Eyewitness Account Of Events In Buenos Aires
Eyewitness Account Of Events In Buenos Aires Over Last Hours
President de la rua of Argentina has just resigned following protests at massive spending cuts imposed by IMF. New Zealander Catherine Cecilia has shared her reactions to events during the last days in chronological order.
Background notes follow at end.
From: Paul Bruce LAC@apc.org.nz http://www.converge.org.nz/lac Latin America Solidarity Committee Aotearoa New Zealand c/- ALAY Centre, P O Box 7153, Wellington. Tel 04 972 8699 or 04 471 0161
Buenos Aires, Friday, 21 December 2001 09:55
i know you'll be getting some news from here, but i want to tell you how it's been…
there's a war here, i¿ve left it to write to you, finding a place open isn't easy, most businesses are either closed or pretend to be, with the metal doors down and a small entry; here we are without any light other than that of the computer screen, to keep a low profile.
it started a few days ago then yesterday intensified with first saqueos/sackings of supermarkets; the reaction rom the supermarkets became defined as things heated up; in some places groups of up to a thousand converged on supermarkets to demand food; owners 'gave' out packages to the crowds; some filled trucks and delivered them to the 'villas'/slums; some filled their trucks and erturned the goods to safe warehouses; some closed (today nothing is open); in some cases, the employees stood their ground with sticks to defend what is really their percarious small piece of the pie; the scenes on the tv included more and more distraught, weeping owners - in most cases Asians, small family businesses - standing helpless as hoards overwhelmed and then sacked their only livelihood. It was all wrong, of course, anger erupting, misdirected against fellow argentinians who are struggling; the don't haves against those who have a little.
The govt's 'solution' was to announce a state of emergency (estado de sitio). The´people's response was defiance. I had just returned home and eaten dinner when I heard a racket in the street that grew and seemed widespread; i went out to investigate (11pm); I returned at 4am. The people had taken to the streets and were banging pots, lids, anything that made a noise. Here it's called a 'cacerolazo', or 'casserole-ing'. In all the streets of what is normally a quiet barrio, the people were in the sidewalk or on their balconies banging things; cars and buses were hooting their horns. I decided to go to town to see what was happening. (i don't have tv and so am sometimes a bit disconnected; in most cases the pueblo/people were kept in communication with the constant news reports.) All along the way, the same story. On some corners, burning rubbish. We had to make detours in major streets where the people were marching towards the centre.
At Congress, there was a huge rally; the people were on the steps - a thing i have never seen before - and they were chanting and banging pots. I wondered what group had organised this, it's usual, but it turned out it was a spontaneous gathering of angry citizens, finally on their feet to say, Basta! We did a circuit of Congress then headed for the Plaza de Mayo; it all was just developing spontaneously; meanwhile people were arriving through all the avenues around, people who had evidently walked outside their homes to bang a pot in the sidewalk and who had then started to move, and then to follow the movement; instinctively they headed first for congress then for plaza de mayo, the scene of every uprising or tiny protest in a century of oppression and erbellion here.
I picked up a stick and an empty beer can; chanting we converged on plaza de mayo; the chants expressed the disgust and outrage the people have born inside for months, years.... Stick the state of emergency up your ass! Cavallo (min of economy and mastermind of much of the current suffering, buddy to the Yanks) son of a bitch!! (there was great celebration later when the news rippled through the crowd that he had resigned); The pueblo, united, will never be defeated! If this isn't the people/pueblo, where is it? Get them out, get them out! and so on.
I have been in a lot of marches here but this march was different, strange: there were no banners, no political grouping or elbowing. (Later HIJOS appeared and one or two of the left groups, but isolated). This was 'the people', mostly middle class - low or medium - so angry and finally rising up. There was a sense of erlief for that. It's been so long, they've been pushed and pushed and we speculate constantly on, How much will it take? well, they reached their limit.
In plaza de mayo i met by pure incredible chance two dear friends, barefoot and in their pyjamas!!! they'd done what most had done, joined in without planning to, spurred on by the people in movement. We made our way to the front, at the barrier fronting the Casa Rosada. On the other side, the police, but a token line. The mood was in no way nasty; these were 'ordinary' people, not activists, expressing their rejection of one unjust economic/social measure after another. Then at one moment, the riot police arrived; they fired gas; we ran (though there were cries of Don't run!) The gas was terrible, and our disbelief and outrage worse. I couldn't breathe, it felt like my lungs were going to burst; my eyes were streaming and stinging, my throat burning. We ran blind, away, anywhere to escape the gas.
