Argentina

Argentina’s Government Tries To Suppress Anti-Austerity Protests

February 22, 2018 Staff, Telesurtv.net Resist! Anti-Austerity, Argentina, Protests, Repression, State Violence

Argentina’s main worker unions, social movements and human rights groups have planned a massive protest in Buenos Aires to oppose President Mauricio Macri’s economic policies, layoffs, the recent pension reforms, judicial persecution of social leaders, and other intended labor reforms. A series of actions and mobilizations against the austerity measures started on Feb. 15. The various groups, including the General Confederation of Labor (3 million members) and the Argentine Workers’ Central Union (1.5 million members) and the Association of State Workers (roughly 250,000 members) will arrive downtown at noon on Wednesday. Transport union leader Hugo Moyano, will address the crowd. The union called Camioneros (or truckers) has roughly 200,000 members and is reported to have the capacity to paralyze the country.

Argentina Blocks Some Activists From Attending WTO Meeting

December 1, 2017 Luc Cohen and Nicolás Misculin, reuters.com Resist! Activists, Argentina, WTO

By Luc Cohen and Nicolás Misculin for Reuters - BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina revoked the credentials of some activists who had been accredited by the World Trade Organization (WTO) to attend its ministerial meeting taking place in Buenos Aires next month, the foreign ministry and civil society groups said on Thursday. The 63 activists who had their accreditations rescinded were largely affiliated with the Our World Is Not for Sale network, said organizer Deborah James. The group opposes “corporate globalization” and has staged protests at previous WTO meetings. A spokeswoman for Argentina’s foreign ministry told Reuters some individuals were not allowed to attend because they were determined to be “more disruptive than constructive.” WTO meetings often attract protests by anti-globalization groups, but they have remained largely peaceful since riots broke out at the 1999 meeting in Seattle. “We’ve never had this happen before. It’s totally unprecedented,” James, who is also director of international programs at the left-leaning Center for Economic and Policy Research, said by telephone from Washington, D.C. The group posted a public letter including an email the WTO sent to certain participants on Wednesday discouraging them from traveling to Argentina for the Dec. 10-13 meeting to avoid being turned away at the airport. The Geneva-based WTO did not immediately respond to request for comment after normal business hours.

How Profit Deals With Protest: Disappearance Of Argentinian Activist

September 22, 2017 Ramona Wadi, www.mintpressnews.com Resist! Activism, Argentina, Profit, Protests, Repression

By Ramona Wadi for Mint Press News - The Maldonado case has exposed state repression of Mapuche resistance and activism. Digging deeper, we find linkage of the activist’s disappearance to capitalist exploitation — and to the clothing company, Benetton, which owns the largest share of territory allocated to a foreign company in Latin America. Over 40 days have passed since the forced disappearance of Argentinian activist Santiago Maldonado. President Mauricio Macri’s government appears to be more preoccupied with protecting the impunity of the Argentine Military Police, also known as the gendarmerie, than with listening to the demands for Maldonado’s release — or at least for information on his whereabouts and condition — being made by a mobilized populace. Maldonado was detained and disappeared on August 1 while participating in a protest in Chubut calling for the release of Mapuche leader of the Ancestral Mapuche Resistance(RAM), Facundo Jones Huala. Jones had been detained upon extradition requests by Chile. Both Argentina and Chile have labeled Jones a terrorist, on account of his resistance activities against capitalist exploitation of ancestral Mapuche territory.

New Era Of State Violence In Argentina?

September 12, 2017 Roqayah Chamseddine, www.mintpressnews.com Resist! Activists, Argentina, Indigenous Peoples, Land, State Violence

By Roqayah Chamseddine for MInt Press News - The streets of Argentina are boiling over with demonstrations, as thousands of locals demand that the government produce an indigenous activist last seen one month ago when border police forced a group of the indigenous Mapuche off of indigenous land in Patagonia — land unjustly owned by the Italian clothing company Benetton. According to witnesses, 28-year-old Santiago Maldonado was forced into a van by government officials and disappeared, but so far the Argentinian government has denied any involvement. Argentinian demonstrators, including groups like Mothers of the Plaza De Mayo, are increasingly concerned for the wellbeing of Maldonado in light of the nation’s troubled history of state violence. The US-backed military dictatorship of General Jorge Rafael Videla, which plagued Argentina from 1976 until 1983, killed, kidnapped, and disappeared at least 30,000. Backed by Ronald Reagan, Videla and his security apparatus went on to torture and murder thousands more in a right-wing military hellscape. The case of Santiago Maldonado has revived memories of the Argentinian military junta, and suspicion among activists is growing that he has become President Mauricio Macri’s first disappeared victim—nearly 40 years after the end of General Videla’s rule.

