Argentines delivered more than a hundred thousand weapons during the disarmament campaign

An exclusive article for the montlhy newsletter “En la mira – The Latin American Small Arms Watch.” Click here for subscriptions and for previous issues.

Last December finished the national small arms buyback campaign in  Argentina. At the same time, the Congress debates the reach of this campaign, and while the civil society l organizations ask for a permanent campaign, the first evaluations of the results of this small arms control instrument were revealed.

The initial balance is quantitative: 104,782 weapons were collected during the 380 working days of the project duration, and the ammunition voluntarily delivered reached the approximate number of 747,000 rounds.

The disarmament campaign begun in 2007, by initiative of Red Argentina for el Desarme – RAD (Argentine Network for the Disarmament) , a coalition of organizations created in 2004, which proposed to repeat, at a national scale, the experience carried out in the Province of Mendoza in 2000 and 2001.

The persistence of RAD called the attention, in 2006, of Nestor Kirchner´s government, after years during which attempts have failed to implement the voluntary collection in the country. Kirchner sent the project to the Congress, where at least 20 similar initiatives were already registered. The approved project foresaw the following disposals: its application would be responsibility of RENAR (National Arms Register ), but promoted and followed by the NGOs; the provinces and municipalities would be invited to join the project; the delivery would be voluntary, and the exchange would be stimulated by the payment of between 100 and 400 pesos (between 30 and 130 dollars) depending on the weapon’s caliber.

This is how the law was applied, with an addition: it was promised to the city that collected the most weapons, a prize of infrastructural improvements of social interest, financed by the central government.

This last point was not yet fulfilled, but the city of Santa Fé (capital of the province with the same name) claimed the prize for having obtained – as declared by Diego Poretti, supporter of the plan and Sub-secretary for crime prevention of the city - “the biggest percentage of weapons in relation to the population”. Also, as Poretti declared to En La Mira, the impact of the plan´s application is reflecting in better - but not yet excellent - results in the criminal use of weapons in that capital.

The continuity

On December 10th of 2008, coinciding with the end of the weapons collection program, and in the commemoration of the Human Rights day, RAD conducted a press conference in the city of Buenos Aires.

The event occurred in the exact place where  Alfredo Marcenac,18 years old, who was walking, fell mortally wounded by the bullets of a man who shot at a crowd with a pistol. The act was presided by Mónica and Adrián Marcenac, the parents of the young boy, and it was attended by representatives of local organizations and provinces of Santa Fé, Córdoba and Mendoza. Representative of NGOs of Paraguay (CEJ and International Amnesty) and Uruguay (Aludec and Ielsur) also attended the ceremony.

The parents of Alfredo Marcenac, active militants for disarmament, asked for the continuation of the plan and the implementation of weapons control policies in the country.

The Federal Government gave heed to the request. The Minister of Justice, Human Security and Rights, Aníbal Fernández, got the endorsement of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to send the project for the extension of the plan to Congress, but the project was not examined before the closing of the usual sessions of the legislative year, in December, and neither during the recess.

The Argentinean government is being accused, by diverse sectors of politics - in an electoral year – of not having efficient  security policies.

As a reply, the government shows what it considers as “a successful plan for disarmament”, declared Sergio Massa, the Chief of Cabinet, in his briefing to Congress.

However RAD members continue demanding - as Carola Concaro , from Inecip, reminded to En La Mira - “the implantation of an integral and permanent plan of weapons control and disarmament”, and not only a provisory extension of the already approved program.

Success

The NGOs agree that the plan was successful, but they want to go further. They think that there was a lack of a more attractive strategy for stimulation of the provinces and the cities, and also that there was a lack of collection points in some provinces. This deficiency occurred because Renar’s delegations were the only activated places to receive weapons, insufficiency aggravated by the fact that Renar does not have offices in all of the Argentinean territory. The mobile stations where weapons and ammunition were received were installed once the cities revealed interest for their presence, but also depending on the possibilities of Renar itself. Renar has not even autonomy for its own functioning, therefore it depends on the cooperation that is assured by an association that congregates the traders registered for sales of weapons and ammunition - to mobilize their own employees.

