Argentina's G-20 week marked by labor strikes, soccer fiasco

[sandensea]

Four days before Buenos Aires prepares to host this year's G-20 Summit, a wave of labor strikes and the cancellation of two major football (soccer) championships due to violence have cast a pall over over the Argentine capital.

Workers for Argentina’s largest airline, Aerolíneas Argentinas, went on strike on Monday, grounding some 371 flights and 40,000 passengers, over the airline's refusal to honor wage hikes agreed to in September.

Public transit workers in Buenos Aires likewise announced a three-hour strike Tuesday, shutting down subway and bus service.

Violence later erupted over the weekend after the final game of Copa Libertadores, the South American championship, which had to be twice postponed after hooligans attacked players.

Another game between arch rivals Boca Juniors and River Plate - the Superclásico (considered the world's Nº1 derby by Britain's Daily Mirror) - was cancelled and has yet to be rescheduled after a Boca Juniors team bus was attacked with bricks.

Buenos Aires Security Minister Martín Ocampo resigned on Monday. National Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, who has reaped criticism from the IACHR and Amnesty International for "excessive and indiscriminate" use of force against protests, had dismissed concerns.

"We're hosting the G-20, so the Boca-River match is pretty minor," she had said.

The strikes and soccer fiasco raise questions about the city’s preparedness to handle an expected 8,000 visitors for the G-20 summit as delegations begin to arrive.

The disruption also doesn’t bode well for President Mauricio Macri, whose approval ratings (24%) are at the lowest point since taking office three years ago after Argentina was rocked this year by a debt and currency crisis that dragged the economy into recession.

GDP was down 5.8% from the same time last year - the most severe downturn since the country's 2001-02 collapse - while inflation has risen to 55% (the highest in 27 years).

At: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-26/airline-strike-soccer-fiasco-mark-argentina-s-week-as-g-20-host

Argentine Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, President Mauricio Macri, and Justice Minister Germán Garavano in a press conference following the two cancelled soccer championships.

"This is a joke," a fan told the press. "They want to hold a G-20 summit but can't guard a bus?"

[Judi Lynn]

1. Highest inflation in 27 years. What an accomplishment, just like Macri's new approval rating.

Here's hoping the G-20 event will focus far more attention on Macri than makes him comfortable, sandensea.

It's just great seeing Patricia Bullrich again. These are they days she's been waiting for all her life, no doubt: a chance to wield power beyond her wildest dream, knock a few skulls, throw some people in jail, maybe arrange for even more to disappear. Thank goodness she has her alcohabit to help her cope.

Wow, wow.

Many eyes will be turning to watch Argentina, and that nice Mr. Macri, and his 24 points of approval.

(Very amusing seeing the expressions on the Ministers' faces. Hooray.)

[sandensea]

2. To add to all that, this incident really exposed the backbiting between the mayor and the president.

Macri and Mayor Rodríguez Larreta, you'll recall, are from the same right-wing party, the PRO.

Rodríguez Larreta was Macri's Chief of Staff when the latter was mayor until 2015, and moreover has been with Macri since his first foray into politics in 2003.

Fast-forward to 2018 though, and the PRO and their junior coalition partners (the utterly ignored UCR) have turned into a veritable snake pit of people who no longer think Macri could win reelection, and who as a result are jockeying for power themselves.

As mayor of Buenos Aires, Rodríguez Larreta is one of two PRO figures most likely to replace Macri on the 2019 ticket - the other being María 'Opus Dei' Vidal (plus Elisa 'baby doll' Carrió, their biggest frenemy).

Macri is said to believe - and not without good reason - that this bus stoning incident was deliberately provoked by Rodríguez Larreta to embarrass him in order to fortify the case for replacing him on the 2019 ticket.

The idea of course being that if Macri can't guard a mere bus, it follows that the G-20 Summit is far too much for him to handle - to say nothing of the nation's other, day-to-day law enforcement problems.

What I'd remind the mayor if I could, is: most voters have already come to that conclusion; there was no need to put those soccer players' lives - and bystanders - in danger.

Thanks as always for your thoughts and insights, Judi. Have a good week!

[Judi Lynn]

3. I'm starting to grasp the picture of the snake pit you've mentioned! Simply beyond belief!

Found this article, while looking for photos of Elisa Carrió. Had already noted tons of photos of her in her current incarnation as a two-fisted battle-axe, had no idea what kind of history got her to this point! This article spun me around to become aware of a much earlier part of her life on the road to her current bizarre status. I saw a whole ugly world opening up around her years ago!



From:
http://publisshing.blogspot.com/2017/07/lilita-carrio-en-l-decada-del-stenta.html








Current mayor, the new Macri of Buenos Aires:



María Vidal on his right, Macri, Rodríguez Larreta, to his left.
Surely he must feel he is in heaven!



Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, greeting Angela Merkel.





Horacio Rodríguez Larreta
Looks like such an honest, open man, doesn't he?





Wow, sandensea, what a cast your post has revealed. Looks as if you hit the nail on the head. It must never get dull in Buenos Aires, so much scheming, from people who look like veterans, real pros, I have to say it looks as if your description is perfect. Very hard-bitten people. Yikes.