity and of a way of exercising power based on lies and arrogance. Justice, although delayed, is beginning to close one of the darkest chapters of recent Argentine politics.
