Victoria Donda resigns as head of INADI anti-discrimination body

Victoria Donda has resigned as the head of the National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism (INADI).

The former national lawmaker and human rights activist announced her decision in a post on Twitter, sharing a letter in which she strongly criticised President Alberto Fernández’s government. She referenced her personal history, as a daughter of one of the tens of thousands who were disappeared by the military junta during the 1976-1983 dictatorship.

"For the last month I have been going through the trial for crimes against humanity committed by the kidnapper and torturer of my parents, [those] responsible for their disappearance and for my having been born in the ESMA [clandestine detention centre]. It is a process that reminds me of who I am, my personal and political identity," she said on Twitter.

"Today a cycle closes with my departure from @inadi, convinced that institutional responsibilities are stages in a longer journey. I will continue my activism in @FrenteDeTodos for the free, fair and egalitarian society we dream of and, above all, deserve.”

Donda, 45, then shared a long letter in which she gave more details about the reasons for her resignation. It included scathing criticism of the government, who she accused of failing the coalition’s voters.

"Today I am writing these lines, distancing myself from my institutional role as head of INADI, convinced that they have stopped listening where they most need to listen," wrote the former lawmaker, who said the national government had left Argentines with “an increasingly bitter taste.”

She said Fernández’s government lacked the capacity to “respond to the growing and complex demands of a society that expects more from us.”

Donda, founder of the feminist–socialist Somos wing of the ruling coalition. went on to say that as a woman, she did not “find legitimate space in the national government for our voices to be duly heard.”

She then accused one of the president’s key advisors, Juan Manuel Olmos, of plotting to remove her from her INADI post because of her “political stance.”

Responding on Twitter, Cabinet Secretary Olmos issued a statement saying that the president had "lost confidence" in Donda's position at the head of INADI and was due to leave her position within 48 hours.

"Regarding the public criticism that the former official made of the national administration headed by Dr. Alberto Fernández and which she has been part of since 10/12/2019, it is a right that she has as any other political activist," wrote Olmos.

The head of the Anti-Corruption Office (OA), Félix Crous, has also presented his resignation to the national government, it emerged Friday.

The news, confirmed via a notice in the Official Gazette, marked the third departure in 24 hours after the departure of Victoria Donda from INADI and Rodolfo Gabrielli from the Casa de la Moneda.