The skies were clear in Buenos Aires on Thursday (February 19) one day after tens of thousands of people took to the rain-soaked streets to demand justice following the suspicious death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman last month.
Local newspapers were covered with images of the thousands of people who marched in silence to the Plaza de Mayo, the site of Nisman's former office and also the government house.
Nisman was found dead with a bullet wound to his head on January 18, one day before he was due in Congress to present his claims that President Cristina Fernandez had tried to derail his probe into the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community centre that killed 85 people.
Fernandez called the accusation "absurd" and said rogue state security agents who held a grudge against her had misled Nisman's investigation and then killed him.
The prosecutor's death in mysterious circumstances sent shock waves through Argentina ahead of October's presidential elections and has plunged Fernandez's final year in office into turmoil.
In his daily media briefing Cabinet Chief Jorge Capitanich insisted that Argentina's judicial system is independent from the government and pointed the finger at corporations for allegedly interfering with national institutions.
"Yesterday we observed that one of the demands in the mobilization was theoretically related to an independent judicial system. And it is very important to emphasize that the justice system is completely independent from Argentina's political power, what Argentina's justice system is not independent from are the corporations that influence in a direct or indirect way with the objective of disrupting the normal functioning of the institutions of the republic, trying to ignore the will of the people"said Capitanich.
Wednesday's march was organized by a group of prosecutors who said the rally was to honor Nisman and not politically motivated. The group has frequently locked horns with Fernandez's leftist government and complained of a culture of intimidation and meddling in Argentina's courts.
Top government officials however have accused them of trying to conduct a "judicial coup" and conspiring with right-wing political opponents to unseat Fernandez.
Presidential Chief of Staff, Anibal Fernandez accused the prosecutors behind the march of having disingenuous political motivations aimed at dismantling the current government.
"If you ask me if there is some kind of destabilization I would say yes. There is the vocation to destabilize because even some of our ministers have expressed this to those prosecutors that organized yesterday's march, we have the obligation of making it known. Not because we are scared or are worried, I think that the people should know that these things happen in the heads of these people that don't want to do things seriously and that have little respect for constitutional governments which are not those that have historically favoured them," he said.
Many in the South American country say they are fed up with the slow pace of justice and question the independence of Argentina's judiciary.
Delia Sad said she hoped the demonstration would send a clear message to the government.
"I think that it was a success and I hope that it will have an impact on the government and that they realize that we are tired of having so many fears and so many of the things that we are living through,"she said.
Others however, were wary of the march and said opposition media and politicians had co-opted the Nisman case for political gain.
"I support people expressing themselves and I support this kind of march because people need to express themselves but at the same time I think that the topic is very much influenced by the media above all," said Federico Mezquita.
Nisman , who was 51 when he died, had accused Iran of being behind a 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires and alleged Fernandez had conspired with the Tehran government to whitewash his investigations in return for economic favors. Iran has repeatedly denied having any involvement in the blast.
REUTERS
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