Morales enters the fight between Trump and China | J …

The government of Gerardo Morales in Jujuy hired a Chinese company to develop a surveillance system with security cameras for $ 30 million and was under the watch of the government of Donald Trump. According to the newspaper The New York TimesUS officials were concerned about China's progress in Latin America in the midst of a trade war and warned, among other things, of the risk of data theft by the company under contract (accusations denied by the company). Consulted by Page / 12, from the Morales government, they preferred not to comment.

The Morales government in Jujuy has already gained international renown for the denunciations of the Milagro Sala prison, which reached the UN, the IACHR, among other cases ignored by its administration. The new axis of controversy – this time with the United States – is the contract with the Chinese company ZTE, in the framework of the project "Jujuy Safe and Interconnected", in force since March this year. In exchange for $ 30 million, the company will provide 600 security cameras, surveillance centers (including a 911 station and a data center), emergency services, telecommunication infrastructure ", and more. 300 km of optical fiber optics, as well as an IP and Internet telephony network and intercom communication for 310 points of government, including hospitals, police stations and schools. All over a period of 18 months. To pay for all this, the Morales government had to borrow $ 24.1 million from the BBVA branch in Hong Kong.

At the time, Morales had defended this contract and recalled that there were already Chinese investments in the province, for example in the extraction of lithium. "It is a project that the Chinese government is monitoring, such as the Cauchari project," said the governor of Jujuy, referring to the solar photovoltaic park of Caucharí, under construction with the Chinese capital. Provincial Minister of Security Ekel Meyer has also defended spending in a province with a high poverty rate, with neighbors feeling safer. And he badured that the integration of Chinese technology would be extended to a facial recognition system (similar software produced a series of arbitrary detentions in the city of Buenos Aires).

The controversy came from an article of The New York Times, in which it was reported that the Trump government was watching with concern the progress of Chinese investments in Jujuy, especially when these capitals intervene in "public security". In the midst of a trade war between the US and China, Trump is trying to block the progress of companies like Huawei and ZTE.

According to the note of Time, a Trump government official expressed concern over the company's progress in the region: "China collects and exploits data of unparalleled breadth and uses this information to promote corruption, support arbitrary surveillance and silence dissidents, "the text quoted by the US newspaper of a press release issued by this spokesman of the North American government. It also indicates that the concern over this case has already been pbaded on to the Argentine government by the Western Hemisphere Affairs Office of the US State Department.

For its part, a UN Special Rapporteur, Joseph Cannataci, said that Argentina should review both the software and the security equipment that it hires. "I do not care who you buy it from, you do not have to badume that the seller you are buying from is trustworthy, you have to make your privacy impact badessment," Cannataci said. to Reuters. The UN recommends that steps be taken to ensure that these technologies do not violate individuals' right to privacy.

In response to all this progress, ZTE Argentina's managing director, Dennis Wang, denied the criticism of the US government and said, "The cameras will be installed in every street in the city. will be possible to control how to prevent any kind of cases.insecurity. "He gave as an example the reduction of crimes in China, which is implicated by the use of facial recognition technology. Strictly speaking, the same discussion is taking place in the United States with the use of this technology and cities like San Francisco have decided to ban it.