Argentinian President Christina Fernandez de Kirchner (CFK) has announced plans to dissolve her country’s intelligence agency, after the death of a prosecutor whose death shook the nation and sparked a flurry of conspiracy theories and mistrust in the government. 

In a televised address, CFK said she would introduce legislation to ditch the current intelligence agency, which she accused of being a relic, a leftover from the fascist military government that ruled the country until 1983.  A new agency, serving democracy, would take its place.

“The plan is to dissolve the Intelligence Secretariat and create a Federal Intelligence Agency,” CFK said.  “Combating impunity has been a priority of my government,” she added.

This comes after the death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman, which was either a suicide or a murder staged to look like a suicide.  The 51-year old was found dead in his 13th storey apartment, which was locked from the inside.  He had a bullet wound to the forehead and a .22 caliber rifle was found next to him.

But Nisman had no powder burns on him, although that’s a fairly common occurrence with such a small caliber weapon.  And days earlier, he had accused CFK of trying to obstruct his investigation into the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center – which was commonly believed to have been the work of Iranian agents – in order to preserve an Iranian oil deal.  Nisman was supposed to have produced his evidence, but died before doing so.  That evidence has not surfaced.

One common (unproven!) conspiracy theory is that forces loyal to CFK somehow figured into Nisman’s death, be it by “forcing” his suicide or just flat-out murder.  CFK counters that Nisman may have been set-up by a disgraced former intelligence official, given bogus information to stir up trouble against the government.