Buenos Aires Customs
The Buenos Aires Customs House (Aduana) is a government building and architectural landmark in the
Overview
The
The building was inaugurated by President Figueroa Alcorta in October 1910, days before his retirement. Following refurbishment works, on September 28, 2009, the Customs Building was declared a
The government bureau housed therein, the DGA, traces its origins to the
The building reflected the importance of customs duties to the national treasury itself, which from the colonial era of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata until 1930, accounted for around 80 percent of government revenues. The bureau's importance declined after 1945, since which date these revenues have contributed 10-20 percent of the national budget.[3]
The bureau's autonomy later led to significant improprieties, notably the development in 1988 of a "parallel customs" by President Raúl Alfonsín's administrator of the office, Carlos Delconte,[4] and that of a racketeering network in 1991 overseen by President Carlos Menem's customs administrator and brother-in-law, Ibrahim al-Ibrahim (a Syrian national who spoke almost no Spanish).[5] Ultimately, the customs bureau was transferred to the Federal Public Revenue Administration (AFIP) by a 1997 decree signed by President Menem.
References
- ^ Jorge Ávila Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b La Nación: Declararon monumento histórico nacional al edificio de la Aduana (in Spanish)
- ^ a b Rock, David. Argentina 1516-1982. University of California Press, 1987.
- ^ La Nación: condenan a 10 años de prisión a Juan Carlos Delconte (in Spanish)
- ^ The New York Times. August 6, 1991.