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Article

8 Jun 2020

Author:
BA Times (Argentina)

Argentina: Federal Intelligence Agency accused of illegally spying on journlaists, academics, politicians and business leaders during the Macri administration

"AFI conducted illegal espionage on more than 400 journalists during Macri era", 8th June 2020

Allegations of illegal espionage carried out by the Federal Intelligence Agency (AFI) during the Mauricio Macri administration escalated over the weekend, after extraordinary claims emerged that officials had spied on more than 500 journalists, academics, politicians and business leaders.

More than 400 journalists – including two Buenos Aires Times staffers and numerous foreign reporters – appeared on a list of people to be investigated in relation to the G20 and World Trade Organisation (WTO) summits held in Buenos Aires in recent years.

In total, 403 journalists, 28 academics, 58 businesspeople and prominent figures from civil society were allegedly subject to illegal espionage, as well as socialist party leaders. The names, which can be accessed in full here, were filed in an Excel spreadsheet that was presented to courts on Friday and were under embargo until they were made public on Sunday.

The documents relating to the case were found in three dossiers named "2017", "G20 Journalists" and "Miscellaneous," discovered in a safe in the office of the AFI's former director of counterintelligence. Each file contains brief references to the political or social stances of some of the journalists, many gleaned from social media posts, though some had no comment at all, or merely noted that the person worked for a news outlet...