South America

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Argentina: Lower House Approves Milei’s Neoliberal Omnibus ‘Chainsaw’ Law
MAY 2, 2024


An Embraer 190 jet belonging to Aerolíneas Argentinas. Photo: Carolina Campos.

Chapter Two of the Base Law—also known as the Omnibus Law, as labeled by its proponent President Javier Milei, referring to the privatization of public companies—has been approved in the Argentinian Chamber of Deputies, having obtained the approval of more than 50% of the deputies in the Lower House of the Argentinian Congress, with 138 votes in favor, 111 against, and two abstentions.

The law, passed this Tuesday, April 30, enables the sale and scrapping of state companies. In the original project of the Omnibus Law, Javier Milei’s neoliberal chainsaw intended to fall on 40 state companies and privatize them. Following negotiations with the Republican Proposal party (PRO) and the Radical Civic Union party (UCR), the government agreed to reduce that list to nine public companies, despite these being the most important ones.


Base Law: which companies were included in the privatization chapter?

In Chapter Two of the Base Law, four major public companies were included in the category of “total privatization:”

Argentinian airlines (Aerolineas Argentinas)
Argentinian Energy (ENARSA)
Radio and Television Argentina (RTA SE)
Intercargo
Argentinian Airlines are currently going through a heavy adjustment plan. Last week, its president, Fabián Lombardo, announced a plan to implement cuts to “reduce the operating deficit by half,” with the closure of cabotage routes in the off-season.

Intercargo is the state company that provides ground services, ramps, and access bridges at airports.

The sale of ENARSA, founded in 2004, means transferring to the private sector the structure of a firm that carries out studies, exploration, and exploitation of hydrocarbon deposits, as well as tasks of transportation, storage, distribution, marketing, and industrialization of that strategic commodity and its derivatives.

Meanwhile, the sale of RTA SE is a new blow to the media map and federal communication, as was the recent closure of the Télam agency. The public radio station network has more than 40 stations throughout the country.

In addition to these four public companies, another five may pass into private hands or be concessioned:

Argentinian Water and Sanitation (AYSA)
Argentinian Mail
Belgrano Loads
Road Corridors
Railway Operating Company (SOFSE)


In addition, two other companies may incorporate private capital, although they will keep a majority of state participation:

Nuclear and Electric Argentina (NASA)
Rio Turbio Carboniferous Deposits (YCRT)
In these cases, it will be possible “only to organize a joint ownership program and place a class of shares for that purpose; and incorporate the participation of private capital, with the National State having to maintain control or majority participation in the social capital.”

https://orinocotribune.com/argentina-lo ... insaw-law/

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THE NAMRU-6: A THREAT TO LATIN AMERICA
Apr 23, 2024 , 7:05 am .


BSL-3 containment laboratories are designed to work with microorganisms of risk group 3, which includes parasitic infections such as malaria and leishmaniasis, viral and bacterial diseases (Photo: US Naval Medical Research Unit No. 6 Facebook)

The existence of American biolaboratories in Peru poses a risk for the entire region. The name Namru-6 is a military unit connected between the United States Department of Defense and the Pentagon, installed in the jungle of the Amazon country, whose purpose is, in theory, to study infectious diseases that threaten public and military health. to then mitigate possible threats.

The biolaboratories were established in 1983 in the cities of Lima, Iquitos and Puerto Maldonado. In the Peruvian capital, Namru-6 includes Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) facilities, while the other two laboratories are Biosafety 2 nominal.

BSL-3 containment instruments are designed to work with microorganisms in risk group 3, which includes parasitic infections such as malaria and leishmaniasis, viral diseases (dengue and other arboviruses caused by flies, mosquitoes, arachnids and ticks) and bacterial diseases such as traveler's diarrhea ( Escherichia coli , Campylobacter , which cause intestinal infections of zoonotic origin, Shigella , which causes diarrhea, often bloody), etc.

The biosafety alliance is supposed to contribute to the host country since the role of these laboratories is to monitor possible outbreaks and then provide a rapid response to contain diseases.

However, data from the Peruvian health system reveal that, on the contrary, the number of patients with the diseases we mentioned above has increased in different periods, even with the existence of American biolaboratories.

According to reports, the number of malaria cases increased from 30,814 in 1989 to 211,561 in 1996; The proportion of cases due to Plasmodium falciparum increased alarmingly from 1.6% in 1992 to 28.3% in 1996; and the annual parasite index (API) increased from 2.4 per 1,000 in 1992 to 8.8 per 1,000 in 1996.