But the sense of outrage was stronger, and we returned. Again they fired, again we retreated. Each time the anger was growing, fueled by the excessive repression. Rubbish bins were set on fire, barriers from roadworks dragged into the street and set fire to; i saw one guy throw a stone into a bank window, and the huge glass front smashed and collapsed with a frightening explosion. On one corner the police were waiting and a fight started upthere between stone-throwers and the riot police with gas.
We returned to the plaza. When i say 'we', i want you to understand that i'm talking about thousands; some continued returning to the congress, but for many of us the sensation of frustration and injustice drove us back, though we knew what the consequences were each time. Either anger or fear erupt in you and move you on or back. It was when armed police on motorbikes came pursuing us, firing rubber bullets and gas, that we turned and ran and continued then marching, still defiant and strong, to the congress.
The Avenida de mayo links the plaza de mayo and the plaza de los dos congreses; It's 18 blocks long. From midpoint looking back we could see a sea of people all the way to plaza de mayo, and ahead the same to congress, and there in the plaza and on the steps, an unbelievable crowd. Later estimates suggested a crowd of 100.000.
It was 1.45 when we reached congress. I stayed with my friends until 3; it was obvious the people were there for the night. There was a euphoria and enthusiasm that i ahven't felt in that measure before, I think because it was utterly sincere and spontaneous.
I walked home.
Friday, 21 December 2001 10:46
Today when i woke up i heard that the repression was continuing in plaza de mayo. I returned in the blazing sun. The stench of gas was tangible long before i reached the plaza. There were people straggling here and there, dressed in summer or work clothes; as i got closer everyone had streaming eyes and handkerchiefs held to their faces. They were business men and women, city workers; it was impossible to know if they were 'in' the fight, or passing by. Only a very few showed signs of being 'campaigners' who had obviously stayed in the action all night.
In the street that circles the plaza an armoured truck with a water gun mounted on the roof was pursuing the crowd and firing powerful jets of water at the balconies overlooking the plaza and the people around. In one branch of the street, camera trucks and cameras. Nearby, mounted police, less than a dozen. They were wielding whips and long batons with which they were lashing out at the few individuals whose fury drove them close to hurl stones. They were also firing rubber bullets and gas. In Avenida de mayo, the concentration of people, moving in and away as the gas flew then dispersed. Closer in, a couple of hundred facing the danger. It was a battle scene. My first reaction was anger and incredulity, and these kept me returning with the smaller number who refused to be driven out of the plaza. (El pueblo no se va! The people don't retreat!) But at one point a terrible sadness and sickness in my stomach hit me, and the urge to cry. This was a terrible scene, what was happening was terrible. On the face of it it's terrible - violence, pain, fear, horses wounded, a beautiful palm tree on fire - but what made me sick with sadness was looking at it all from a step back and wondering, what's behind this? and, What now? What can we achieve here? what are 'they' hoping/waiting for? The vanguard of police was soon joined by the rows that had been lined in front of the casa rosada and they rushed forward in timed moves, sending the people fleeing. I was carrying a bottle of water which i shared with anyone whose agony was apparent. There was a water tap nearby, a crowd converged on it after every assault.
Again and again i stopped to look about me at the people; these were office workers, apartment dwellers. What was happening here was a movement that could mean the salvation of this almost beaten country, if only.... But the euphoria about cavallo's going, and the joy at the expectation that de la rua will be next are misplaced. Who is waiting in the wings? Menem, close buddies with Bush, recently paying visits to military leaders? He must wait until 2003, but the road seems paved. Whatever the individual cards that are played, it's certain that this has been foreseen, if not actually planned, and that there is a packet sealed and waiting to be opened. It's that that gives me the same sense of frustrated powerlessness as ever, even as just a few blocks away hundreds or thousands of argentinians are shouting, ARGENTINA!! and vowing their solidarity. It's the sensation that we are, now as ever, manipulated, and that we can never win. Supposing even that this was the much mythologised revolution, what next? There is strong alternative ready to take this people into a truly new world.
