Santa Fe Governor Maximiliano Pullaro endorsed including a juvenile penal regime reform in Congress's extraordinary sessions, criticizing garantismo linked to Kirchnerism. His statements responded to the murder of teenager Jeremías Monzón, committed by minors in Santa Fe. Pullaro stressed that serious crimes must be judged with proportional penalties, regardless of the offender's age.
Santa Fe Governor Maximiliano Pullaro fully backed the national government's decision to include a juvenile penal regime reform in the agenda for Congress's extraordinary sessions, set for February. These statements were made on January 26, 2026, following a political table meeting at the Casa Rosada, chaired by the President's chief of staff, Karina Milei.
Pullaro spoke in the context of the recent murder of 16-year-old Jeremías Monzón, carried out by minors in Santa Fe city. "I'm completely in agreement. I've been advocating this since I was Minister of Security. We believe that whoever commits a crime must pay for it," the governor stated.
He sharply criticized the garantista approach, blaming it for significant harm to the country. "We must be very clear against garantismo, which has done so much damage to the Argentine Republic. It is an ideology defended by Kirchnerism and many leaders for a long time, who see criminals as victims of an unjust social system and therefore believe they should not go to jail or spend the least time possible there," he emphasized.
He recalled a previous case that shaped his stance: the homicide of Juan Cruz Ibáñez, committed by a minor when Pullaro was Minister of Security, prompting him to call for lowering the age of criminal responsibility. On the Monzón murder, he said: "It's about the crime. A major crime must be judged with a major penalty. It is neither possible nor realistic to claim that a 14-year-old does not understand the gravity of their actions when committing a homicide.".
Pullaro warned of criminal structures that use minors to commit crimes, urging the adaptation of legislation to current realities. "There are criminal structures that shield themselves so that crimes are committed by a minor. We must adapt the regulations to the times we live in: minors who commit acts of extreme violence must answer for those acts based on the crime committed and not solely on their age," he concluded.
In a related debate, criminal lawyer Eduardo Gerome supported lowering the age of criminal responsibility to enable early state interventions, arguing that the current system fosters recidivism without protecting society or the minors themselves.