Since its installation, Namru-6 has been questioned because it operates under secrecy under the pretext of maximum security. It is also claimed due to the fact that the Peruvian armed forces participate, but the instance operates under US command, the only one of that nature in Latin America.

In 2020 it was in the news because at the end of 2019 a member of the General Staff of the United States Naval Medical Research Unit toured the Putumayo River. And the fact caused alarm because a few months later, in 2020, the covid-19 pandemic broke out and Peru was one of the countries in the region with the most fatalities, which is why associations began to be established.

Previously, researcher Olga Pinheiro had published an article titled "ABC of geopolitics: biological warfare", in which she refers to Namru-6, highlighting that it is located in the Peruvian Amazon, near the Amazon River - the longest and abundant in the world—which is why he called to be alert to the serious risk of contamination, diffusion and proliferation of infectious agents.

Some say that Namru-6's capabilities could be used to study how military operations can be carried out in the conditions of unfriendly Latin American jungles.

If the United States has experience in carrying out secret experiments against its own population, such as when in the secret operation Sea-Spray they sprayed several viruses in California to determine the vulnerability of cities to an alleged biological attack, there is no doubt that they would also do these practices in other territories.

Why has the US military shown special interest in cholera, malaria, yellow fever, cockroaches and disease-carrying mosquitoes in Peru and done nothing to contain these endemic diseases, some ask.

In 2015, the Center for Political Studies for International Relations and Development (Ceprid) denounced that Namru-6 is totally "outside the control of the Peruvian government because its members even enjoy the privilege of immunity and, therefore, whoever they were "Their actions remain in the field of the most absolute impunity."

That same year, parliamentarian Víctor Hugo Neciosup Santa Cruz prepared a report, commissioned by the Research Services Area of ​​the Congress of the Republic, entitled "Use of information and communications technologies for disease surveillance in military populations in Peru ".

Four years later, Congressman Richard Arce, as a member of the Defense and Internal Order Commission, asked a 10-question questionnaire about Namru-6 to the Minister of Defense, José Huerta Torres, which were half-answered some time later.

“What measures are taken to prevent Namru-6 from developing biological warfare research and experiments in our territory for the benefit of the United States and that could be used in other parts of the world?” was one of the questions. . The answer being: "The Liaison Officer of the Navy Health Directorate participates in weekly meetings, where the progress of research projects is reported. Sporadically, the Navy Health director visits their facilities, the last one in February of 2019".

The question remains why the US military has taken special interest in cholera, malaria, yellow fever, cockroaches and disease-carrying mosquitoes in Peru and has done nothing to contain these endemic diseases.

Beyond the formalities that are exposed in the media sphere, concerns have been raised about the true intentions of the Namru units in the subcontinent, particularly with regard to their possible participation in the surveillance of political, social and security activities in countries such as Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Peru. These concerns intensified after the authorization granted by the Congress and the Executive Branch of Peru for the entry of fully armed US military personnel into its territory between June 1 and December 31, 2023.

In light of these events, the question arises about the true objective of Namru-6. While his stated mission focuses on identifying and mitigating infectious disease threats, the presence of armed military personnel and the lack of full transparency about his activities raise questions about his real intentions.

https://misionverdad.com/globalistan/el ... ica-latina

Google Translator

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The Milei Effect: Telesur Banned in Argentina
MAY 5, 2024


A Telesur logo on a TV screen with the cancel sign on it. Photo: RedRadioVE.

On World Press Freedom Day, the government of Argentina, headed by Javier Milei, announced the decision to remove Telesur from the Open Digital Television grid. There does not seem to be much “freedom” in this new move silencing a media outlet that provides alternative counter-hegemonic news from Latin America.

On Friday, May 3, the media commissioner of Argentina, Diego Chaher, who had banned the Telam news agency from television a few week ago, sent a letter informing Telesur about the decision, which is to come into effect in 60 days.


“Through this formal means and in exercise of the powers of legal representation that were conferred on me, for the purposes of exercising the power provided for in article 2.2. of the Collaboration Agreement signed on November 20, 2020, I terminate it effective on July 1, 2024,” the letter to Telesur read.

The banning of Telesur comes in the midst of the Argentinian government’s intervention and budget cuts in public media, which recently led to the elimination of overtime payments for staff. This unleashed demonstrations and discontent among the Argentinian people who demand to know how far President Milei will go with his farcical slogan of “long live freedom.”



