The federal Justice of Salta ordered the immediate exclusion from the electoral roll of 2150 personas suspected of being foreign citizens who managed Argentine documents to access social benefits until causing an unsustainable paradox: In the border town of Aguas Blancas there are more voters than voterswith the opportunities that this presents for the racketeering.
The exclusion order was issued by the federal judge Julio Baviowho established that those supposed voters who want to be reinstated to the electoral roll must inform and prove your real address in Saltainformation that must then be verified by the public force or the gendarmerie.
Judge Bavio also ordered to alert the authorities of multiple public organizations about what happened so that they adopt the necessary measures to avoid abuses and potential crimes; among them, the National Social Security Administration (ANSeS), the Customs Collection and Control Agency (ARCA), the National Directorate of Migration (DNM), the National Disability Agency (Andis), and the National Directorate of Border and Waterway Control, as well as the current controller of the town of Aguas Blancas.
The magistrate also maintained the precautionary measure in force since June, when he ordered the “provisional and precautionary suspension of the charge, processing and incorporation in the electoral roll” of all the “registration developments” – that is, registrations and cancellations, among other options – in White Waters and two other towns in Salta bordering Bolivia, The Awnings y Salvador Mazza“until the real address of the citizens” under suspicion can be verified.
Judge Bavio’s decision was based on the results of a survey that detected more than 2,000 irregular registrations in Aguas Blancas, a town that registered 3648 inhabitants in the 2002 censusbut accumulated a total of 5736 supposed voters eligible to vote in April 2025, which represents a 57.2% more voters than residents.
The hypothesis that the researchers are considering is that the voters now excluded from the registry are, in reality, citizens Bolivians who live in their country, but requested the Argentine national identity document (DNI) to access social plans and pension benefitsbut they were registered and therefore entitled to vote.
“A crucial aspect that in no way can be ignored – and that is added to the countless concordant indications that allow us to achieve a high degree of plausibility about the notorious irregularities that justify the urgent cleaning of the electoral roll of the town of Aguas Blancas-“, indicated Judge Bavio, “is the real danger that these detected deficiencies could be functional to cross-border immigration of foreigners by recording false addresses in the identity document of our country, which, in turn, may constitute the instrument that allows them obtain undue benefits of various kindsby simulating compliance with precautions based on lies, with a enormous impact on public faith”.
Supported by these and other findings, federal prosecutor Ricardo Toranzos asked the judge to order the arrest of citizens on suspicion to go to the polls in the national elections in October, a request that the judge agreed to. Reason? Verify your electoral status and verify your true address, since you could be facing the crime of ideological falsification of a public document.
The evidence feeds that possibility. For example, that 729 people declared 25 de Mayo Street as their address in Aguas Blancas, but without specifying the number of his home, while others 700 set 9 de Julio Street as their place of residencebut they did not indicate the specific number where they live.
Opportunities for organized crime
In that sense, the Prosecutor’s Office reported that it ordered a survey of the homes located on both streets of Aguas Blancas, “in the case of storage sheds, green spaces, hotels, commercial premises and vacant landas well as homes with visible numbering and/or a service meter were also verified.”
Similar scenes were seen on other streets in the town. The February 20th Streetfor example, has a total extension of just 619 metrosbut there they registered 793 voters even though the surveys carried out They did not find enough properties for all of them, including warehouses, vacant lots, hotels and green spaces..
After criticize the Bolivian State in harsh terms for its lack of cooperation in this and other investigationsJudge Bavio warned about the risks that this entire border area faces before the advance of organized crimededicated to the smuggling of narcotics and other merchandise, or human trafficking, among other criminal activities.
In this context, the magistrate warned, the adulteration of electoral rolls in small towns can influence voting results“with the risk that in itself implies that large narco-criminal organizations recruit municipal authorities and officials into their ranks“, he highlighted. “Hence, I am inclined to order the exclusion from the registry of people who are in the situation already described.”
