海角大神

The mysterious death of a federal prosecutor who filed an explosive criminal complaint against President Cristina Fern谩ndez de Kirchner is roiling Argentina. While investigators try to establish if Alberto Nisman was killed or driven to suicide, the president is calling for radical changes to a powerful intelligence聽agency she accuses of conspiring against her.聽

Many Argentines believe the government had a hand in Mr. Nisman鈥檚 death as a way to silence his accusations that the president secretly sought to shield former Iranian officials from charges that they directed a fatal car-bomb attack on a Jewish center here in 1994.聽He was buried Thursday in a Jewish cemetery.聽

But the government says that a shadowy intelligence agent fed Nisman misleading information to build a false case against President Kirchner, then plotted the prosecutor's death to make it appear a government cover-up.

In her first public appearance since Nisman鈥檚 death, Kirchner said this week that she would overhaul the intelligence agency, which monitors domestic and international threats. What will the reforms look like and will they placate concerned Argentines?

What is the Argentine intelligence agency?

Referred to here as the SI, a Spanish acronym that stands for Intelligence Secretariat, the agency was created in 1946 during the first presidency of Juan Domingo Per贸n, whose Peronist movement has dominated Argentine politics ever since. Similar to the FBI in the United States, it feeds sensitive information to the government. Much of the SI鈥檚 information is obtained through phone taps.

When former President Per贸n鈥檚 wife was overthrown in a coup in 1976, military rulers used the SI in its so-called 鈥渄irty war.鈥� Its agents helped to kidnap, torture, and disappear thousands of guerrillas and people associated with leftist ideology. With Argentina's return to democracy in 1983, the SI鈥檚 personnel was purged.

But experts like Marcelo Fabi谩n Sain, a regional lawmaker and specialist in national defense, have聽accused it of operating far beyond its legal boundaries. In a recent column for the newspaper P谩gina|12, Mr. Sain points to the SI鈥檚聽overreach as a 鈥渟erious institutional problem.鈥�

Why is the agency under fire?

Kirchner claims a rogue spymaster called Antonio Stiusso, who was working with Nisman on his investigation into the 1994 bomb attack, turned on her a couple of years ago. Mr. Stiusso, who worked at the SI for four decades before he was ousted in December, began to manipulate Nisman, Kirchner alleges, feeding him misleading information to build a false case against her.

鈥淭hey used him [Nisman] alive and then they needed him dead,鈥� Kirchner wrote in an open letter about Nisman鈥檚 death. Her aides even suggested that Nisman did not write his 289-page criminal complaint, the evidence in which was based on intercepts of phone calls聽believed to have been obtained by SI spies.

Stiusso was ousted when Kirchner overhauled the SI鈥檚 leadership in December 2014. She replaced the No. 1 with a trusted aide and the No. 2 with a justice ministry official who, according to news reports, is a member of La C谩mpora, a youth wing loyal to Kirchner. The former No. 2 reportedly fell out of favor after he failed to relay information about the political aspirations of Sergio Massa,聽Kirchner鈥檚 former cabinet chief who quit in 2013聽to start his own Peronist faction.聽

Stiusso is believed to have headed a team of dozens of spies, and Kirchner鈥檚 chief of staff says overhauling the SI鈥檚 leadership was only the first step in a wider process.

What is Kirchner鈥檚 proposed change?

Kirchner said in a televised speech聽on Monday聽that she was sending a bill to Congress 鈥� where she has a majority in both houses 鈥� to dissolve the SI. The SI no longer serves national interests, she said, and reforming it is an 鈥渙utstanding debt鈥� of Argentina鈥檚 democracy. Lawmakers will debate the reforms in special sessions starting聽Feb. 1.

In the SI鈥檚 place, Kirchner wants to establish a new agency, called the Federal Intelligence Agency, which would have limited investigative and surveillance powers. Phone tapping, for instance, would fall to the central prosecutor's office, not to the new intelligence agency.

Pointing to the 鈥渃arousel of judges and prosecutors鈥� who Kirchner alleges conspire against her, the president said the bill would prohibit聽prosecutors, like Nisman,聽and other officials from directly contacting mid-level spies like Stiusso.

Is this a popular move?

Critics decry Kirchner鈥檚 focus on rogue agents and reforming the intelligence agency. They view it as a tactic to divert attention from the investigation into Nisman鈥檚 death and his criminal complaint against Kirchner and her foreign minister.

鈥淪tiusso is a decorative figure, but it could be anybody else,鈥� says Sergio Berensztein, a political analyst, adding that the president is doing her best to manipulate the situation. Mr. Berensztein points to how Kirchner delivered her speech announcing the reforms 鈥� in a wheelchair with a cast on her injured ankle, and dressed in white from neck to toe 鈥� as an example of trying to play the victim.

Kirchner鈥檚 supporters back the bill, agreeing that the SI needs reining in. 鈥淭he owner of information and power is the intelligence agency,鈥� says Carlos Araneo, a retired accountant, who says Kirchner was, indeed, the victim of an elaborate plot.