Today marks the second week of protests by Bolivia’s Workers Centre (COB) as regards pension increases.

The strike continues despite the fact that the government decided, at the request of the COB, to release a group of miners who had been incarcerated.

The national workers union of bolivia (COB) confrontation with the police (Photo: QuilomboFotos flickr)

Luis Arce, minister for Economy and Finance, explained that, “with the release of those in custody, the government has given a signal that it would like to make amends, paving a way for the return to negotiations.” Arce added that: “we told them that we also expect them to provide us with a signal…or end their protest.”

The largest union in the country, the COB is demanding a pension equivalent to 100% of their salary – a demand considered excessive by the government. The government sustains that to fulfil that demand would be to jeopardise long-term the pension system for the rest of the country’s workers.

The protesters are demanding a salary of more than US$1,147 per month for miners, and US$715 for other sectors. The Minister for Economy had originally offered instead US$570 for miners, and US$457 for the rest.

President Evo Morales said: “no matter what they say or do, there is no more margin for negotiation on the subject.”

Luis Arce Catacora (Photo: Casa de América flickr)

Earlier today Arce publicly denounced the “intransigence” of COB for not respecting their agreements with the government. The COB had agreed to halt the protest and roadblocks in order to enter into dialogue with the government as regards the pension increases.

He affirmed that: “on Sunday we had arrived at an agreement with the COB. They agreed to halt the roadblocks, which would be replaced with a vigil…we were advancing. Until the COB removes the roadblocks, we will not re-enter into a dialogue with them.”

As the uncertainty continues, so do the profit losses engendered by the strike. The Mario Virreira mine for example is thought to have lost around half a million dollars.

In addition, more than 30 people have been injured, around 370 people remanded in custody, whilst three policeman have been kidnapped by a group of miners, and hundreds of sticks of dynamite and other explosives have been seized.

Military police confronts protestors at Belo Monte Dam. (Photo: International Rivers)

A protest by more than 200 indigenous people to stop the construction of a hydroelectric dam in the Brazilian Amazon has ended after the government refused to meet protesters demands.

Indigenous leaders from the Amazon rainforest expressed their “disgust with federal leaders” and vowed to keep fighting after claiming the Belo Monte power plant will damage the environment and rivers within their territory.

The 11,233-MW plant is to be built on the Xingu River in Brazil’s northern Pará state. Local indigenous groups, including the Munduruku, Juruna, and Kaypo, have demanded the immediate suspension of all works stating that environmental studies show potential damage to valuable rivers including the Tapajos and Teles Pires.

The dam, due to be the world’s third largest, will divert 80% of the Xingu River’s flow, affecting a large area of rainforest.

Protesters sent a document to the government demanding that they be advised on any developments that take place, given the potentially damaging effects of the plant. However, Brazil’s General Secretary, Gilberto Carvalho, says the government will not bow to their demands.

President of the Pusuru Association, Cândido Munduruku, said that the indigenous people “will continue to struggle against the installation regardless of the government’s plans.”

Original article courtesy of Agencia Pulsar.

Last Thursday night, the fervour of a section of Argentine society could be felt and heard in every corner of the country. Thousands of light blue and white flags fluttered in the skies of the main cities, creating the impression of a civic holiday, though it was the claim of more than a million indignant citizens.

Buenos Aires Thursday 18 April, thousands of peaceful demonstrators
(Photo: Julie Catarinella)

The streets, crowded with people chanting against ten years of rule by president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and her late husband and former president Néstor Kirchner, were swamped with demands and allegations that resonated in the handmade banners and loud sounds of pot banging.

“I’m tired of corruption. I’m tired of not being able to to go outside without being afraid. I’m tired of public officials getting richer at the expense of our people. I’m here to defend democracy”, said a 65-year-old housewife.

Their grievances included alleged corruption, violent crime, inflation, and poverty -concerns which have seen the president’s approval rating plummet almost two years after she easily won her bid for re-election (according to several consulting agencies, in the last half of 2012 her positive image had already fallen by 45%). After all, it was Argentina’s largest anti-government demonstration in years and the third mass protest against the president in seven months.

Buenos Aires Thursday 18 April, peaceful demonstrators
(Photos: Julie Catarinella)

One of the demonstrators’ main concerns was about a new judicial reform which, among other things, states that all members of the Magistrates’ Council, a body that oversees the selection and running of the judiciary, ought to be elected by the citizens. While supporters say the law will lead to a democratisation of the justice system, critics say it will dangerously politicise the judiciary ensuring impunity to members of the ruling party.

