Following the announcement of the first economic measures of the Javier Milei government and after presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni revealed that a “public order protocol” would be carried out, social organisations and trade unions are warning they won’t stop demonstrating amid a clampdown on protests.
The groups said they would await the definition by Security Minister Patricia Bullrich made later that day, already suggesting meetings with authorities from the Human Capital portfolio.
“There will be severe sanctions for all those involved in preventing the free circulation of Argentines. And this applies to people who engage in road blockades, their transport, their organisers and those who fund them,” the spokesman of the President stated on Thursday at a brief press conference, before explaining that Bullrich would be in charge of providing the details of the protocol to “maintain public order against the blockade of thoroughfares."
While talking to Perfil, Polo Obrero leader Eduardo Belliboni stated that they would wait for the announcements but warned: “One thing is for sure, you can’t infringe the right to protest, not with a protocol, nor with a decree, it’s a constitutional right.” In that vein, he added: “Either they declare the state of siege, which must also go through Parliament, or they introduce a constitutional reform to Congress.”
Consulted about an alleged suspension of the meetings left-wing organisations would hold with officials from the Family and Childhood Secretariat, Belliboni confirmed the rumours but stated that a formal request had been made to the head of the area, Pablo de la Torre.
“The organisations of Frente de Lucha Piquetero request an urgent meeting to deal with social matters which have become worse over the last few days with prices of necessities skyrocketing,” they stated from Polo Obrero via a release. They also said that the situation “was becoming worse”, since they had not received “the food in soup kitchens, which were commitments of the previous administration” and which according to former secretary Javier García “should have been started this week” by the current administration.
“We’re also worried about the announcement to freeze Potenciar Trabajo programmes in their current amount, since in a few weeks they would vanish and leave over a million people without a major income for daily food,” they added.
Sources close to the Family and Childhood Secretariat stated to Perfil that for the time being there had been no formal meeting, although the Libres del Sur national leader, Silvia Saravia, said that there had been some informal contacts with the ministry, where they said that “there is no food for the time being” and that they are looking into solving it.
“Knowing the state’s timelines we’re aware that this means it could all be put off and today we need to give answers. People need to eat," she said.
Regarding the above-mentioned announcement by Adorni to prevent road blockades, Saravia reflected: “In a context with these levels of poverty and destitution and the uncertainty of food delivery, for the specific answer to be an anti-picket protocol seems shameful to us.”
“If they think that because of that people won’t go out and protest, they’re very much mistaken. They have to deal with the consequences of the devaluation they decided on, because it was a government decision and a policy which affects the ability to put food on the table for millions of people,” concluded the Libres del Sur leader, stressing that the measures will also affect the middle class.
The protocol specified by Bullrich, who also held the post of Security minister during Mauricio Macri’s government, was announced five days ahead of a picket demonstration in a new anniversary of the December 19 and 20, 2001 protests, when a large number of demonstrators is expected.
From the ATE State Workers’ Association, whose head of the Buenos Aires City section, Daniel Catalano, held a meeting with Interior Minister Guillermo Francos, they stated that “any mobilisation protocol will be deemed unconstitutional.”.
“Union and social conflicts shouldn’t be solved by the police or courts. They should be solved by those in power, that’s why they were elected. This measure is aimed at attacking the consequences and not the causes of the protests. If they want no conflicts, let them stop the austerity and increase wages,” said ATE union secretary-general Rodolfo Aguiar on Thursday.
The union specified that the exercise of the constitutional right to strike is protected under international human rights treaties to which Argentina is a party. They are regulated under Section 14, Section 14 bis and Section 75, Subsection 22 of the Constitution.
“Patricia Bullrich comes and tells us how we need to do things, but there should be a principle of legality beforehand for that. There has to be a law establishing a regulation. In the case of the right to strike there is no regulation banning it,” Aguiar added.
Vice-President Victoria Villarruel, in turn, rejected the questioning by the CGT General Workers’ Confederation of the first measures of the libertarian government and stated that “there is no need to start with any degree of aggression or social conflict.”
“It’s a four-day government. So I hope the CGT is wise enough to wait for measures to be taken and not to run ahead of themselves,” she said.
“We’re carrying a very tough legacy, 20 years of chaos, a very difficult situation for the Argentine people”, concluded the head of the Senate referencing a press release issued by the workers’ association after the meeting of its core group, where they warned that the economic measures bring an adjustment that “is being paid by the people and not the caste” and they urged a call for dialogue” by the Executive Branch.
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