Santa Fé harvests benefits of disarmament

INTERVIEW / Diego Martín Poretti

In Argentina, people are already starting to talk about the "Santa Fé case". Known for being one of the most violent municipalities in the country, Santa Fé has been the scene of important civilian response  brought about by political will and public policies focusing on disarmament.

Santa Fé is capital of the province with the same name – it is not the biggest city of the state but it has one of the highest homicide rates in the country. The government chose to address the proliferation of firearms, the main weapon to cause deaths, by seeking aid from its inhabitants. This was accomplished through a strong political movement, by working together with different political and social parties and putting the National Weapons Collection Plan into practice.

The initiative was also supported by NGO’s such as the Red Ciudad por el Desarme (City Network for Disarmament) and the Red Argentina para el Desarme (Argentinean Network for Disarmament).

Comunidad Segura went to Santa Fé to discuss voluntary gun hand in campaign results with the sub secretary for municipal security, Diego Martín Poretti, in charge of the campaign. Santa Fé has one of the highest per capita ratio of weapons collection in Argentina.

How many weapons have been collected in Santa Fé during the National Disarmament Plan?

They were 4,644 weapons in total. That is a lot, considering that the city’s population is 380 thousand.

The number of weapons collected represent what percentage of the total weapons in circulation, in your estimate?

 
It is difficult to quantify the number of weapons in circulation, because Santa Fé is a city with an enormous amount of weapons. However, according to the Renar (the Argentinean National Register of Weapons) records, the city has approximately 13 thousand registered weapons. On the other hand, what is really scary is that illegal weapons may number twice the amount of  registered guns- especially .22, 32, 38 and 9 mm caliber guns.

What are the characteristics of armed violence in your city before the campaign?

The city is characterized by a great number of homicides between people who knew each other.

What are the circumstances of these murders?

Victims and perpetrators know each other, they share some kind of relation. Such relationships may be based on commercial issues - almost always illegal - emotional, territorial, to name a few. This is also true of people wounded by firearms.

In 2007, 498 people were wounded by firearms and there were 116 homicides, whereas in 2008, the registered homicides were 83 – and those wounded by firearm were 421.

These are very high numbers. In 80% of the cases it happens as previously mentioned. From the 83 homicides of 2008, only 11 were associated to robberies. We can therefore say that any banal quarrel can finish in tragedy if we don't lower the number of firearms in circulation even further.

We must note the large numbers of men under the age of 30, whose basic needs are not being met, they too are involved in this madness, either as victims or as aggressors.

And now? Do you believe that there is time to evaluate the impact in the homicide rates?

I believe that it is still very early; we must not to stop the pace of these disarmament actions. These are cities that have lived a long time with a State that is absent in local matters. The Prevention and Citizen Security sub secretary’s office is only a year old– while the city is 148 years old. We must evaluate these policies internally. The data is very preliminary, but unfortunately our societies do not possess mature media prepared for these circumnstances. It is very difficult to deal with these issues.

Why did the city decide to join this national campaign, even though it came from a different political party?

The city government’s belief was, without a doubt, very interesting: consider the diffusion in different media, and especially covering every corner of the city with posters, and reach every home with ads on primetime public television. This made the citizens of Santa Fé show up in great numbers in the offices of  Renar.

The partisan issue must be dealt with independently of all this. The campaign interests all of us, firstly as citizens and secondly as in our capacity as political administrators of the city. When a proposal brings benefits, is coherent, and healthy, we must put political differences aside.

The disarmament process must be atemporal, and therefore, must be established on basis that it does not belong to political party agendas. The battle against the proliferation of firearms is too cruel and harsh for us to limit ourselves to electoral politics.

How was the work with diverse community sectors to come to the results obtained?

A first phase of meetings between distinct areas of the municipal power was elaborated with the objective of exchanging ideas, suggestions and criteria. Later, we called together the Santa Fé society to participate in the debates. One forum of women for disarmament, one for youth, one based on religious beliefs and another related to sports - each one with distinct activities. Among those: expositions, music festivals, marathon races, workshops, murals, strong presence in the media etc.

Moreover, we tried to promote an understanding of the issue of the violence and firearms  from the perspective of youth. The audiovisual language is one of the closest to this age bracket, and the technological advances allowed ample diffusion of techniques and equipment necessary to create audiovisual material, in diverse media: documentaries, fiction, video clips or animation. We received more than 40 productions, and at this moment, we are in the evaluation stage.

It was possible to condense into a one minute piece the way young people look at a problematic circumstance that affects them as victims or aggressors, opening in this way the possibility of expression for new voices and approaches. In the same way, competition opens the possibility for professional groups to direct their attention towards this issue.

Did you obtain the endorsement of law enforcement?

Yes, of course. We work together with the city policy force. They cooperated a lot, participated in many events on the subject. Even the Police Chief and Vice-Chief requested pro-disarmament t-shirts. They also disarm the society, but with mechanisms more of coercion. By joining both the methods, more than 6  thousand weapons were taken out of circulation in one year.

And as far as education is involved?

These sectors have cooperated, but not fully, they do so in individual ways - requesting workshops, lectures, brochures or participating in the Short Documentary Competition - "One minute for disarmament".

Do you believe that the people understood the message of the campaign?

The citizens understood. In three months a thousand weapons were delivered. Courage and explanations were introduced in a society that needs this type of proposal. The main goal was obtained: the debate was open, the discussion at the family table, in the bar, the club, the square, in daily life was set.

Which was the biggest difficulty of the campaign?

The impossibility to place mobile stations inside the city. For us it was fundamental to decentralize the delivery stations. The headquarters of  RENAR are located in a very central place, and this did not facilitate  the delivery of weapons and the ammunition in the outlying areas - to carry these things (weapons) for long distances in the city is not a good idea.

Should the disarmament plan be adopted as State policy, and not an isolated action?

For sure. It must be part of our lives always to remember that the State promotes disarmament, promotes life, and the peaceful resolution of conflicts. A laissez-faire attitude must not prevail in issues that have to do with daily urban violence.

Do you believe that there is an understanding of the issue of violence at the higher levels of the administration?

I believe and stress that the national government does not yet have a clear understanding of the gravity of the issue. There are some old, outdated, inefficient programs still running that target young offenders. There are so many new aspects to the issue, we ought to have a special office dedicated to strenghening such programs.

We do not think that taking out 100 thousand weapons of circulation is a panacea - we take out 100 and 200 come in. I mention the necessity to do nothing without observing the entire map of the problem. More controls, more technology, better trained human resources, more infrastructure, more investment. It is incredible, but still today, in 2009, there are provinces in Argentina that do not have a RENAR office, and where, therefore, the disarmament campaign has never taken place.

Co-translated by Adriana Perusin.