By Alejandro Iturbe
On June 12, the Argentine Senate was dealing with the so-called Ley Bases, sent by the government of Javier Milei, whose original bill had already been approved by the Chamber of Deputies [1]. In the parliamentary chamber, debates and negotiations were taking place (with modifications granted by the government representatives) to achieve the number of senators necessary for its approval.
In the square in front of the Congress, thousands of people, called by various political, trade union and social organizations, expressed their opposition to this legislative package and demanded that the Senate reject it.
The government, through its Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, had “surrounded” the Congress building with fences and mounted a strong repressive operation with numerous members of the Gendarmerie (federal forces) and the collaboration of the Police of the city of Buenos Aires (governed by Macrismo).
The tension in the square increased and, in that context, a harsh repression began, preceded by the action of provocateurs and infiltrators: a photographic sequence shows a young man (apparently a demonstrator) with a stick, and then the same man arresting a demonstrator.
In the midst of the situation generated, a car belonging to the Cadena 3 news media was set on fire, an event that was the starting point for further repression and the arrest of 33 people, including people who were not participating in the mobilization, such as several street vendors [2].
Judicializing social protest
In order to justify the repression and arrests, Patricia Bullrich publicly declared that they had responded to an “attempted coup d’état” and that she was going to denounce those arrested for “sedition,” a very serious charge and subject to very harsh penalties in the courts [3]. A new step in the policy of “judicializing social protest” considering it a crime that various bourgeois governments of “different colors” have promoted in the last decades.
For this purpose, they counted on the collaboration of two characters who are a clear example of the character of Argentine Justice, under bourgeois governments of different “color.” The federal prosecutor who brought the charges is Carlos Stornelli: many of the cases he has taken since 1993, have been subject to scandals and complaints about his performance.
Stornelli is publicly known for his repressive vision and collaborated with different political leaders to apply it. On the one hand, he maintained a close relationship with Mauricio Macri, since, in 2007, he was part of the Board of Directors of the Boca Juniors club (in charge of security) when Macri was president of the club.
On the other hand, he was Minister of Security of the Peronist governor of the Province of Buenos Aires, Daniel Scioli, from 2007. In 2009, the young man Luciano Arruga disappeared after being arrested by the Buenos Aires police (which was under the command of that ministry). The young man’s body turned up several years later buried as NN [4]. Stornelli did everything to prevent this case of police violence under his responsibility from being clarified and punished, including threats to the young man’s family in an interview they had.
The federal judge prosecuting the case is María Servini de Cubría who, at 84 years of age, should have retired by now. She was appointed federal judge by the Peronist government of Carlos Menem and, since then, many of her cases have also been mired in scandal. The most serious of her records is that, on December 20, 2001, she was a judicial participant in the core that led the repression of the demonstration demanding the resignation of then President Fernando de la Rúa, from a downtown police station.
The demand for the freedom of the prisoners
As soon as the arrests took place, the actions in response began. Firstly, to find out where they were being held and to give them legal support. That same day, neighborhood assemblies carried out “ruidazos” (loud protests) on numerous street corners in Buenos Aires (also in cities in the interior of the country), with several hundred people at each one. Subsequently, it was learned that they were being prosecuted by the federal justice system and that they had been transferred to prisons in Greater Buenos Aires: Ezeiza (the women) and Marcos Paz (the men).
There began a series of coordinated and centralized actions. A rally was held in front of the headquarters of the federal courts in the Retiro neighborhood, followed by a press conference called by numerous political, trade union, social and human rights organizations at the Servicio de Paz y Justicia – SERPAJ, in the center of the city, which was accompanied by numerous attendees in the premises and in the streets [5]. It was decided to call for a mobilization to the Plaza de Mayo on June 18, in which thousands of people participated[6].
This mobilization process forced Judge Servini de Cubría, first to release 17 detainees and then 11 more, for “lack of merit.” The other five were remanded in custody, stating that she has documentary evidence (videos) and material evidence against them. It is striking that in the most serious of the events (the burning of the Cadena 3 car) no one has been charged, which would indicate that it was another provocation made by the infiltrators of the services.
