Jujuy Province, in NW Argentina, rises up against repression and regressive reforms
In Jujuy Province, in NW Argentina, communities and organizations have been mobilizing on the streets and highways to reject the constitutional reform that was pushed through by conservative Governor Gerardo Morales in the early morning of Friday June 16.
The massive protests in cities and towns across the province - which have seen participation from Indigenous communities, trade unions, and social movements - have been met with heavy repression from state forces.
The incidents, which appear to have calmed by Wednesday, resulted in at least 68 arrests and 170 wounded - including a journalist and one protester, 17-year-old Mijael Lamas, who lost an eye from a rubber bullet.
The National Secretary of Human Rights, Horacio Pietragalla, traveled to the province on Sunday to verify the situation on the ground and has called on the governor to sit down and dialogue with protesters, and insisted he abandon his “capricious” position.
The fast-track approval of Morales' reform takes place in the midst of a context of great social unrest in Jujuy, with teachers already on week two of a strike.
The mountainous province of 800,000, one of Argentina's poorest, is governed by the historically centrist - but currently right-wing - Radical Civic Union (UCR) party.
President Alberto Fernández noted that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the United Nations Human Rights Regional Office (OHCHR), Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch "have pronounced themselves clearly and forcefully calling immediately for the cessation of state violence and to guarantee the validity of human rights in the province of Jujuy."
The president instructed the Justice Ministry to analyze and suspend any articles that violate the Argentine Constitution.
At: https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/06/19/jujuy-rises-up-against-repression-and-regressive-reforms/
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one way or another. He joyously accepted brutal support from fascist President Mauricio Macri, and even sought to run for the Presidency himself, aspiring to even greater power over the First People of Argentina he has determined to crush through extreme abuse and racist state violence.
Morales has wielded murderous power in his region far too long. It's absolutely time now for change, any way possible.
Thank you, peppertree.
A power-hungry, corrupt opportunist who's decided that jumping on the authoritarian, right-wing wagon is his easiest path to the presidency.
But, like Meatball Ron, he's not going anywhere in the polls - even among right-wing primary voters.
Meanwhile, as you may recall, Milagro Sala is now in her eighth year of detention - a detention the UN, Amnesty and others consider arbitrary, given the lack of proof and other irregularities (partisan judges, a bribed witness, etc).
That said, the big hard-liner in the RW primary, that lush Patricia Bullrich (who came out loudly for Morales in this conflict), is well behind in the polls.
Even 'Together for Change' voters, you see, prefer the more moderate Buenos Aires mayor, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta.
As it stands right now, Larreta is the odds-on favorite to win this October (or November, if there's a runoff).
At least with Larreta, there's some hope for pragmatic governance - just maybe without a sharp, right-wing turn in currency deregulation that could trigger a dollar stampede and collapse. We'll see.
Because if Cristina Kirchner doesn't run (and she only has until Friday to decide), the governing coalition has no hope.
Thanks as always, Judi, for following these news, and for your insightful comments. Have a great - and hopefully, cool - weekend. 
Could not be more wonderfully constructed! It's a time to celebrate if the situation with Morales' standing doesn't change. It would be fantastic if this signals a slide into total obscurity. He has earned it at every turn in his career.
It's so hard to learn Milagro Sala has actually been held so very long, and so very immorally. Clearly it has only been racism and power-flexing all this time. She attracted friends and supporters across the world.
The conditions of her life they have forced upon her are unforgivable. She was considered a hero long ago, by so many.
Milagro Sala, leader of the Tupac Amaru Neighborhood Association (Organización Barrial Túpac Amaru), with Pope Francis PHOTO/Democratic Underground
For anyone who'd want to know more about Argentina's heroic indigenous leader, Milagro Sala:
Why Argentina’s elites are waging war against Milagro Sala
by VIJAY PRASHAD
The leader of the Tupac Amaru Neighborhood Association is a symbol of the fight against the old order.
Far to Argentina’s northwest, near the borders with Chile and Bolivia, sits the province of Jujuy. Here, until a few years ago, a major political force of the poor and indigenous had emerged. It is called the Tupac Amaru Neighborhood Association (Organización Barrial Túpac Amaru). The name—Tupac Amaru—itself sends shudders across the hemisphere. Both Tupac Amaru I (1545–1572) and Tupac Amaru II (1738-1781) fought off the Spanish, the first as the last king of the Incas and the second as a rebel against the colonial state. Tupac Amaru II was captured after a massive uprising, and then drawn and quartered in the bloodiest way. In the name Tupac Amaru, you have therefore both the rebellion and the hatred of the oligarchy against the poor and the indigenous. The Tupac Amaru Neighborhood Association, which edged closer and closer to power in Jujuy, had to be—therefore—broken into bits.
