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   Vol.65/No.22            June 4, 2001 
 
 
Economic crisis spurs protests across Latin America
(front page)
 
BY RÓGER CALERO  
The impact of the economic slowdown in the United States on the economies of Latin America, combined with the relentless pressure by finance capital on governments there to implement austerity measures, are provoking ongoing protests by workers and peasants from the Southern Cone to the Río Grande. The seesaw battles in which working people are resisting their further impoverishment are often taking the character of social movements involving labor unions, peasant organizations, neighborhood groups, and native peoples.

In Argentina, more than 3,000 workers have been occupying a section of a national highway through the La Matanza district on the outskirts of Buenos Aires demanding the government fulfill promises made last November. At that time an agreement to end the roadblocks came after the government said it would provide 8,000 government-subsidized jobs, 10,000 pairs of shoes, 2,000 scholarships to students, and 2 million pesos' worth of medicines and work tools to thousands of unemployed workers and their families.

"The government is not going to negotiate," said Labor Minister Patricia Bullrich about the new roadblocks. Otherwise, "we demonstrate to the country that anyone that blocks roads can gain things."

None of the promises have been fulfilled, according to the protesters, with the exception of the creation of 1,000 jobs. In La Matanza district alone there are some 106,000 heads of households without a job and the unemployment rate stands at 20 percent, according to the Argentine newspaper Diario Hoy.

Alberto Ballestrini, mayor of La Matanza, expressed his concern about the volatility of the situation, and held the national government responsible for the roadblocks, as reported in El Clarín. He pointed out that only 80,000 pesos of the 2 million promised had been spent for medicines.  
 
Washington's demands
Argentina's economy has been in recession for nearly three years and the country's foreign debt stands at $150 billion. Washington, through the International Monetary Fund and other institutions representing international finance capital, has been pressing Argentina's capitalist class to carry through a range of austerity measures and sweeping changes in the economy to facilitate debt payment and penetration of foreign capital into the economy.

President Fernando de la Rua and Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo launched an economic plan that includes the reorganization of state agencies, the selling off of state banks and enterprises, and direct attacks on the labor code and pensions. These measures have been met by ongoing resistance by workers and others, leading to the resignation of the previous two economy ministers.

In a "march of the empty wheelchairs" May 15 some 500 disabled people gathered in the capital to demand the government respect the dignity and the rights of people with disabilities. The protesters placed some 200 empty wheelchairs in front of the government palace symbolizing "those that were absent." The cuts in programs for people with disabilities are part of Cavallo's "Competitive Law," as his economic plan is called.

"It is still hard for them to understand that our demands are not reduced to a sum of money," said Father Pablo Morelo, a leader of the coalition that organized the protest. "It is hard for them to understand that what we are talking about is health, education, and jobs," he added. Similar protests took place in different parts of the country. On May 9 there were street actions in the province of Córdoba against the selling off of the provincial energy company to a private corporation.

Imperialist investors are concerned about the continuing bleak outlook for the Argentine economy and the effect it is having on neighboring Brazil. "Every day that goes by is just one more day that negative sentiment plagues the Brazilian market," said Douglas Smith, head of Latin American economic research at IDEAglobal in New York. In language typical of an imperialist attitude and callous disregard for the lives of working people, Smith said that for wealthy investors, the "anticipation of whatever development--a devaluation, default, or debt restructuring--is a killer."

Adding to the already shaky situation, Brazil's rulers have announced the imposition of a "war economy" because of the impact of rising fuel costs. The country's president ordered businesses and residents to cut electrical consumption by 20 percent or face "the risk of blackouts" this summer. Bourgeois economists predict that at least 850,000 jobs will be lost due to energy rationing measures and that the gross domestic product will be reduced by 1.5 percent from the projected 4 percent.  
 
Strikes in Colombia
In Colombia, thousands of teachers and health-care workers went on strike May 15 to protest attempts by the government to cut the education and health-care budgets. The strike is planned to last until Congress makes a decision on the proposed cuts. A national strike with the participation of the union federations has been announced for June 7.

"It is a patriotic strike for resources, for health, and education," said Gloria Inés Ramírez, president of the Colombian Federation of Teachers, and "against the adjustments to the commitments with the International Monetary Fund."

According to Ramírez, the government is looking to cut $217 million in spending for schools, as part of a drive to reduce the budget deficit this year to 2.8 percent of the gross national product, down from 3.6 percent last year. This is one of the conditions that the IMF has imposed on Colombia in order to maintain a $2.7 billion line of credit.

A day earlier Colombian president Andrés Pastrana warned that the current pension system will no longer be viable unless "reforms" are made. He was speaking to a meeting of government officials, trade union officials, and representatives of business associations that had met to find consensus on changes in the pension system as part of implementing IMF dictates.

The strike by teachers and health-care workers takes place as government repression and right-wing paramilitary assassinations against trade unionists and peasants have intensified. Washington provides the Colombian regime with $1.3 billion in military aid.

Attacks by right-wing paramilitary forces are being met with protests by indigenous and Afrocolombians in the country, such as a march of 30,000 people in Cali in mid-May. "We had to organize because of the latest events," said Jesús María Aranda, an indigenous leader of the march, referring to the massacre of 50 peasants and indigenous people during Easter in the province of Cauca and Valle del Cauca. Indigenous leader Floro Tunubalá told the press that some 500 people have been killed since September by the right-wing paramilitary groups or bourgeois opposition guerrilla forces.

The capitalist economic slowdown is also being felt in Mexico where employers have cut 96,000 jobs. Mexican president Vicente Fox is also moving to cut government spending by $367 million and to impose taxes on food and medicine, among other measures.

Thousands of Mexican teachers hit the streets May 15 to celebrate Teachers Day and demand better working conditions despite having just won an 11 percent wage increase. The teachers struck May 14 for a wage raise and improvements in benefits. Some are demanding a 100 percent wage hike, according to an Associated Press report.  
 
 
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