Faced with a violent wave of assassinations, armed assault and other aggressions of
diverse natures that are sweeping the country, Argentine society experiences, each
time more, a profound sensation of anguish and abandonment. An impression is
growing that the social body [of Argentina] has no defense against the aggression of
delinquency and that the state is not fulfilling, today, its most important objective,
which is to protect the lives and goods of its citizens.
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The editorial addresses the problem of “delinquency” as a social problem, focusing on
“[what] could become a virtual collapse of social order.” The author states that, “One of
the most worrisome traits of this new social situation is the appearance of a delinquency
that resorts to violence with total irrationality and, in some cases, with incomprehensible
gratuity.” The author criticizes the “inaction” of legislators and the judicial “corruption”
as contributing to the “collapse of social order.” He points to “an internal process of
institutional and moral decomposition,” demonstrated through the number of police who
habitually commit crimes or belong to criminal gangs. Such criminal involvement
contributes to the “impotence...of the security forces.” As a solution to the problem, the
editorialist calls for the state to fulfill its “essential mission…which is to guarantee public
order and general security.” He warns, “If fear and insecurity continues growing, they
will break the last knots that still maintain community confidence in the institutions [of
the state] and will open the path towards the dissolution of social order.”
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For this
author, rising levels of crime represent a direct threat to the state and to society, not
because of the individual harm that comes from criminal acts but because of the “fear”
and “insecurity” that crime brings.
In an editorial, addressing the “assassination” of journalist José Luis Cabezas,
Mariano Grondona also suggests that crime represents a threat to the state. Cabezas, a
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“Inseguridad y violencia.” La Nación. September 5, 1996.
83
ibid.
Convention