Provocation?
The Milei administration’s decision to censor Telesur adds to the constant attacks against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, attacks that range from endorsing the US government’s robbery and destruction of the Venezuelan cargo airline EMTRASUR’s Boeing 747 jumbo jet to the lack of respect for the Venezuelan president by calling him a “dictator,” and regular interventionist comments on the internal affairs of Venezuela.

The undemocratic Argentinian decision speaks of a fairly predictable attitude for a politician aligned with the interests of the White House and Israel. Since Milei’s inauguration, he has abandoned the people, even his own voters, and instead preferred to declare his fanatic support for Donald Trump.

(RedRadioVE) by Victoria Torres

https://orinocotribune.com/the-milei-ef ... argentina/

Reality Defeats Ideology: Milei ‘Gives In’ to China Despite Tough Talk
MAY 5, 2024


Argentinian Foreign Minister Diana Mondino in China. Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Argentina.

By Misión Verdad – May 4, 2024

During his election campaign, the president of Argentina, Javier Milei, repeated ad nauseam that once he became president he would align himself with the West, whose highest representative references of economic liberalism for him were the United States and Israel. In regards to China, one of Argentina’s major trading partners, he stated that he would not establish relations with communist governments, an international approach that he would also apply to Venezuela, Nicaragua, and North Korea.


In an interview with Bloomberg in August 2023, Milei spoke about the possibility of suspending relations with Beijing, even though China granted Argentina an $18 billion”swap” that it used to pay its IMF debt, as well as $3 billion in credits for infrastructure, energy and public transportation works, three sectors considered key by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

All of Milei’s delusional statements were based on myths about the government of the People’s Republic of China: “People don’t have freedom in China, they cannot do what they want, and if they do, they are killed.”

However, reality has prevailed over Milei’s delusional discourse. It would be inappropriate for Argentina to break off relations with China, no matter how much Milei would want to associate only with Western governments, since China is the third top destination for Argentina’s exports (8%), as well as the second top origin of its imports (19%), according to official data.

Argentina’s economic reality is determined by a growing need for investments that China is willing to make, which would even be useful for the government project that the ultra-right Argentinian president wants to implement.

Six months after Javier Milei took office, it has been evident that his tough talk was simply anti-communist rhetoric in order to arouse ideological resentments, through prefabricated ideas that are far removed from reality. Additionally, everything indicates that he does not know how international and trade relations should be handled when one is a head of state and government.

In an exclusive interview with the Chinese state media CGTN, the minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Argentina, Diana Mondino, reflected on the progress and challenges of her country’s bilateral relations with China. After her visit to China, she was asked about the future of the relations as 2024 marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries.

Referring to the state of the relationship, Minister Mondino said, “We are in an appropriate moment, due to the new government of Argentina and the current global context. Our relationship has a firm base and now it will be better.” Referring to the cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road initiative, she highlighted that her country will need a lot of infrastructure (bridges, roads, energy, etc.), initiatives that are already within the Belt and Road project, resources that the Argentinian economy needs “to make a great leap.”



Undoubtedly, the minister’s statements contradict the image that Milei tried to project during his electoral campaign. The Chinese government understood this reality when, after Milei’s repeated expressions of willingness to break away, it argued that it would be a “serious mistake” if Argentina were to cut its trade ties with the Asian giant.

Last year Argentina’s exports to China exceeded $8 billion and imports $17 billion, a flow of foreign currency necessary to sustain the Argentinian economy. Everything indicates that the warning from China was enough for Milei’s government to realize the deep connection between Buenos Aires and Beijing.

Another issue that signified a provocation for China was Mondino’s meeting with Taiwanese representatives in January, a rapprochement that began the previous month when members of the new Argentinian government started claiming that they had received “Christmas boxes” to give to the people pf Argentina. In that context, the government of the People’s Republic of China responded that “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory, and the Taiwan issue is entirely an internal affair of China.” The Milei government’s behavior generated profound concerns regarding the fact that Argentina was exchanging 300 boxes of sweets offered by Taiwan for a swap from China amounting to $18 billion, which served to rescue the economy.

What Mondino is now saying is completely contrary to what Milei said he would do during his campaign and the first weeks of his term. He has even invited Chinese investors to his country and stated that he will promote the launching of commercial air routes to further strengthen cultural relations. This attitude makes it clear that in geopolitical matters and in economic-commercial valuations, pragmatism ends up imposing itself over the ideological agendas of some governments, such as Javier Milei’s.

