Argentina begins this Wednesday the half-day general strike, called 18 days after the inauguration Javier Milei by the country's main trade union umbrella, the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), and supported by an extensive list of political parties and social organizations. The mobilization represents the first major battle between unionists and the ultra-liberal government.
With the measure, which will be announced between 12:00 p.m. (3:00 p.m. GMT) and 12:00 p.m. (03:00 GMT), the Peronist-inspired CGT will demonstrate its strength to oppose the ultra-liberals' reforms protest executive power that aims to deregulate the economy and dismantle the structure of the state as it is known today. Specific, The protest is directed against the Decree on Necessity and Urgency (abbreviation DNU).which came into force on December 29th and is still under judicial protection on several points, and against the bill “Fundamentals and starting points for the freedom of Argentines”, which will be debated in the House of Commons this Thursday.
Although Public transport continues to operate until 7:00 p.m. (2200 GMT), giving the appearance of normality in the streets of Buenos Aires, tens of thousands of people have gathered since early morning around the Plaza del Congreso, the epicenter of the mobilization called by the majority union.
Both the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Police and federal forces are taking part in the operation, according to the Minister of Security Patricia Bullrichwill adhere to the “anti-picketing” protocol implemented in his department, which initially prevents the march from taking place by disrupting traffic.
Meeting between trade unionists and local authorities to avoid disruptions or arguments led to the preparation of a plan for the deployment of the various columns of the participating groups and their arrival at the place where the CGT will deliver its speech at around 2:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. GMT). Numerous bus banners and Argentine flags bring color to a day that is currently running normally.
It is the first general strike in Argentina since May 29, 2019, during the center-right government Mauricio Macri (2015-2019), under whose leadership there were five. In the Peronist presidency Alberto Fernandez (2019-2023), despite the socio-economic figures that at the end of December resulted in the annual inflation rate being 211.4%, the highest in the world, surpassing Lebanon and Venezuela, and poverty at 40%, nothing was done.
Milei, locked up
Milei will spend the day at the official residence of Quinta de Olivos, according to presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni from Casa Rosada, the seat of the executive branch. Throughout the day, Adorni said, the president would meet with Bullrich “to analyze events.”
The former presidential candidate of the Together for Change (JxC) coalition, who held the same portfolio in the Macri government, addressed the leaders leading the protest “mafia trade unionists, poverty managers, complicit judges and corrupt politicians”who “defend their privileges and resist the change that society has democratically decided and that the President is leading with determination.”
Bullrich published on the social network Diana Mondino, for which “the strike has no justification”. “Convened by the oligarchy of millionaires with armored cars and drivers, false representatives of the workers, it confirms that we are on the right path. “Things are achieved through effort, not through crying and kicking,” he wrote in X.