27 Jan 2021
An Argentine senator defended his province’s governor from accusations of human rights violations against suspected coronavirus patients Tuesday by declaring, “you have rights, but not in a pandemic.”
José Mayans represents the northern inland province of Formosa, one of the nation’s poorest and most remote. A member of the pan-ideological Justicialist Party, once run by Juan Perón, he is now the Senate leader of a leftist coalition in Congress known as the “Front for All.” Mayans was reportedly responding to a bombshell investigation by a Formosa councilwoman last week that revealed officials forcing individuals into isolation centers against their will, including many who had not tested positive for Chinese coronavirus and some who had tested negative. The councilwoman behind the investigation, Gabriela Neme, was arrested while filming what she called “inhuman conditions” in those centers.