The leader of the Tupac Amaru Neighborhood Association is the charismatic Milagro Sala (age 55). She emerged into leadership through her work in trade unions, in the Peronist movement, and in the movement of the indigenous. Over the past 10 years, politicians of the Radical Civic Union—which governs Jujuy—have attempted to undermine and destroy the base created by Sala and the Tupac Amaru group. They have accused members of the group—and Sala specifically—of attempted assassinations and of corruption. When Gerardo Morales—of the Radical Civic Union—was elected governor in 2015, he alleged that the Association would conduct acts of violence in the province. When Sala denied this, and when the Association started a demonstration in Jujuy, Morales had Sala arrested. This was the start of her ordeal.
More:
http://globeistan.com/?p=82860
If only the human race can hope Argentina's Former Guy Mauricio Macri's battle-ax henchwoman, Patricia Bullrich's star is fading..... Macri uses so many hench individuals!
Here's to you, Patricia!
So interesting, learning Horacio Rodríguez Larreta is invested in this election. Went to look at a photo of him, was surprised to see that familiar face! He was around Macri so often. One look at his photo shows a man who's much more intelligent than Macri. I know nothing about his character, but if he's inclined to be less fascistic, less heavy handed, devious, and greedy than Macri, that would be a blessing. Wow!
It really does seem Christina has maintained a lot of respect and affection since the Pink Wave arrived in South America, with so much promise, long term, for the continent's people. Wishing her the best always.
Didn't know Horacio Rodríguez Larreta's dad was prominent.
Just found this article written in Spanish which I put through the google translation, but I'm afraid I couldn't really grasp it well even in computer translation. His father was kidnappened during a dictatorship! It also mentions Richard Goodwin near the end, whom I have read worked directly with John F. Kennedy, and had a private meeting with Che Guevara!
Here's the google translation of the first, which starts under the photo of Horatio and his father:
From Jacobo Timerman to Ramón Camps: the story and characters of the kidnapping of Rodríguez Larreta's father
Some documents and testimonies shed more light on this incomplete story
SUNDAY MARCH 28, 2021 09:04
Matias Manuel Ferrari
MATIAS MANUEL FERRARI
Journalist. Twitter: @FerrariMatiasM
The Buenos Aires Head of Government, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, spoke publicly and openly for the first time this week about the kidnapping of his father during the last military dictatorship. A situation that, he said, "made me understand more what those very hard years were for Argentina." Immediately, Vice President Cristina Kirchner praised him on social networks and stated that "it is comforting" that a weighty leader of the opposition "share similar sensitivities, experiences and views" on the state terrorism that devastated the country, especially in a week in which there were several former officials of the previous government who got involved in confronting –again– with the Human Rights organizations.
The Head of Government of Buenos Aires said that he was "ponele, 12 years old" when a mob of repressors entered his house in Parque Leloir and detained his father, who had the same name as him, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta and who at that time, later military for long years and fervently in developmentalism, he was president of Racing Club. “They grabbed him and literally took him away in the iconic green Falcon,” he said. "And he disappeared, we had no more news," he continued. "They came home to give us their condolences," he added, describing that the family was already breathing a heavy atmosphere and the word "disappeared" was being pronounced.
The head of government also said that his father's public role as a soccer leader and his resounding and conspicuous absence in a River-Racing classic "saved his life," according to what his uncle Augusto told him years later. Larreta also recounted, without going into details, that Horacio Sr. was held captive for a few days in the Banfield Well, one of the most horrifying torture centers of the dictatorship.
Some documents and testimonies shed more light on this incomplete story. The first appears in the Conadep report. This is the testimony of Gustavo Caraballo, former Argentine ambassador to UNESCO, one of the key witnesses in the Papel Prensa case, who was tortured in the Puesto Vasco clandestine center together with Lidia Papaleo de Graiver . Carballo places his own kidnapping and that of Rodríguez Larreta Sr. on the same day, April 1, 1977 , as part of the same raid. “On April 1, 1977, I was kidnapped from my home at night by four or five armed people, dressed as civilians, claiming to belong to the Army.They put me in a Falcon; They are looking for two other people -Mariano Montemayor, journalist and Horacio Rodríguez Larreta-. Then when we arrive at Plaza de Mayo we are hooded and the car travels to the south, a medium-length trip, 30 to 40 minutes, arriving at a place, always hooded...".
More:
https://www.diagonales.com/nacion/de-jacobo-timerman-a-ramon-camps--la-historia-y-los-personajes-del-secuestro-del-padre-de-rodriguez-larreta_a6213b47625ae55da01489f52
Thanks, again, peppertree, for sharing so much information. It was absolutely important, and well structured to deliver what matters so much!
Sorry for using so much space. Hope your weather will be as beautiful as it should be in such a wonderful environment!