Argentina to Remove Civilian Control on Military Training

A group of opposition senators and representatives criticized Thursday conservative President Mauricio Macri for attempting to remove the mechanisms of civilian control over military training.

“(Macri's government) is de facto intervening in a public university,” they said in a document demanding the legislative power to investigate the issue, quoted by daily Pagina 12.

The online paper suggested that Macri's administration was justifying the measure over budget restrictions, as it means to cut down the university staff and claim back the use of university facilities.

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However the move really means to re-establish corporate privileges and eliminate the civilian oversight of military training, warned members of the University of National Defense quoted by Pagina 12.

The civilian oversight of military training is an important instrument aimed at creating a pattern of military obedience toward civilian authorities and avoiding military coups – unlike other examples of Argentina's recent history.

Civilian control over military training was implemented in 2003 under progressive President Nestor Kirchner, through two executive orders that explicitly put the Ministry of Defense in charge of military training.

Two years later, a special commission started working on the creation of the Undef, whose opening was fomalized with legislative approval in 2014.

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