I'm going back to the plaza. I hear there is one person dead. It doesn't surprise me. With the bullets flying, i felt danger and fear stalking around me. And just now the chico here tells me that one of the men whose supermarket was sacked - a chinese man whose despair i found terrible to witness on the tv at 3.30am as i was making my way home - committed suicide today.
Just a couple of hours ago de la rua made a long-awaited speech; the hope and expectation was that he would announce his resignation, but he said... nothing. While his police fire on 'his' people with bullets and cannisters of gas, he called for peace - and asked for suggestions from the people! The man who has the grave responsibility of managing the fates of 35000 peole in a third world country now erupting in the most severe social crisis in a decade, is asking for ideas from the people. If only the people really were capable of taking the reins. Then this chaos would have meaning, the tragedy would be a step towards hope; the end of an era of misery and the beginning of something new. Ojala! /If only!
Friday, 21 December 2001 10:51
I had just pressed the Send button, when i heard the announcement: de la rua is resigning. What the fuck that speech two hours ago was all about god knows! One thing¿s sure, they'll be celebrating in the streets. I'm going to join for that ... but the question remains, Now what - or, rather - who?
My personal bet is something that was hinted at some few months ago, a coalition govt, in which the US will most certainly play a typically dominant role. There is a song here that is almost a national hymn: 'Cambia, todo cambia'. Today, leaving the battle zone, I heard it in the street, and thought, Cambia, nada cambia. So sad.
catherine cecilia
Background notes from weekly
update on the americas ARGENTINA: DEBT PAYMENT MET,
BARELY Argentine economy minister Domingo Cavallo
announced on Dec. 14 that the government was paying $700
million due that day on Treasury bonds, averting a default
on Argentina's $132 billion public debt. Officials said they
now had the cash on hand to meet the government's debt
obligations for the next two months, despite a refusal by
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to disburse a $1.26
billion credit unless Argentina manages to impose a new
round of austerity [see Update #619]. To make its debt
payments, Argentina is forcing private pension funds to buy
government bonds, raising the cash it needs to pay
creditors. Deputy Economy Minister Daniel Marx said
government officials would continue to use pension fund
money to meet other debts later this month. Also on Dec. 14,
Marx confirmed reports that he was resigning. He insisted
that he was leaving for personal reasons, but Economy
Ministry sources said Marx had differences with Cavallo's
policy, announced on Nov. 30, of restricting cash
withdrawals from bank accounts. Marx was considered a key
part of the economic team because his contacts with foreign
banks were useful in negotiations for restructuring the
date. Marx is being replaced by Economic Planning Secretary
Guillermo Mondino, a Cavallo ally. [CNN en Espanol 12/14/01
from Reuters; Miami Herald 12/15/01 from AP] Despite the
frenzied efforts to avoid default, the British daily
Financial Times concludes, "the Argentine debt crisis is
entering its decisive phase; there are no escape routes
left." Government policies "constitute default in all but
name. Devaluation is a reality on the street of Buenos
Aires," where pesos are down 20% against the US dollar, to
which they are officially pegged. The IMF's refusal to
disburse more funds means it has "stopped throwing good
money after bad." The main concern for foreign investors now
is "curbing the contagion." "A chaotic Argentine debt
default or devaluation would still severely test the
international financial system. Brazil would have the most
to fear...." [FT 12/10/01] ARGENTINA: STRIKING, VOTING AND
LOOTING While Argentine officials scrambled to meet
international debt obligations, the country's main labor
federations held a massive 24-hour strike on Dec. 13 to
protest the government's neoliberal austerity policies and
its restrictions on cash withdrawals. It was the seventh
national strike against the economy policies of centrist
president Fernando de la Rua, and the third in the past six
months [see Updates #593, 599]. It was called by the
"official" General Confederation of Workers (CGT), the
largest confederation, which is headed by Rodolfo Daer and
is linked to the opposition centrist Justicialist Party (PJ,
Peronist); the more radical "dissident" CGT, headed by
trucker leader Hugo Moyano; and the leftist Argentine
Workers Central (CTA), headed by Victor De Gennaro. The
strike was nearly total in the sectors where the unions are
strongest: public transportation, civil service, health
care, and schools and universities. The Buenos Aires daily
Clarin reports that the job action also had unprecedented
support among private sector workers and among
"professionals, technicians, academics and other workers not
