Raul Bassi
When Nestor Kirchner was elected president of Argentina in 2003, many both inside and outside Argentina viewed him as a progressive alternative to the rampant neoliberalism of the Carlos Menem years.
Menem had governed the country during the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the country experienced the harsh application of all of the International Monetary Fund's recipes: Almost every state-owned service and business was sold; many private industries were sold off to foreign interests; unemployment jumped over 25%, whilst poverty became widespread; and the pegging of the Argentine peso to the US dollar saw external debt skyrocket.
These policies, combined with the economic catastrophe that hit Argentina in 2001, led to a political crisis in December of that year, that culminated in an extraordinary political rebellion known as the the Argentinazo.
The Argentinazo was marked by a deep mobilisation of broad sections of the middle class, employed and unemployed workers, and was coupled with an absolute inability by the ruling elites to respond to the situation.
Kirchner's inauguration, at which other leftist presidents such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, Cuba's Fidel Castro and Brazil's Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva were present, brought a sense of relief and hope for millions of Argentines looking for a way out of the crisis. With good international prices for the main export commodities of the country, economic growth became a possibility, leading to a drop in unemployment and the impression of a move back to normalcy.
In regards to human rights, the government moved to dismantle some of the more obvious measures imposed to protect those who participated in the brutal regime of the 1970s, which was responsible for the murder of more than 30,000 people. The government also took a soft approach to public demonstrations, making a specific order for the police to not intervene.
However, by July 2004 everything seem to change. Until this time the bulk of the social mobilisations had been carried out by the piqueteros, unemployed workers who would set up pickets on busy roads to stop the circulation of goods in order to reclaim their right to work. However, with the economic recovery, the growing confidence of other Argentinians, particularly unionised workers, led to much broader protests. Using the excuse of an incident which occurred during a demonstration outside the Town Hall of Buenos Aires, Kirchner began to change his rules, putting the police under the direct control of the minister for internal affairs. From then on, all demonstrations confronted a massive police presence, which would regularly provoke protesters. This was evident during the August 31 rally against a visit by IMF officials; during the protest, 108 people were arrested.
One marker of this shift in attitude to social protest was recorded in report released last December by the Centre for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), which confirmed what many other human rights organisations, left-wing parties, piquetero groups and some federal MPs had been saying for a while.
The report outlined that there are 24 political prisoners in Argentina, whilst more than 4000 members of various organisations have had charges laid against them for offences related to social protest. Another 3000 individuals not belonging to an organisation have also been charged. Many of them may be found guilty and forced to serve out different jail sentences.
And what are the charges? They range from small offences such as inhibiting public transport and illegal use of fireworks to charges such as extortion, kidnapping and unlawful detention.
This in turn has created a new problem for the government. A tent city has been established in Plaza de Mayo since Christmas, demanding the freedom for all political prisoners. Political actions initiated by workers, both employed and unemployed, have taken up this demand. Representatives from the governments of Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Spain have raised the issue with Kirchner.
Last month, when Kirchner sent a letter to Castro asking for the release of someone jailed for attempting to overthrow Castro's revolutionary government, the response was clear: look first to your own record.
With 50% of Argentinains still living under the poverty line, and the government's recent decision to honour its external debt, social unrest will continue to grow, and with it the prospects of more political prisoners.
From Green Left Weekly, January 26, 2005.
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