The Argentine Federal Police recently announced the destruction of a printing press in San Isidro, a city in the greater Buenos Aires area, on grounds of manufacturing and selling publications promoting Nazi and antisemitic content.
The Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), a leading organization for Argentina’s Jewish community, triggered the investigation in 2021 when it discovered the sale of books containing Nazi propaganda online. Signs of Nazi symbols such as swastikas, iron crosses, reichsadler (Imperial Eagle), SS (Schutzstaffel), totenkopf (skull)’, and pro-Nazi texts were reported in the offending publications. Following the discovery, DAIA filed a complaint with Buenos Aires authorities, facilitating the two-year investigation.
The operation hit a climax on Wednesday, when the police conducted a raid at “Librería Argentina,” the bookstore in question. The authorities confiscated over two hundred books with illegal content and the tools used for their production. The bookstore’s owner, Pablo Giorgetti, was also arrested and consequently charged with breaching the Anti-Discrimination Law of Argentina.
The Anti-Discrimination Law of Argentina, under Article 3, provides:
- “Those who participate in an organization or carry out propaganda based on ideas or theories of superiority of a race or a group of people of a certain religion, ethnic origin or color will be punished with imprisonment from one month to three years. Those who have as their objective the justification or promotion of racial or religious discrimination in any form.”
- “The same penalty will be incurred by those who, by any means, encourage or incite persecution or hatred against a person or groups of people because of their race, religion, nationality or political ideas.”
Further action can be expected in the ongoing investigation as Police Commissioner General Carlos Alejandro Namandu noted that disrupting the distribution network was merely the first step. The law looks unfavorably not only on those who manufacture such content but also those who consume it, hence sending a clear signal that shoppers for pro-Nazi and antisemitic content are next in line.
More information on the matter can be found here.