(Misión Verdad)

https://orinocotribune.com/reality-defe ... ough-talk/

Bolivia’s Evo Morales Announces Candidacy for 2025 Presidential Elections (+Jorge Glas)
MAY 5, 2024


Former president of Bolivia, Evo Morales. File photo.

The leader of the Indigenous movement of Bolivia, Evo Morales, announced during a political rally in the Cochabamba region that he will run as a presidential candidate in the upcoming 2025 elections with support from the Movement toward Socialism (MAS) political party.

Accompanied by his followers, Morales added that, “Until this moment, we are legally and constitutionally qualified to be president, that is not up for debate. What they are doing is searching at how, with the autoprorrogados [Supreme Court Judges who controversially extended their terms], they are searching for how to eliminate me as an option, how to disqualify me.”


Morales’ election in 2006 ended a long era of right-wing rule in Bolivia. His last term ended abruptly in 2019 when a US sponsored coup d’état led by Jeannine Áñez usurped power, forcing Morales to request political asylum in Mexico and Argentina.

At the rally, Morales took the opportunity to call on his supporters to “mobilize” and “take to the streets” if he is disqualified as a candidate in 2025.



Jorge Glas Case
On the other hand, this Sunday, on social media, Morales shared a document where he and several Latin American leaders advocated for the release of the former Ecuadorian vice president, Jorge Glas, victim of a macabre lawfare persecution promoted by right-wingers.

On his social media accounts, Morales wrote: “Today marks one month since the kidnapping of brother Jorge Glas. Together with many colleagues from Latin America, we speak out demanding his freedom and that his physical integrity be respected. The government of Ecuador has the responsibility of delivering him to Mexican territory safe and sound.”



(RedRadioVE) with Orinoco Tribune content

https://orinocotribune.com/bolivias-evo ... orge-glas/

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In BBC Interview, Javier Milei Shows His True Colours on Falklands Issue While Praising His “Idol”, Margaret Thatcher, to the Skies
Posted on May 8, 2024 by Nick Corbishley

In a sharp departure from established practice, Milei admits that the Falkland Islands, or Malvinas, are, to all intents and purposes, British. And he is no rush to change that.

For most Argentines, Margaret Thatcher is a controversial figure, to put it mildly. It was she who, as British Prime Minister, ordered the torpedoing of the ARA Belgrado, an Argentine cruiser, leading to the deaths of 323 people on board — practically half the total casualties suffered by Argentina during the 1982 war over the Falklands (or Malvinas, as they are known in Spanish). The attack took place outside the exclusion area the British Government had established around the islands. It is also the only case of a ship sunk in war by a nuclear submarine.

So, when Argentina’s faux libertarian president, Javier Milei, described Thatcher as “brilliant” in an interview with the BBC this week, it turned a few heads:

Criticising someone because of their nationality or race is very intellectually precarious. I have heard lots of speeches by Margaret Thatcher. She was brilliant. So what’s the problem?..

There was a war and we were the ones who lost. That does not mean that one cannot consider one’s adversaries as people who did their job well.

This is not the first time that Milei has heaped praise on Thatcher in public, but it is, to my mind, the first time he has done so since becoming president. The fact that he made these remarks during an interview with the UK’s national state broadcaster gave them added prominence. During the election campaign Milei described Thatcher as an “idol” who played a significant role in the fall of the Berlin Wall. He steadfastly ignores the fact that Thatcher’s legacy of failed privatisations and strict adherence (aka TINA) to monetarism, loose financial regulation and so-called free trade have left the British economy in tatters while, of course, being exported around the world, including to Argentina.

“In the history of humanity,” Milei told the BBC interviewer, “there have been great leaders. Mrs Thatcher was one, as were Reagan, Churchill and De Gaulle.”

In this latest interview, not only did Milei reiterate his admiration for the “Iron Lady”, he also did something that no other Argentine president of the post-Falklands War era has done: he admitted that the Falkland Islands, or Malvinas, are, to all intents and purposes, British. Asked if he considered the recent visit by UK Foreign Minister David Cameron to the Falklands to be a provocation, Milei said: “No, because that territory today is in the hands of the United Kingdom. In other words, he has every right to [visit the Falklands].”