In the headquarters of Renar in Buenos Aires more than 34,000 weapons were handed over. It was the station that remained more active throughout the 380 days of the campaign . In quantitative sequence, followed the headquarters in the Federal Capital: Córdoba (9.807), Tucumán (5.521), Quilmes (5.371), the station of the Argentine Federal Shooting Club of Buenos Aires (4.947), Rosário (4.701) e Santa Fé (4.644). There was a  total of 65 stations. The station where the least weapons were received was in the locality of General Villegas, where nine scarce weapons had been collected through a Renar mobile station.

A historical comparison case on voluntary collection campaign in the Province of Mendoza:

From the year 2.000, the government of Mendoza began to show the necessity to implant, as a permanent State policy, the collection of firearms from the population’s hands and its posterior destruction.

In that year, the Province of Mendoza implemented the first weapons collection plan in Argentina, organized by the province´s government and with the contribution of numerous NGOs. This was a pilot experience that lasted three days, in 2000 during Christmas time, and was repeated in 2001, with mobile stations of collection in the cities, during 40 days.
The weapons were exchanged for tickets, which could be used for purchases in local grocer stores.

The concrete result was the collection of almost 3,000 weapons - this without counting connected activities, for example, the non-violence promotion and the improvement of seized small arms storage facilities. The persistence of the Mendoza province, through its government and NGOs to show the necessity to generalize this type of action  all over  of the country included meetings with the at time president Fernando de la Rua,  and with the  Internal Security Council and the delivery of more than 20 projects on the subject in the National Congress.

Also, in October 2001 it was decided to create the Disarmament National Commission, integrated by influential and notable people (such as formers Ministers of State, specialists and people of Mendoza’s government and NGOs). But the commission failed and was disolved after the beginning of its activities, due to the institutional crisis that devastated the country at the end of that year. While the NGOs continued with their proclaiming, in 2004 the Red Argentina for el Desarme – RAD (Argentine Network for the Disarmament)  was created, following the line of conduct initiated in Mendoza by the ONG Espacios, pioneer in the field.

This network united organizations of Mendoza, Córdoba, Santa Fé and Buenos Aires, and they managed to put stronger pressure on the central government.

Finally, in 2006 President Néstor Kirchner decided to advance with a project in the desired direction. Counting on the advising of RAD, the project was elaborated and accomplished having the Mendoza plan as its inspiration, however with some differences, namely: the weapons would be exchanged for money, and the reception stations would be the delegations of National Register of Arms (RENAR) in some points of the country. In 2007 the plan was launched and its implementation was extended to 380 working days.

The impact in Mendoza of the new plan

The National Plan presented some differences from the Exchange of Weapons Plan for Better Conditions of Life:

At the political level: there were no coincidences concerned with this subject between the national and provincial governments. The province did not offer important support.

At the communicational level: A massive advertising campaign was not provided, and due to this fact only some people involved with the weapons control issue (as traders of legal weapons) had knowledge of its existence.

At he logistic level: The weapons were deposited in an official dependence (the local agency of Renar), which physical space was situated in the headquarters of a shooting range. There were only two municipal stations of collection that almost did not received weapons, once its opening lasted only three days in each one of the two cities (Tunuyán y San Martín), without public advertising.

At the social level: The existence of NGOs networks that already had experience on the issue were not taken advantage of; in contrast, the action was closed in the space of the State dependence.

The result: in 380 days of the national plan application in Mendoza 2,152 firearms were received.

Let’s see in the following table similarities and differences of its application in Mendoza:

To conclude:

- The concept in which the idea in Argentina was born in the year 2,000 continues being valid: this type of program must be part of the State policies, maintained long term, making use of transversal and crossed supports between the diverse instances of government and organized civil society and counting on all types of medias.

- A real interest exists in the population to get rid of firearms that exist in their homes, but people hope for public power to arrive as close as possible to its houses, guaranteeing confidence and security.

- It is of vital importance to include the schools in the effort of promoting the disarmament, as well as giving space for NGOs to take the message to the core of the community.

- It is necessary to implement a permanent system of weapons reception for its posterior destruction.