Anti-Fracking Movement Emerges To Halt Argentina’s Natural Gas Boom

June 14, 2017 Brandon Jordan, www.wagingnonviolence.org Resist! Argentina, Fracking, Natural Gas

By Brandon Jordan for Waging Nonviolence - It was a hot day in Houston, Texas, on April 26, but that didn’t stop nearly 200 people — representing mainly the oil and gas industry — from filling the luxury hotel known as The Houstonian. While the menu included extravagant meals, such as steak wrapped in bacon with bourbon sauce, the real draw was Argentinian President Mauricio Macri, who had a simple message: “Come invest in Argentina.” Macri, who met with President Trump in Washington, D.C. the following day, is positioning his country as the next potential market for natural gas. Argentina boasts one of the world’s largest shale gas reservations called Vaca Muerta, or Dead Cow. While hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, began in the region in 2013, Macri’s government intends to bring in more investments and expand production. Not everyone in Argentina, however, agrees with the government’s plans. Just a day before the event, the province of Entre Rios, located about 900 miles northeast from Vaca Muerta, became the first province in the country to ban fracking. While the province is not known for any oil exploration, it was hailed as a symbolic victory. “The act was the result of a growth of information [on fracking] that we shared among different sectors of society,” explained Luis Lafferriere...

Punishment For Human Rights Abusers Is Irrevocable Achievement For Argentine Society

May 16, 2017 Daniel Gutman, www.nationofchange.org Create! Abuse, Argentina, Human Rights

By Daniel Gutman for Nation of Change - What at first was terrible news that outraged a large proportion of Argentine society, who see the conviction and imprisonment of dictatorship-era human rights violators as an irrevocable achievement for democracy, became a cause for celebration a week later. An unexpected ruling handed down by the Supreme Court on May 3 initially opened the door to hundreds of members of the military and civilians in prison for crimes against humanity committed during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship to seek a reduction of their sentences, which would in some cases even allow them to immediately be released. However, the wave of outrage that arose in human rights groups spread in the following days throughout society, leading to changes that came about at a dizzying pace that made it unlikely for the court ruling, which applied to one particular case, to be used as a precedent for other human rights abusers to obtain a reduction in their sentences. “It won’t go any farther than this. In the Argentine justice system, the Supreme Court’s decisions are not binding on lower courts.

Protesters Blocked Road And Bridges Against Macri’s Hunger Policies

March 20, 2017 Staff, www.thedawn-news.org Resist! Argentina, Hunger, Policy, Protests

By Staff of The Dawn News - Hundreds of blockades around the Latin American country, cutting bridges and routes to the big cities, including Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Chaco, Formosa, were carried on by thousands of workers of the popular economy, people that is desperate by the level of violence that the economical policies unleashes towards the Argentinean inhabitants. The Confederation of Workers of the Popular Economy (CTEP), Standing Neighbourhoods, the Classist and Combative Current, the 19 and 20 Current of the CTEP, the Dignity Popular Movement, the Popular Front Dario Santillán, To Fight and Resist, Motherland, MULCS, FPDS...

‘March Of Resistance’ Gathers Thousands Against Macri’s Govt

August 30, 2016 Staff, www.telesurtv.net Resist! Argentina, March, Resistance

By Staff of Tele Sur - The activists returned to organizing the yearly “March of Resistance” due to constant clashes with the new government in power. The Argentine human rights organization Mothers of Plaza de Mayo organized a 24-hour sit-in against the government of Mauricio Macri that ended on Saturday afternoon with the support of thousands in the capital city of Buenos Aires.

Argentine Gen. And 28 Others Sentenced To Life For Crimes Against Humanity

August 26, 2016 Staff, www.telesurtv.net Resist! Argentina, Crime, Humanity

By Staff of Tele Sur - The historic sentencing of 43 accused of grave human rights violations in the case known as La Perla comes after a "mega-trial" lasting nearly four years. An Argentine court sentenced former General Luciano Benjamin Menendez to life in prison Thursday for crimes against humanity committed at secret Dirty War-era detention centers in the late 1970s, making a landmark step in the struggle for justice for human rights abuses during one of the darkest chapters in the South American country’s history.

