What does Lawfare mean in Latin America? A new framework for understanding the criminalization of progressive political leaders*
| Published date | 01 October 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14624745221116348 |
| Author | Valeria Vegh Weis |
| Date | 01 October 2023 |
What does Lawfare mean in
Latin America? A new
framework for
understanding the
criminalization of
progressive political
leaders∗
Valeria Vegh Weis
Konstanz Universität, Germany
Buenos Aires University, Argentina
Abstract
This article addresses the origins of the term lawfare, as well as different definitions
developed in the Global North and the Global South while proposing a conceptualiza-
tion linked to the particularities of this socio-legal phenomenon in Latin America.
Focusing on the cases of Brazil and Argentina the article deploys the notions of phyco-
logical, judicial and media warfare to analyze the different dimensio ns that an analysis of
lawfare opens in relation to democracy, the penal system, and mainstream media. The
article also explores different dimensions of lawfare and a notion in Spanish with the
potential to replace the anglicism: dripping coup (golpe por goteo). Finally, the article
proposes different measures to counteract lawfare in the judicial, educational, media,
and social spheres. In particular, the conclusions refer to the relevance of social move-
ments in what can be conceptualized as a “cautionary popular criminology”.
Keywords
lawfare, justice, criminal selectivity, Argentina, Latin America, coup
∗
I would especially like to thank the reviewers for their valuable feedback.
Corresponding author:
Valeria Vegh Weis, Konstanz Universität, Germany.
Email: valeriaveghw@gmail.com
Article
Punishment & Society
2023, Vol. 25(4) 909–933
© The Author(s) 2022
Article reuse guidelines:
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DOI: 10.1177/14624745221116348
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In Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and many other countries of the
Patria Grande, the word “lawfare”is heard daily –in the media, as well as in the speeches
of political leaders –concerning cases of corruption involving progressive political
leaders and discussed in key electoral moments.
The term was coined twenty years ago in the Global North (Dunlap, 2001), but it was
in the mid-2010s that it started to be broadly deployed in Latin America, particularly in
Brazil and Argentina. In Brazil, the term appeared in the public discourse in 2014, when
criminal charges were brought against former President and then presidential candidate
Luiz Inácio “Lula”da Silva. He was accused of receiving an apartment as part of
bribes in return for awarding contracts to specific construction corporations in a case
that also implicated many other politicians and members of the state-owned oil
company Petrobras. Lula ended up in pre-trial detention and was banned from competing
in the national elections (Limongi, 2021). In Argentina, the first case labelled as lawfare
occurred in 2016 and involved the then-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner,
accused of manipulating the price of the “dólar futuro" (future dolar) –an estimated
price of how much a dollar would cost in relation to the local currency- in detriment
of the Central Bank reserves (SAIJ, 2021). Cristina Fernández de Kirchner explicitly
used the term lawfare when declaring in another case against her under charges of cor-
ruption in the adjudication of public work (el País, 2019).
In line with Lula and many other centre-left political leaders in the Latin-American
region, Fernández de Kirchner described lawfare as the mechanism through which
certain sectors of the judiciary, the mainstream media, and the opposition manipulate
criminal cases based on corruption charges to delegitimize and ban progressive leaders
from democratic politics. In contrast, part of the judiciary, the mainstream media, and
politicians from the establishment argue that the notion of lawfare is deployed by progres-
sive politicians to delegitimize serious criminal investigations aimed at ending corruption
in the region (La Nación, 2020).
Amid these conflictive positions, the definition of lawfare is far from clear: What are
its main features? Where does the term come from? Why even use an anglicism in Latin
America? Is it a new phenomenon? Is it a negative one? If yes, how can it be fought? To
delve into these questions, this article deploys the framework of critical criminology and
key works such as those by Stanley Cohen and Jonathan Simon to provide a comprehen-
sive perspective on the so-called “lawfare”, with a specific focus on the cases of Brazil
and Argentina.
Part 1 of this article addresses the origins of the term lawfare and discusses the devel-
opment of the term in the Global North (mainly in the United States). This brief overview
allows to expose how the notion of lawfare, coined in the Global North, differs from the
one used in Latin America. Thus, interestingly, this section exposes how Latin American
actors have embraced an English word but reshaping its content under a different lens. In
this vein, this first part includes elaborations of the notion advanced in the Global South,
in particular Latin America. Focusing mainly on the cases of Brazil and Argentina, Part 2
deploys the notions of phycological, judicial and media warfare –developed in the book
Unrestricted Lawfare (Liang and Xiangsui, 1999) to analyze the different dimensions that
an analysis of lawfare opens in relation to democracy, the penal system, and mainstream
910 Punishment & Society 25(4)
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