Located 250 miles off the southern tip of Argentina and 8,000 miles from British shores, the Malvinas/Falklands, home to 3,500 mostly British people, have been the subject of a territorial dispute between the UK and Argentina ever since 1833, when a British expedition invaded the islands, evicted their inhabitants and planted the British flag. After the Suez disaster of 1956, the British government began divesting itself of most of its colonial holdings in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean (while, of course, building a vast web of tax havens in their place). However, London made sure to hold on to the Falklands, for its obvious geostrategic benefits.

Now classified as a British Overseas Territory, the islands are technically self-governing, with defence matters and foreign affairs handled by the UK government. London regularly wheels out the fact that almost 100% of the residents of the archipelago approved remaining under British control in a referendum held in 2013. During his visit to the islands in February, Cameron stated that he hopes that the territory will want to remain under the administration of the United Kingdom “for a long time, possibly forever.”

Milei, however, has a cunning plan, of the sort that even Blackadder’s Baldrick would be proud, to resolve this centuries-old territorial dispute once and for all, which he shared with the BBC during his interview. He and his ministers, he said, will talk about the issue to their British counterparts in an adult, cordial manner until the British finally agree to hand back the territory like true gentlemen. This despite the fact that the British government insists that sovereignty over the islands is not up for debate.

Here’s a transcript of the brief exchange (the Spanish sections translated by your truly):

— You have promised Argentines a road map to making the Falklands, known here as the Malvinas, Argentinian. What specifically does that road map look like?”

— We believe this always must be done in a framework of peace and as the result of a long-term negotiation in which an adult discussion takes place between countries that have a great deal in common as well as a source of discord. And we have to try to resolve it in an adult way. Obviously this is not going to be an instant solution, it will take time. So we are not going to give up our sovereignty nor are we going to have a situation of conflict with the UK. What we are looking to do is to initiate a dialogue so that at some point the Falkland Islands become Argentinian.

— What makes you think the UK will agree to that, because they have been very clear they do not want to negotiate it?

— It could be that today they don’t want to negotiate but some time later they do. Many of these positions have changed over time.

— But how will you convince them. What tools would you use to convince them?

— I’m going to try to convince them that the territory is Argentinian. I am going to try to convince them that this territory is Argentine and that according to the specifications that are usually used to define it that way, Argentina has the right and sovereignty over the islands.

But when they have said very clearly that they are not willing to negotiate and use the referendum held on the islands as proof that they do not want to discuss this issue again. How will you convince them? What tools would you use?

Well, it won’t be discussed now. It will be discussed later.

And that is pretty much it. In other words, Milei is going to appeal to the British establishment’s better nature without applying any kind of political or diplomatic pressure, as previous Argentinian governments have tried to do, albeit with little success. Nor does Milei appear to be in any hurry to press the issue. Now, he said, is not the time to discuss the territorial dispute, which, he added, could take decades to resolve.

It is, to all intents and purposes, the geopolitical equivalent of kicking the can as far down the road as possible while seemingly seeking to cosy up to the British government.

“We have a lot of other issues on the agenda that [Argentina and the UK] can work on together and we are willing to do that. I think it’s the adult (yes, that word again) way to do things.” It makes more sense, he added, to “be working with the United Kingdom”, rather than “arguing and fighting” over an issue that will take inordinate amounts of time to resolve.

In other words, Argentina, under Milei’s government, will be working closely with its long-time adversary on a whole range of issues while consigning the Falklands dispute to the backburner. It is, to put it mildly, a sharp departure from traditional national policy regarding the Malvinas.

Argentina’s claim to the Malvinas remains a major issue for most people. In a 2021 poll carried out by the consultancy firm, Julio Aurelio, more than 80% of the population supported Argentine sovereignty over the islands. Many have clung to a non-binding 1965 UN resolution that recognized a sovereignty dispute that invited the Argentine and UK governments to negotiate a solution.

I remember crossing into Argentina from Bolivia 20 years ago and seeing a giant billboard proclaiming: “Las Malvinas son Argentinas.” It was one of many I would see on my travels. Even Argentina’s national constitution from 1994 has a section asserting the country’s claims of sovereignty over the Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands and the corresponding maritime and island spaces, as they are an integral part of the national territory.” The recovery of said territories, it says, and their “full exercise of sovereignty… constitute a permanent and inalienable objective of the Argentine people.”