Argentina’s Mapuche Community Stands Up To Benetton

August 22, 2016 Fionuala Cregan, www.truth-out.org Resist! Argentina, Indigenous Peoples, Land Rights

By Fionuala Cregan for Truthout - "They are afraid more people and more communities are going to rise up, because we have shown others what is possible," said Mirta Curruhuinca, a Mapuche woman from the Indigenous area of Lof Cushamen in Argentina. "And if more people rise up and recover their lands, there will be no way to stop them." The Mapuche have begun to reshape history by moving back onto the Patagonian land in the Chubut Province of Argentina that has been part of their ancestral history for more than 1,400 years.

Monsanto Backs Out Of Seed Plant In Argentina After Protests

August 15, 2016 Brandon Turbeville, www.naturalblaze.com Resist! Argentina, Food and Agriculture, Monsanto, Protests, Seeds

By Brandon Turbeville for Natural Blaze - In yet another victory against the multinational corporation Monsanto in Argentina, the company has now announced that it will dismantle its multi-million dollar GMO seed plant in Malvinas. Monsanto made the decision to give up on its seed plant after three years worth of protests from local citizens and GMO-free campaigners from all over Argentina. In 2014, activists forced to Monsanto to stop the construction of the plant by using coordinated protest techniques at the construction site.

Declassified Docs Detail US Role In Argentina Dirty War Horrors

August 13, 2016 Staff, www.telesurtv.net Educate! Argentina, US Foreign Policy, Wars and Militarism

By Staff of Tele Sur - In a much-awaited step toward uncovering the historical truth of the U.S.-backed Dirty War in Argentina in the 1970’s and 80’s, the United States has delivered over 1,000 pages of classified documents to the South American country. But critics argue that there are major gaps in the files, including the exclusion of CIA documents, that keep in the dark important details of the extent of human rights violations and the U.S. role in such abuses. The Argentine government delivered the newly-declassified documents to journalists and human rights organizations on Monday after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry presented the files to President Mauricio Macri during a state visit last week.

President Macri Accepts US Military Installations In Argentina

May 26, 2016 Staff, www.telesurtv.net Educate! Argentina, Military, United States

By Staff of Tele Sur - According to a report among the plans is also the negotiation of another military base in the border with Paraguay and Brazil. A military delegation sent by Argentine President Mauricio Macri on Wednesday signed an agreement on military cooperation with the United States, which entails the establishment of a U.S. military base in Ushuaia, the southernmost tip of the South American nation.

WikiLeaks Reveals Macri’s Candidate For Top Post Is US Ally

May 23, 2016 Staff, www.telesurtv.net Educate! Argentina, United Nations, United States

By Staff of Tele Sur - Argentine President Mauricio Macri nominated Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra as a candidate to become Secretary-General of the United Nations, Friday. In keeping with Macri's foreign and domestic appointments, Malcorra has a long history of working with the United States government to further their interests. Malcorra served as the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Field Support from 2008 until 2012. During this time, she worked very closely with then U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice.

The US Returns To Latin America

April 17, 2016 Vijay Prashad, www.counterpunch.org Educate! Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Imperialism, Latin America, Nicaragua, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela

By Vijay Prashad for the Hindu and Counterpunch. The financial crisis of 2007-08 dented China’s economy and saw the slow deterioration of commodity prices. It took a few years for the economic impact to strike Latin America with ferocity. A sharp tumble in oil prices in the summer of 2008 put the brakes on many of the social programmes that had become essential to the Bolivarian dynamic. It signalled the weakness in the experiment against Western domination. President Barack Obama’s administration focussed intently on Latin America. Opportunity struck with the 2009 coup in Honduras against the Left-wing government of Manuel Zelaya. Mr. Obama recognised the new military-backed government. It opened the door to a more aggressive stance vis-à-vis Latin American states. The presidency of Peru’s Ollanta Humala (2011) and the second presidency of Chile’s Michelle Bachelet (2014) — both ostensibly of the Left — hastily drew in cabinet members vetted by the bankers and made their peace with the hegemony of the U.S. Chávez’s death in 2012 meant that the Bolivarians lost their most charismatic champion. The impact of the Honduran coup and Chávez’s death had made itself felt along the spine of Latin America. The U.S., it was being said, is back.

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