very friendly to unions." The general consensus was that it
was the most successful general strike to date against the
De la Rua government. The government itself calculated that
the strike was observed by 59% of the workers--a slightly
lower figure than the government's 60% estimate for the
general strike in June 2000. The strike was generally
peaceful, but there were incidents of violence in some
provincial cities, especially those hit hardest by the
country's three-year old recession. A dozen people were
injured and 10 arrested in Neuquen in confrontations between
police and protesters which also resulted in broken windows
and the destruction of several cars. Protesters threw rocks
through the windows of banks in Cordoba province. In
Pergamino, Buenos Aires province, a group of demonstrators
entered the municipal building, where they started a fire
and caused other damage. A union leader was wounded in
Rosario, Santa Fe province, when an angry newspaper vendor
shot him in the thigh. State workers in San Juan threw eggs
at two legislators. [Clarin 12/14/01] The radical CTA
federation was using the strike to build support for an
unofficial referendum it was promoting for Dec. 14-17. The
National Front Against Poverty, the referendum's sponsor, is
hoping that 1 million Argentines will vote on a proposal for
Employment and Education Security legislation that would
guarantee a $380 monthly income for the families of the
unemployed, with an additional stipend for each child under
18 and for seniors without other insurance [see Update
#608]. Organizers have set up 20,000 ballot boxes in public
spaces in 579 localities around the country for the
referendum, the first of its kind in Argentina. The proposal
is supported by a number of Congress members, and it was
approved by the Chamber of Deputies' Labor Committee on Nov.
20. [Clarin 12/15/01] Some 32 people were arrested in
incidents of attempted looting at supermarkets in poor
neighborhoods in Rosario on Dec. 14, and 10 were arrested in
the city of Mendoza. Hundreds of people were involved in a
total of six incidents in Rosario. In all cases, police and
private guards kept the crowds from entering the stores. In
the Empalme Graneros neighborhood in the northwest of the
city, the police used rubber bullets to disperse a crowd of
almost 400; one youth suffered light injuries. In Mendoza a
group of 40 men and women overpowered guards at a store of
the Atomo Avellaneda chain and carried away rice, flour,
pasta, mate (an herbal tea), milk and cooking oil. There was
a similar incident at another of the chain's stores on Dec.
13. The police prevented three other attempted lootings.
Supermarket lootings occurred frequently in Argentina during
a period of hyperinflation in 1989. [Clarin 12/15/01] *12.
MEXICO: NEW EVIDENCE ON 1968 MASSACRE On Dec. 9 the
left-leaning Mexican weekly Proceso published 21 previously
unknown photographs apparently taken by a government
photographer on the night of Oct. 2, 1968, when soldiers and
police agents killed as many as 300 student protesters and
their supporters in the Tlatelolco housing project in
downtown Mexico City. The photographs, which were delivered
anonymously to the magazine's Madrid correspondent, show
young men in their underwear being processed by soldiers and
undercover agents, some of whom are wearing a single white
glove on the left hand. The government has repeatedly
dismissed survivors' accounts that the massacre was started
by agents provocateurs from a special security force called
the Olympia Battalion; the students said the agents wore the
white gloves so they could recognize each other. [New York
TImes 12/13/01] On Dec. 10, the day after the photographs
were published, an anonymous source telephoned the daily La
Jornada to offer photographs and other previously
unpublished official documents on the massacre. The
material, which was published on Dec. 15, documents a number
of cases of students processed after the massacre and taken
to Military Camp Number 1 in Mexico City; it also includes
summaries of autopsies of some protesters and soldiers
killed at Tlatelolco and in confrontations in the months
leading up to the incident. According to La Jornada, the
documents, which were produced by the Attorney General's
Office (PGR) and the now-defunct Federal Security
Directorate (DFS), refute 33 years of government denials of
"the existence of detainees and disappeared in Military Camp
Number 1." [LJ 12/15/01; El Nuevo Herald (Miami) 12/16/01
from AFP] The revelations came just two weeks after the
government's own National Human Rights Commission (CNDH)
blamed the government for at least 275 disappearances in a
"dirty war" against leftists in the 1970s and early 1980s
[see Update #618]. Last year President Vicente Fox Quesada,
of the center-right National Action Party (PAN), promised to
form a truth commission to investigate crimes the government
committed under the long-ruling centrist Institutional
Revolutionary Party (PRI); the revelations seem likely to
increase the pressure on him to carry out his promise. [NYT
12/13/01]
ENDS