Argentina: Two contrasting court decisions underscore need for gender-oriented drug law reforms

By Carolina Ahumada

On February 1, 2019, a 63 years old woman, a native of the province of Salta, Argentina, was traveling in a long-distance bus coming from the city of Bariloche bound for the Chilean town of Osorno. We will call her N.C. to respect her privacy. When the bus arrived at the border crossing with Chile, the National Gendarmerie Squadron 34 “Bariloche,” which was carrying out a routine control check, discovered that she was carrying 2.7 kilograms (6 pounds) of cocaine, arranged in four packages that were attached to her body. She was arrested and charged with “attempted smuggling for export, aggravated by the fact that it involved narcotics.” It later emerged that N.C. took this risk as a single mother in need of money to pay for surgery for her son.

According to the investigation, 20 days before, she had crossed from the town of Salvador Maza, Salta, to the Bolivian city of Yacuiba, where she presumably was supplied with the drugs. After analyzing her cell phone communications, the investigators concluded that she “was transporting the narcotic substance in compliance with an obligation imposed by a third party.” Eventually, the prosecutor withdrew the charges and she was absolved by the Argentine court.

A case that ended very differently is that of Claudia S.E, a 33-year-old Bolivian woman who crossed the border into Argentina while pregnant, carrying a little over a kilo (2 pounds) of cocaine in exchange for US$500 that she needed to pay for treatment for her 13-year-old son who was suffering from a femur tumor. Claudia was detained in October 2018 and charged with the crime of transporting substances, which carries a punishment of up to 15 years in prison. She was jailed under pre-trial detention, even though she did not pose a danger of absconding or hindering the case, and was fined 20,000 Argentine pesos (about US$540 at the time). When her son, Fernandito, found out that his mother was in prison, he abandoned his treatment for 3 months and fell into depression. Claudia asked to see her son before he died and did everything possible to get an answer from the Court of Appeals of Salta. After six months of waiting for a resolution, Judge Hansen allowed Claudia to travel to Bolivia and be with her son for 30 days. She would then have to return to prison and await trial. She and her son were together for almost five days until the child succumbed to his illness and died.

These two cases illustrate the disproportionate impact of the “war on drugs” on women, and, in particular, on women in situations of vulnerability. Both of these cases involved single mothers with children in need of medical care that they could not afford. As a last resort, they turned to transporting illegal drugs to earn money. Like so many women engaged in high-risk drug-related activities, they were caught—but with two very different outcomes. In stark contrast to how such cases are routinely handled by the Argentine criminal justice system, the government ultimately dropped the charges against N.C. and the judge absolved her. The government’s rationale for dropping its case against N.C. and the judge’s ruling in agreement could have significant implications for other Argentines in situations of vulnerability who are charged with committing low-level drug offenses, and potentially opening the door for debate on much-needed drug law reforms.