Juan Carlos Blumberg
Encyclopedia
Juan Carlos Blumberg is an Argentine
textile entrepreneur and victims' rights
advocate who rose to prominence following the 2004 murder of his son, Axel Blumberg
.
, Buenos Aires
. He enrolled at the National Technological University and pursued a degree in textile engineering, though he reportedly left in 1966 to pursue an interest in traditional Lithuanian dancing. Blumberg publicly referred to himself as an "engineer" graduated in Reutlingen University
(Germany
), although a journalistic investigation revealed on 15 June 2007 that this claim is false.
Blumberg lost his son Axel Blumberg
, an engineering student, after a kidnapping resulted in the latter's murder on March 22, 2004. Argentina was at the time in the midst of a wave of extorsion kidnapping
s, often remaining unsolved after badly conducted investigations; in three cases since 2001, the extortive kidnappings ended in murder: Juan Manuel Canillas, who was killed by his kidnappers in July 2002, Diego Peralta, in August of the same year, and the aforementioned Axel Blumberg, in March 2004.
A large portion of Argentine society viewed (and still views) the police forces as corrupt and inefficient, political leaders as unsupportive, and penal laws excessively lenient; in this context, Axel Blumberg's murder caused an uproar and was the catalyst for massive demonstrations, protesting this perceived impunity and supporting Axel's father in his search for justice. The first such demonstration gathered more than 100,000 people.
He was named Humanitarian of the Year by the LatinTrade magazine the same year for his campaign Crusade for Axel.
Very soon, right-wing
political and ideological leaders took advantage of Blumberg's denunciations to criticize the policies of the national and local governments. Encouraged by this, Blumberg demanded to be received by the legislative chamber of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, and upon being invited, he gave a speech with his proposals. The legislators swiftly passed amendments to the penal laws as requested, which was later criticized as simply pandering to public opinion and introducing unsystematic changes for media effect only.
Finally, Axel Blumberg himself was somehow forgotten by public opinion, and the issue became increasingly politicized. As the wave of kidnappings abated, however, media focus shifted elsewhere.
Blumberg's association with traditional right-wing middle class
ideology, coupled with his demands and denunciations, have caused him to become unpopular in the eyes of many Argentines. On one occasion he commented that human rights
organizations support criminals' human rights, yet they had not supported him in his crusade. This complaint was not well received.
When he attended a support demonstration for the people killed in the fire of the República Cromagnon disco, he found a hostile reception, including shouts accusing him of being "a Nazi
and a fascist".
A demonstration organized by Blumberg on March 23, 2005, was only attended by about one thousand people.
Blumberg became a political figure as a result of his campaign. He has been courted by Mauricio Macri
of the centre-right Commitment to Change
party, possibly as a candidate to be governor of Buenos Aires Province
for the PRO
alliance.
Though he presented himself as an engineer, doubts arose in June 2007 abouth the validity of his degree. and he finally admitted to holding no university title.
. While the organizers estimated an attendance of 300,000 people, the media and police estimates ranged from 35,000 to 60,000, mostly middle-class residents of Buenos Aires. Although Blumberg explicitly stated that march did not a political end, he was accompanied by Mauricio Macri and Ricardo López Murphy, among other right-wing political leaders, as well as by a group of opposition piquetero
s led by Raúl Castells
. Blumberg repeated his demands of harder penal laws and lowering the age of criminal responsibility, and called for the rejection of the Argentine Penal Code reform project.
The march was denounced by members of the left as part of Blumberg's political campaign and as an excuse for right-wing demands. Government official and piquetero leader Luis D'Elía organized a "counter-march" and accused Blumberg of "using the pain of his son's death as a step" for political advance. He also noted the presence, in Blumberg's march, of people linked to the last dictatorship
(notably retired Gen. Eduardo Cabanillas, Lt. Col. Emilio Nanni, and pro-military activist Cecilia Pando). Nobel Peace Prize Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
organized a parallel protest to denounce the "criminalization of poverty" that allegedly underlies Blumberg's demands, but refused to appear next to D'Elía and later called him "a speculator".
s) friends, but they have white-man souls"
In the same interview, when questioned about his proposed penalty for murder, he answered "The only adequate penalty for a murderer is death, don't give me the 'human rights' speech".