It is hard for a group of people to come together behind a single banner. The claims were numerous and diverse, and some of them resonate with the government’s electoral base. Most of the participants of this protest were not voters of Kirchnerism, however some of their grievances, such as inflation and insecurity, are also claims made by voters of the current government.

Scenes like these are bound to raise concerns for the president and her supporters, and the reason is the transversal nature of the complaints.

Last Thursday there were neighbours from affluent suburbs, rural workers from the countryside, leaders and members of the Independent Movement of Pensioners and Unemployed (MIJD), the Socialist Workers’ Movement (MST), young people in school uniforms, retirees in wheelchairs and walking sticks, and diverse groups of people from all around the country, united by their rejection of the government. These were the indignant social players of the so-called ’18A’, strongly proud of not being part of the 54% who voted for president Fernández in 2011, demanding to be heard.

No one can fail to admit the impact of the ‘cacerolazo‘, especially in districts historically controlled by president Fernández’s party, such as the Greater Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Salta, Tucuman, and Neuquén. In previous demonstrations, on 13th September and 8th November 2012, government supporters had dismissed the protest by pointing out that protesters belonged to the middle-upper classes and that the demonstrations were orchestrated by wealthy elites. There was also speculation that some media groups were responsible for stoking fears and encouraging the protest. As the judicial reform has been a hot topic in the news agenda, some media groups aligned with the opposition directly linked this issue with the 18A protest, which gave the event massive coverage and placed it on the spotlight.

This time, the main government officials refrained from comment. They feel this message is not addressed to them.

Buenos Aires Thursday 18 April,peaceful demonstrator
(Photo: Julie Catarinella)

The feature that differentiated the third cacerolazo against the government from the previous ones was the visible presence of opposition political leaders. On 13th September, when the pots were heard against the government for the first time, opposition politicians were conspicuous by their absence. Two months later, on 8th November, only some were audacious enough to attend. Last Thursday, however, the key figures of the opposition took to the streets and heard the people’s demands. After all, many of them admitted to having articulated the protests.

“The right of the majorities is not absolute nor can it be fulfilled at any cost. The president must govern for all citizens. We also want justice, we also want security, we also want a better quality of life,” explained Mauro, a 33-year-old engineer.

A crucial test of the government’s popularity will come later this year in the mid-term legislative elections, in which the government will try to keep its majority in both chambers. For the time being, the government pushes ahead with major bills.

The Responsibility of the Opposition

In the two previous cacerolazos, it came to light that certain opposition groups had provided support to the organisation of the protests, though with a low profile and no party identification.

Marked by the predominant influx of people not aligned with any political party, the novelty of ’18A’ was the strong and explicit role of political leaders of most of the opposition parties.

The demands of unity between the opposition candidates for an alternative option ahead of the elections were also part of the people’s claims at the demonstration. One of the organisers argued that the opposition parties should unite to form at least two electoral fronts, a right-leaning and a left-leaning one, to avoid fragmentation and confront the ruling party in the legislative elections next 27th October.

Some opposition sectors are beginning to come together to replicate the model of the opposition in Venezuela, based on an alliance of all left and right-wing parties to confront the ruling party in the polls. The aim of this alliance, the Mesa de Unidad Democrática (MUD), is to carry out primary elections, run together, and support the candidate who obtains the highest number of votes. But here in Argentina, not all believe in unity. Some socialist groups differ with right-wing parties in the way they analyse a possible new victory of Kirchnerism -they just do no think the risk is that high.

The wide gap between the various opposition forces has been very difficult to bridge so far and it might take too long before an alliance like the MUD in Venezuela can arise and develop a cohesive discourse.

It becomes evident that from now on the calls to these anti-government manifestations will be more orchestrated by these groups, and less ‘non-partisan’. This may affect future gatherings, given the explicitly ‘non-partisan’ stance of the protesters.

“No political party represents me so far, I don’t identify with any of the existing political platforms. I hope the opposition can come up with something new for the next elections. I still wanted to come and express my disappointment with this government,” said Susana, a 37-year-old shop-keeper.

On the ruins of the bipartisan system that ruled Argentina between 1983 and 2001, the government developed a hegemony that is based more on the lack of an alternative than on the trust of the popular vote. In recent years we have seen how opposition parties have been weakening because of their inaction against the power of Kirchnerism. The street protest reflects the other side of their supremacy in the arena of partisan politics. It expresses an ongoing discomfort at an opposition without organisation or discourse, and a ruling party that does not recognise the needs and predicaments of great part of society.

