Argentine Federal Police: Difference between revisions

{{Infobox law enforcement agency

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<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Argentine Police Helicopter.jpg|thumb|240px|[[Police helicopter]] of the Policía Federal in 2014]] -->

 

 

==History==

Incidents of social unrest in subsequent years helped prompt the Fraga Law in 1904, which provided for the inclusion of neighborhood representatives as [[commissioner]]s in their respective precincts. The failed [[Argentine Revolution of 1905|Revolution of 1905]], by which the [[Radical Civic Union|UCR]] sought to bring about reforms to the undemocratic [[Argentine presidential elections, 1862-1910|electoral system]], led to the appointment of a conservative congressman, retired Col. [[Ramón Falcón]], to the post of chief of police; Falcón's repressive tenure ended with his 1909 assassination.<ref>Pigna, Felipe. ''Los mitos de la historia argentina 2: De San Martín a 'El granero del mundo'.'' Buenos Aires: Planeta, 2005.</ref>

 

 

The Federal Police changed slowly in its organizational structure in subsequent decades. Initially maintaining 45 precincts, it added five in 1946, two in 1976, and a 53rd in 1999. Its subordinate role to the national executive increasingly made the force a political instrument during the country's often authoritarian regimes. General [[Juan Carlos Onganía]], president after a 1966 coup, named a Federal Police director, Luis Margaride, who shared his distaste for modern culture, resulting in crusades against nightclubs, long hair, and miniskirts.<ref name=andersen>Andersen, Martin. ''Dossier Secreto''. Westview Press, 1993.</ref> Facing a government policy backdrop such as this, numerous avant-garde artists (and others, [[Noche de los Bastones Largos|particularly in academia]]) left Argentina, many never to return.<ref name=andersen/> The return of exiled President [[Juan Perón]] in 1973 resulted in conflict with the PFA, when the calculating populist had Alberto Villar named as chief at the behest of adviser [[José López Rega]]. Villar was a member of López Rega's newly organized [[paramilitary]] group, the [[Argentine Anticommunist Alliance]], and Villar's participation in spiraling violence between the group and those on the far left led to his assassination in 1974. The institution's prestige was further damaged following the [[March 1976 coup]], when the force participated in the abduction, torture and murder of thousands of dissidents and others.<ref name=andersen/> It was only with the 1983 presidential elections (and the return to democratic rule) that the FP began restoring its prestige and its relations with the Argentine people, especially with the 1986 appointment of Juan Angel Pirker as police commissioner general.

 

 

The controversial bill, signed in 1996 by President Menem, remained a sticking point between successive Presidents (most of whom have been Peronist) and Buenos Aires Mayors (none of whom have been). A 2005 agreement on principles between Mayor [[Aníbal Ibarra]] and President [[Néstor Kirchner]] was followed by the modification of the especially contentious article 7, which denied the city its own, local police force, in 2007 - though the "Cafiero Law" otherwise remains in force. Efforts since 2007 by Mayor [[Mauricio Macri]] to declare it unconstitutional have thus far failed, and though the Mayor inaugurated a Metropolitan Police, issues of [[revenue sharing]] for its financing remain pending.<ref>[http://parlamentario.com/noticia-11839.html ''Parlamentario'': Piden que declaren inconstitucional la ley Cafiero {{in lang|es}}]</ref>

[[File:Buenos Aires - 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay - 20080411-8.jpg|thumb|240px|PFA officers during the 2008 Olympic Torch Relay in Buenos Aires]]

 

 

 

The organization of the PFA is as follows:

[[File:Geof.JPG|thumb|240px|Grupo Especial de Operaciones Federales (GEOF)]]

 

{{main|Grupo Especial de Operaciones Federales (Argentina)}}

The GEOF is a specialized police unit of the General Directorate of International Terrorism and Complex Crimes. Although the existence of [[special forces]] in Argentina begins in 1930, the unit was officially created after the [[1994 AMIA bombing]]. In 1994 its first section was established in [[San Miguel de Tucumán|Tucumán]] and in 1997 a second division was constituted in [[Rosario]]. In the next year the [[Buenos Aires]] group was formed.

 

===Special Group One===

[[File:Abajo el tarifazo 2.jpg|thumb|240px|[[Ford Focus]] of the PFA]]

[[File:Ranger_PFA_en_Retiro.jpg|thumb|240px|[[Ford Ranger]] of the PFA]]

 

===Aircraft===

*[[H-S Precision Pro Series 2000 HTR|H-S Precision HTR]]

*[[M110 SASS]]

 

==References==