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
textile entrepreneur and victims' rights
Victims' Rights
-History:Victim movements in the U.S. grew in the 1970s. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan's Task Force on Victims of Crime released its Final Report. The report drew attention to the re-victimization of crime victims within the criminal justice system...
advocate who rose to prominence following the 2004 murder of his son, Axel Blumberg
Axel Blumberg
Axel Blumberg was an Argentine engineering student at the Technological Institute of Buenos Aires, who died at the age of 23, after being kidnapped for several days in March 2004...
.
Early life and tragedy
Blumberg was born in AvellanedaAvellaneda
Avellaneda is a port city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the seat of the Avellaneda Partido, whose population was 328,980 as per the ....
, Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires Province
The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...
. He enrolled at the National Technological University and pursued a degree in textile engineering, though he reportedly left in 1966 to pursue an interest in traditional Lithuanian dancing. Blumberg publicly referred to himself as an "engineer" graduated in Reutlingen University
Reutlingen University
Reutlingen University is a university of applied sciences in Reutlingen in the southern German state of Baden-Württemberg. Enrollment stands at about 4,000 students, a quarter of whom are international and exchange students...
(Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
), although a journalistic investigation revealed on 15 June 2007 that this claim is false.
Blumberg lost his son Axel Blumberg
Axel Blumberg
Axel Blumberg was an Argentine engineering student at the Technological Institute of Buenos Aires, who died at the age of 23, after being kidnapped for several days in March 2004...
, an engineering student, after a kidnapping resulted in the latter's murder on March 22, 2004. Argentina was at the time in the midst of a wave of extorsion kidnapping
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
s, often remaining unsolved after badly conducted investigations; in three cases since 2001, the extortive kidnappings ended in murder: Juan Manuel Canillas, who was killed by his kidnappers in July 2002, Diego Peralta, in August of the same year, and the aforementioned Axel Blumberg, in March 2004.
A large portion of Argentine society viewed (and still views) the police forces as corrupt and inefficient, political leaders as unsupportive, and penal laws excessively lenient; in this context, Axel Blumberg's murder caused an uproar and was the catalyst for massive demonstrations, protesting this perceived impunity and supporting Axel's father in his search for justice. The first such demonstration gathered more than 100,000 people.
He was named Humanitarian of the Year by the LatinTrade magazine the same year for his campaign Crusade for Axel.
Blumberg as a public figure
Juan Carlos Blumberg claimed he wanted justice for his son's murderers, but even more importantly, a working system to ensure that such crimes stopped being common and that criminals were punished. He quickly became a model for victims' suffering families, and a media icon. The latter role brought upon him a large amount of media sentimentalism and sensationalism. Soon he also took a political stance, directly asking for legislators to harden crime laws he saw as sparing certain criminals from rightful punishment.Very soon, right-wing
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
political and ideological leaders took advantage of Blumberg's denunciations to criticize the policies of the national and local governments. Encouraged by this, Blumberg demanded to be received by the legislative chamber of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, and upon being invited, he gave a speech with his proposals. The legislators swiftly passed amendments to the penal laws as requested, which was later criticized as simply pandering to public opinion and introducing unsystematic changes for media effect only.
Finally, Axel Blumberg himself was somehow forgotten by public opinion, and the issue became increasingly politicized. As the wave of kidnappings abated, however, media focus shifted elsewhere.
Blumberg's association with traditional right-wing middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
ideology, coupled with his demands and denunciations, have caused him to become unpopular in the eyes of many Argentines. On one occasion he commented that human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
organizations support criminals' human rights, yet they had not supported him in his crusade. This complaint was not well received.