The political dispersion of the minority was evidenced in the 2011 election and resonates today in the form of a widespread dissatisfaction with the current political actors. Responsibility for this dissatisfaction falls on the intellectuals and politicians who are not articulating people’s demands into concrete, democratic, and autonomous actions.

Buenos Aires Thursday 18 April,peaceful demonstrators
(Photo: Julie Catarinella)

The open cacerolazos are an enigma in terms of their ultimate implications in the polls. The challenge for the opposition is to be able to translate the slogans seen in these protests into a parliamentary victory and later on, an electoral victory. Whether they achieve this will depend on the strength of their unity and their ability to evolve into a new political project able to represent this part of Argentine society.

A lot has been said about democracy over the past few days. The protesters denounce president Fernández for exceeding the limits of democracy towards a greater accumulation of power, while her allies state that the ’18A’ is the glaring realisation that there is full democracy in Argentina.

It is important to bear in mind that democracy in Argentina, as well as in most Latin American countries, is often expressed through strong personal leaderships. The strong presidential system in Argentina does nothing to alleviate the problem of a lack of representation in Congress. Without a strong opposition to ensure a fair political game, the government’s concentration of power will continue growing, to the point of jeopardising democratic consolidation.

Domestic Trade Secretary Guillermo Moreno.

Domestic Trade Secretary Guillermo Moreno is set to launch a new public programme called ‘Ropa para Todos’ (Clothes for Everyone), which aims to offer a range of garments for less than $100 to make clothing more affordable in Argentina.

Later this afternoon Moreno will meet president of the ProTejer Foundation, Marco Meloni, and several supermarkets’ representatives to finalise the plan, which is expected to be announced officially next week.

Meloni, who was a member of the commercial development delegation that in January toured Indonesia and Vietnam, said the idea for this clothing project flourished when they started talking about clothes prices in shopping centres in those countries.

The basket of garments that will initially be put on sale mainly in supermarkets will include: gabardine trousers, a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, a shirt, a pair of socks, a pair of slippers and/or other pair of shoes. For now the plan only includes men’s apparel, though this may later be expanded. “If the results are good, the idea is to expand the line of products,” said Meloni.

The main goal of Ropa para Todos is to show that clothing can be accessible to a wider public for a lower price than they are used to seeing in the window displays. According to a report by ProTejer, the retail price for clothes is often six to eight times the production value, which much of that increase due to store rental, marketing. and financing costs.

All the key players will meet again on Monday. Although the ‘Ropa para Todos’ programme is expected to be introduced in supermarkets next month, those behind it are yet to determine the identifying brand for the new range.

Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri (Photo/GCBA)

City Mayor Mauricio Macri has stated that he “hopes Argentina doesn’t follow any of the late Venezuelan leader’s policies.” He was speaking after the return of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner from the funeral of Hugo Chávez.

Macri made the statement to a radio station as he questioned was he considered was the praising of a “populist leadership, different from the governments of Brazil, Perú, and Chile.”

“Everything we have learned drives us away from what Chávez did in Venezuela and brings us closer to what Dilma Rousseff is currently doing in Brazil, to what Chile has done over the past 20 years, and to what Perú is doing,” he added.

The mayor also touched upon Argentina’s current political scenario and stated that he is “optimistic” about the country’s future. “Fortunately, 8th November confirmed through that spontaneous demonstration across the country that we have learnt a lot about what has happened”, Macri said, relating to one of the 2012 demonstrations against the administration of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

The AGN building (Photo by Gelpgim22 at Wikimedia Commons)

After a thorough investigation, the Government General Auditor (AGN after its name in Spanish) published a report yesterday detailing the arbitrary distribution of official government advertising.

The investigation saw the watchdog organisation announce that they could not find any existence of specific and objective criteria for the distribution and allocation of government advertising.

The AGN investigated government material from 2007 to mid-2010 and noted that, “there are no precise objectives or parameters regarding the distribution and procurement of official advertising”, with “an increased investment pattern” during election years 2007 and 2009. The report also stated that “the lack of criteria conflicts with the current doctrine of the Supreme Court.”