But not apparently for Argentina’s new government. Milei’s latest words should finally put to rest speculation, particularly in the English-language press, that Milei might one day repeat the follies of Argentina’s military dictatorship and order the military to recapture the Falkland Islands. That is highly unlikely to happen. Although Milei insists that he has a clear roadmap for brining the Malvinas back into Argentine hands and has called for a new era of reconciliation with the armed forces, in reality the roadmap consists of kicking the can as far down the road as possible.

While Milei insists that his government is the first to have a clear goal of turning Argentina into a truly sovereign nation, in reality he has aligned his government with the West, particularly the US and Israel, in almost every possible way, even going so far as to apply to join NATO as a global partner. The notion that his government will one day take aggressive action of any kind against the US’ fellow Five-Eye nation and founding NATO member, the UK, is, to put it mildly, absurd, especially given that most of Argentina’ss air force now consists of second-hand US F-16s.

Predictably, Milei’s words have sparked a backlash from some of Argentina´s Falkland War veterans. In one statement, the La Plata Centre for Former Malvinas Islands Combatants has warned that President Milei’s “dishonest and disgraceful words should be setting off flashing lights in our political system given that what is ultimately at risk is adequate institutional representation for the country”:

The degree of irresponsibility evident in each of his statements is an affront to the millions of Argentinians who love our country. The conflict with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island has been going on since 1833 when they appropriated millions of square kilometres of territory on our continental platform, today in the hands of a neocolonial power that illegally occupied it with force. And that occupation DOES NOT GRANT IT RIGHTS!

In denigrating terms President Milei is inviting the owners of speculative capital around the world… to come to our country to do what they want with it, dishing up a program of grand investment incentives, all in the name of giving away our strategic resources.

Since coming into office in mid-December, the Milei government has signed a memorandum of understanding with the United States allowing members of the US Army Corps of Engineers to operate along the Paraná-Paraguay Waterway, including large parts of the river Plata basin, upon which roughly 80% of all Argentine exports travel. It has agreed to buy $300 million of second-hand, 40-year-old F-16 fighters from Denmark. It has also announced the establishment of a US naval base in Ushuaia, on the southern tip of Tierra de Fuego, often described as the last stop before Antarctica.

Accused of selling out his country’s sovereignty for seemingly nothing in return, Milei argued, with a straight face, that allowing the installation of a US military base in Usuahia is the greatest act of sovereignty of the past 40 years since it will strengthen Argentina’s territorial claims over the Antarctic.

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/05 ... -flag.html

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Argentine Unions March for Social Assistance Demands


Demostrators in the Argentine Streets, May 7, 2024 | Photo: EFE

The Front of Organizations in Struggle (FOL) denounced "the dismantling of the Labor Empowerment program and the halving of the salary of 200,000 workers".

Social organizations and pickets held demonstrations on Tuesday in different localities of Argentina to protest and request the suppression of social programs and interruptions of canteens promoted by the Government of Javier Milei.

For its part, the Front of Organizations in Struggle (FOL), denounced through a statement "the dismantling of the Labor Empowerment program and the halving of the salary of 200,000 workers and the freeze since November 2023. We continue in the street for genuine work and all our demands".

The demonstrations approached the vicinity of the Quinta de Olivos (presidential residence Argentina) and requested to contact the representative of the Executive, to deliver a request to resolve the situation of community canteens, who are in short supply.

The picket leader of the Polo Obrero, Eduardo Belliboni criticized the anti-piette protocol and said that "we seek to solve the food problem. We want to march to the Quinta de Olivos to deliver a petition, but we have the protocol".


The text reads,
strong operation at Pt Saavedra March towards the Olivos farm. Bullrich wants to apply protocol
Belliboni also said the leader has not yet had "a meeting with those responsible for this situation, closed canteens and destroyed social programs. In the neighborhoods, people are once again stirring up garbage because the Government has decided to cut all the community canteens in Argentina".

The organizers of the march said that in five months it does not provide for the allocation of food bags for the canteens by government authorities. Similarly, some 200,000 workers enrolled in social programs were cut and the actions carried out in poor neighborhoods of the nation.

The police forces exchanged tense moments with the demonstrators, who still remain on the roads leading to Buenos Aires (capital), arteries of the Buenos Aires conurbation and metropolitan area, as well as on some routes of the nation.

The marches take place 48 hours after the national strike organized by the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) against economic adjustment and the Omnibus Law, a legislative bill that, among other proposals, provides for reforms in the labor area.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Arg ... -0023.html