When he attended a support demonstration for the people killed in the fire of the República Cromagnon disco, he found a hostile reception, including shouts accusing him of being "a Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
and a fascist".
A demonstration organized by Blumberg on March 23, 2005, was only attended by about one thousand people.
Blumberg became a political figure as a result of his campaign. He has been courted by Mauricio Macri
Mauricio Macri
Mauricio Macri is an Argentine businessman turned politician, and Head of Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. Son of Francisco Macri, a businessman of Italian origin prominent in the industrial and construction sectors, he represented the City of Buenos Aires in the Lower House of...
of the centre-right Commitment to Change
Commitment to Change
Commitment to Change is a centre-right political party in Argentina, principally active in the city of Buenos Aires.The party is led by Mauricio Macri, businessman and chairman of Boca Juniors football club. It has been active since he stood to be Mayor of Buenos Aires in 2003. He won the first...
party, possibly as a candidate to be governor of Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires Province
The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...
for the PRO
Republican Proposal
Republican Proposal is a right-wing political party in Argentina. It is usually referred to as PRO. PRO was formed as an electoral alliance in 2005, but was transformed into a unitary party on 3 June 2010....
alliance.
Though he presented himself as an engineer, doubts arose in June 2007 abouth the validity of his degree. and he finally admitted to holding no university title.
The march on Plaza de Mayo
Blumberg led a new march on August 31, 2006, at the Plaza de MayoPlaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
. While the organizers estimated an attendance of 300,000 people, the media and police estimates ranged from 35,000 to 60,000, mostly middle-class residents of Buenos Aires. Although Blumberg explicitly stated that march did not a political end, he was accompanied by Mauricio Macri and Ricardo López Murphy, among other right-wing political leaders, as well as by a group of opposition piquetero
Piquetero
A piquetero is a member of a political faction whose primary modus operandi is based in the piquete. The piquete is an action by which a group of people blocks a road or street with the purpose of demonstrating and calling attention over a particular issue or demand...
s led by Raúl Castells
Raúl Castells
Raúl Castells is a controversial Argentine political activist. He is the leader of an organization called "Independent Movement for the Retired and Unemployed" , a piquetero group.Castells moved in 1984 to Santa Fe, where he would spend the next twenty years...
. Blumberg repeated his demands of harder penal laws and lowering the age of criminal responsibility, and called for the rejection of the Argentine Penal Code reform project.
The march was denounced by members of the left as part of Blumberg's political campaign and as an excuse for right-wing demands. Government official and piquetero leader Luis D'Elía organized a "counter-march" and accused Blumberg of "using the pain of his son's death as a step" for political advance. He also noted the presence, in Blumberg's march, of people linked to the last dictatorship
National Reorganization Process
The National Reorganization Process was the name used by its leaders for the military government that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. In Argentina it is often known simply as la última junta militar or la última dictadura , because several of them existed throughout its history.The Argentine...
(notably retired Gen. Eduardo Cabanillas, Lt. Col. Emilio Nanni, and pro-military activist Cecilia Pando). Nobel Peace Prize Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel is an Argentine sculptor, architect and pacifist. He was the recipient of the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize.-Biography:Pérez Esquivel was born in Buenos Aires to a Spanish fisherman who emigrated to Argentina...
organized a parallel protest to denounce the "criminalization of poverty" that allegedly underlies Blumberg's demands, but refused to appear next to D'Elía and later called him "a speculator".
Racism and human rights
Blumberg was highly questioned after a comment made on television. When asked by the journalist Nancy Pazos if he was racist, he answered: "Of course not, I even have black (mestizoMestizo
Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America, Philippines and Spain for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent...
s) friends, but they have white-man souls"
In the same interview, when questioned about his proposed penalty for murder, he answered "The only adequate penalty for a murderer is death, don't give me the 'human rights' speech".