The judge herself “covered her back” by saying that she still has “a lot of material to analyze” and “did not rule out that some police officer may have some responsibility in the acts committed in the vicinity of the National Congress, where there were disturbances, destruction and confrontations between the security forces and the demonstrators” [7].
Between June 19 and 22 there was a “long holiday” in Argentina during which the actions had an impasse. Even so, a very broad coordination meeting was held (political, trade union, social, human rights and neighborhood assemblies) calling for various actions during this week and also the call for the launching of an international campaign.
The two slogans that unify this struggle are: Immediate freedom for those imprisoned for fighting! and Protesting is not a crime! The Argentine workers and people are aware that, behind the struggle for the release of the detainees, is the struggle against the judicialization of protest and popular struggles. Something that several previous governments have already been doing and that the government of Milei, through its Minister Patricia Bullrich, intends to take to an even more serious level: the demonstrations against the government’s policies have been qualified as “coup attempts” and “sedition”.
The intentions of the government and Bullrich go even deeper. She has just presented and is discussing with the country’s main companies (which she calls “strategic”) a Productive Security Plan, a “special protection system” to “safeguard investments” which would empower the government to use federal repressive forces against “threats to those investments”. Once this is done, a strike by the workers or an action by the population against these companies (for example, if they pollute the water or the soil) could be considered the object of this repression [8].
But, as with the “anti-picketing protocol,” which prohibits demonstrations, between the intentions of the Milei government and its real possibility of carrying them out, there is a very hard battle with the workers and the people[9]. A battle that is now unfolding and of which the mobilizations for the liberation of those arrested last June 12 is its current expression.
The PSTU, Argentine section of the IWL, promotes and actively participates in these actions. It does so especially through the presence of its worker militants Sebastian Romero and Daniel Ruiz who know very well what it is to be prosecuted and judicially persecuted for fighting, which they already were (by Patricia Bullrich herself) for their participation in the big demonstration against the Macri government on December 2017. They have not given up their arms. On the contrary: they are in the front line of struggle for the freedom of those who suffer the same.
Picking up the call launched by the coordinator already referred to, from Argentina, the IWL calls on political, trade union, social and human rights organizations around the world to develop an international campaign of solidarity with the struggles of the Argentine people against the government of Milei, and demanding an end to the judicial persecution of the protests and the immediate freedom of those arrested last June 12.
Notex:
[1] https://pstu.com.ar/abajo-la-ley-bases-y-el-plan-de-milei/
[2 ] https://www.analisisdigital.com.ar/judiciales/2024/06/14/entre-los-detenidos-hay-vendedores-ambulantes-y-una-mujer-que-filmaba-la#google_vignette
[3] https://www.infobae.com/politica/2024/06/13/patricia-bullrich-hablo-de-un-intento-de-golpe-de-estado-moderno-y-anticipo-que-denunciaran-a-los-manifestantes-por-sedicion/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CTen%C3%ADamos%20informaci%20información%20C3%B3n%20de%20de%20que%20hab%C3%ADa,era%20un%20golpe%20de%20Estado.
[4] https://www.perfil.com/noticias/policia/aparecio-muerto-luciano-arruga-cronologia-de-un-caso-marcado-por-la-violencia-policial-1017-0040.phtml
[5 ] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gomw-R_7_7E
[6 ] https://www.ambito.com/politica/vuelven-vallar-la-plaza-mayo-la-espera-la-movilizacion-los-detenidos-n6017396
[7 ] https://www.infobae.com/politica/2024/06/22/la-jueza-servini-hablo-de-los-incidentes-en-el-congreso-por-la-ley-bases-y-aclaro-que-aun-no-cerro-la-investigacion/
[8] https://www.lanacion.com.ar/seguridad/seguridad-productiva-patricia-bullrich-coordinara-con-empresas-estrategicas-un-sistema-especial-de-nid13062024/
