Gov't to deploy 6,000 Border guards in Greater BA

Amidst the tensed scenes lived in the City of Buenos Aires and Greater Buenos Aires over angry neighbours overtaking lands, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announced the launching of "operation Guard Watch", which represents the deployment of 6,000 Border guards throughout the Greater Buenos Aires in order to sack down the insecurity wave. The announcement was made through televised speech.

Consisting of 6,000 Border Guard officers along with 443 patrol vehicles, Operation Guard Watch' arrives to battle the organized crime within the 24 districts of the Greater Buenos Aires.

The president also indicated that the operation has an estimated investment of $150 million pesos, and will take effect from January 1st on.

Fernández de Kichner emphasized that this measure "does not mean that the Border Guard will stop watching our borders and defending our national sovereignty", and added, "This is part of the security forces joint operation policy this government implemented back in 2004."

Furthermore, the Head of State thanked the collaboration of the Border Guard as "9,910,000 people live in the Greater Buenos Aires (9,000 square kilometres) according to this year's national census. Such number represents almost 25 percent of the country's population."

After the latest insecurity incidents, including the many land grabs around the city and now at the suburbs, the President remarked that the root problem here is "social inequity and not poverty, but it's not only inequity, we must not forget about the existence of organized crime. Being poor doesn't mean you are a criminal."

The President also took some distance from those saying that the country is submerged in an insecurity wave: "An unsafe country is one in which unemployment rate climbs to 25 percent, and population is not granted to access neither education nor housing. That's unsafe, and that was the country we found in 2003."

"Every time that the ones in power made the population believe that security was above everything, including respect for each other and human life, we did bad, too bad."

Meanwhile, the situation at the Albariño Social Club in Villa Lugano gets worsen as squatters don't want to leave, and neighbours are counterattacking with a series of protests and road blockades.

Likewise, land grabs are multiplying within the City. Retiro's slum 31 inhabitants have overtaken some train and railways lands which are next to the slum.

Furthermore, grabs have been reported in the Grater Buenos Aires and at some other provinces. Anyway, no eviction orders have been submitted yet.

These measures come after the president decided the creation of the Security Ministry for which Nilda Garré (former Defence Minister) was appointed.

Garré has already stepped up to her new position and rapidly brought some changed. Thus, the flaming new minister replaced Federal Police chief Néstor Valleca with Enrique Capdevila, a move that was perceived as a low punch to Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández considering that Valleca was a close ally.