The investigation discovered that in 2009, of 356 media titles, only five received 59.52% of the advertising investment. Details showed Página 12 receiving 17.9% of the funds, Arte Gráfico Editorial Arg. S.A. (Clarín), receiving 15%, Comunidad Virtual S.A. (Newsweek and 7 días) obtaining 13.7%, and La Nación, with 8%.

Published in today’s print editions, newspapers La Nación and El Cronista highlight details of the report, challenging the government’s manner of advertising, with the suggestion of clear and measurable rules to regulate advertising, as the current regulations have no “precise, objective parameters”.

Headed by Leandro Despouy, the AGN is an external control body of the national public sector.

Today at the second extraordinary session of the National Council of Public Security, president Enrique Peña Nieto announced the national action plan against crime.

Noting that “there will be no improvisation” in the fight against crime, the president outlined six major action lines, which will be the “new state policy” on security and justice. The lines are the following:

1) planning,
2) prevention,
3) promotion and defence of human rights,
4) coordination,
5) institutional transformation,
6) evaluation and feedback.

These six lines include the creation of the National Gendarmerie and the interministerial commission on crime prevention, debugging and restructuring of the National Institute of Migration (INM), and the division of the country into five regions to achieve greater operational efficiency and address problems punctually.

The first line comes with “priority objectives” in reducing violence and restoring peace in Mexican families through lower indicators related to killings, kidnappings, and extortions.

The second line involves the establishment of the interministerial commission on crime prevention, where each governor will have a clear responsibility for achieving these objectives.

The third line will launch a national human rights programme to strengthen the role of government in this area and create the federal body to follow up on implementation of the recent reforms in the human rights area.

The fourth line establishes a system of coordination and cooperation, which will be hosted by the Interior Ministry, and where the country is divided into five operating regions. According to Peña Nieto, it will help “to achieve greater efficiency in the fight against crime.”

The fifth line will reorganise the Federal Police in order to ensure its internal control and create a National Gendarmerie as a new institution. This new institution, integrated initially with 10,000 elements, will be responsible for strengthening territorial control in municipalities with weaker institutional and strategic facilities such as ports, airports, and borders.

The sixth line will assess the Federal Police permanently and using clear, measurable, and transparent indicators, so that it serves the citizens to qualify performance of its authorities in a democratic way.

The president warned that “in the obligation to provide security and justice, governments must deliver, not compete.” He added that no political party or movement shall either benefit from this plan, or take advantage.

Given the weak state of the political opposition in Argentina today, it has become evident that the biggest threat to the government is not coming from the outside, but from within the Kirchnerist ranks.

Kirchnerism, like Peronism, is an ideologically broad movement held together by pragmatic interests and strong leadership. Progressive and conservative forces coexist in a delicate balance that anything, like the upcoming elections or personal interests, can upset.

Hugo Moyano talk with the press. (Photo: Santiago Trusso)

After two years of mounting tension, the leader of the CGT umbrella union, Hugo Moyano, finally broke ranks and made his move to the opposition explicit. There has been much speculation as to the reasons why Moyano and President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner grew apart. From pseudo-psychological explanations about her blaming him for her husband’s death (apparently, Kirchner and Moyano had a heated argument the night before he died) to more politically significant ones about Moyano’s own aspirations.

Moyano’s CGT was an important ally of both Kirchnerist governments, even at their most difficult times during the campo crisis. In true Peronist fashion, unionism became one of the ‘legs’ the Kirchnerist project stood on. However, history shows that the relationship between unions and politics has never been as smooth as politicians would like.

From the frustrated attempts in the 1960s by CGT leader Augusto Vandor to create an ‘autonomous Peronism’ during Perón’s exile, to the deadly wounds inflicted on unionism by former president Carlos Menem in the 1990s, many examples illustrate what historian Ezequiel Meler calls an “historical tension”.

Encouraged by the strategic alliance between the first Kirchnerist government and the unions, and by the leading role the latter gained after a decade of decline, Moyano decided it was time to raise the stakes. Increasingly, he moved from making strictly union-related demands, to a more political discourse. He suggested that it would be good to have “a worker as a vice-president”, and pushed to have unionists included in the ballots for deputies in last year’s election.

The president’s refusal to open up the game to unionists before the election led to an escalation of this “historical tension”, which culminated with Moyano’s break-up with the official CGT and his defiant call for a general strike and manifestation at Plaza de Mayo on 27th June.

The long-awaited break-up, however, has not proven favourable for Moyano so far. His display of strength on the 27th June rally backfired, as he did not receive the support he was expecting from other unions. His ideological limits and bad public image have, so far, rendered him unable to become a unifying figure for the opposition and make the jump from unionism to party politics.

