Senate resumes sessions, passes AMIA financial compensation bill

The Senate managed to muster quorum with 38 legislators present and resumed sessions after the winter recess. The Upper House of Congress has already passed a bill to compensate victims of the AMIA bombing, and began looking at proposals to start designating judges, as well as other projects.

Senators Norma Morandini, (Civic Front) and María Eugenia Estenssoro (Civic Coalition) criticized several aspects of the AMIA compensation bill.

Morandini, who lost two siblings during the last military dictatorship, didn’t agree with the fact that AMIA compensation will be higher than the one granted to families of victims’ of the last dictatorship. “Why should we make a difference between victims?” Morandini questioned.

Likewise, María Eugenia Estenssoro disagreed with the fact that the AMIA compensation is more the double than the that granted to the Israeli Embassy bombing victims.

This marks the first session after almost a month of inactivity due to the winter break, which was extended slightly because many legislators had been unable to travel back to the capital from the provinces as a result of flight cancellations caused by the return of the ash cloud produced by the Puyehue volcano in Chile.

The Senate paid homage to late Tierra del Fuego Senator José Martínez and his replacement was sworn in. They also paid tribute to the writer and humorist Roberto Fontanarrosa, who died four years ago.