With Moyano’s political threat seemingly neutralised, loyal Kirchnerists have focused their attention on another, much bigger internal menace: Buenos Aires province governor Daniel Scioli. When on 12th May he mentioned his intentions to run for president in 2015, alarm bells started ringing within Kircherism. The recent spat between the national government and Scioli’s administration over the economic crisis in Buenos Aires province was the preview of a war that has, for the time being, remained cold.

Daniel Scioli talks with the Press (Photo: Tecnópolis Argentina)

A product of the 90s, Scioli started his political career with Carlos Menem, and became Néstor Kirchner’s vice-president in 2003 thanks to Eduardo Duhalde’s support. For many progressive Kirchnerists, he does not belong to “the project”. He is seen as a Trojan horse for the neo-liberal right, who cannot be trusted. More worryingly, he has very high approval ratings and would today beat anyone in an election, except for Cristina.

The lack of an “ideologically suitable” successor for the current president is the main issue Kirchnerism is facing at the moment. Cristina cannot run for another term without a constitutional reform, for which the vote of two thirds of congress is needed. Many government supporters hope those two thirds can be obtained next year with a good result in the legislative elections. However, Cristina herself has not made any mention about reforming the constitution and running for a third term. She has, in fact, made remarks that suggest the opposite.

It is likely that the idea of constitutional reform will not be denied or confirmed until the last minute though, as doing so earlier (especially ruling it out) could result in an accelerated loss of power for Cristina. In the meantime, Kirchnerists speculate over the possible options for 2015, which at the moment are mainly three: a re-election; the emergence of a new leader that can be anointed as Cristina’s successor (following the example of Dilma and Lula in Brazil); or a pact with Scioli by which he would be allowed to run for president, but remaining heavily conditioned by “true” Kirchnerists.

They fear that a failure to reach one of these solutions and win the 2015 election could mean the end of the “Kirchnerist model”, not at the hands of the opposition, but of one of their own.

The Association of State Workers (ATE) announced today that they will stop work next Thursday, 13th September, and congregate outside Buenos Aires City Government buildings in protest of recent government reforms.

The concentration of the demonstration will be held outside the Ministry of Modernization after they recently brought forward a provision, which would have required the workers of public offices to ask permission to create assemblies, this was however suspended by a judge last Monday.

“[The suspension of this by a judge] gives us the right to reject provision 40 of the Ministry of Modernization which was intended to allow them to decide whether or not we can make assemblies in our own workplaces,” said Humberto Rodríguez, the secretary general of the ATE this morning.

The workers are also striking against what they call the “persecution of state workers,” and a “precarisation at work.” Precarisation is defined as an increasing change of previously guaranteed permanent employment conditions into mainly worse paid and uncertain jobs. They also want to reopen negotiations with the government in regards to salary increases.

“In previous negotiations the [government] put forward a clause to reopen talks in August if inflation rose sharply, but there’s been no sign of [reopening negotiations],” said Rodríguez.

Rodríguez had previously threatened a strike on the 28th August when he said that “the province of Buenos Aires is an immensely rich province and as demonstrated by previous strikes, when workers mobilize silver appears.”

Rodríguez warned that there is a “criminalization of social protests in the city of Buenos Aires,” and that the decision of the city government is a “severe media siege.” He requested “there is respect for the laws and judgments of the Justice,” because, “[the government] cannot continue to persecute those who think differently, that is exercising arrogance and authoritarianism.”

Rodríguez made the announcement this morning in a press conference held at the trade union’s headquarters on Carlos Calvo 1378.

After nearly half a century of conflict, the Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos and the left-wing guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), signed an agreement to initiate peace talks in Havana, Cuba.

The peace talks will formally begin in October in the Norwegian capital of Oslo, before delegates will return to Havana to sit down and negotiate “with the aim of not leaving the table until a peace accord has been signed which will put an end to the nearly 50 years of conflict”, said Jorge Enrique Botero, of TeleSUR.

Botero confirmed that the peace process had begun in May when secret conversations began in Havana, coordinated by the governments of Venezuela, Cuba and Norway.

The conflict began in 1964, when FARC, a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organisation picked up arms against the government of the time. The organisation has forces numbering around 18,000. The on-going conflict has led to the displacement of over two million Colombians, one of the highest rates of internally displaced people in the world.