For the second day in a row, the heart of Buenos Aires was filled on Monday with protesters, several tens of thousands, in various rallies in honor of the popular uprising of the “great (economic) crisis” of 2001, to 39 people killed by repression.
At noon on Monday, dozens of unions, social movements, parties to the left of the Peronist government (center-left) gathered in the Plaza de Mayo, in front of the Casa Rosada presidential palace, the scene of the worst clashes of the December 19 and 20s.
The rally, which was preceded on Sunday night by “vigilance” by the same organizations, was both a tribute and a social mobilization, in a current economic situation, which for them sounds like a possible repetition of history: a heavy debt of Argentina and the Damocles sword of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that would mean austerity.
“2001-2021: Long live the popular uprising”. “Down with the adjustment!”, “Outside the IMF”, read large banners in the square, which also displayed photos from the 2001 demonstrations and clashes, the repression and the victims.
“December 20 is a very important anniversary in Argentina,” Labor activist Gabriel Solano told AFP. “But 20 years later, we see a more or less similar situation: great poverty, misery and again an agreement with the IMF that threatens the people with an adaptation plan. We return here, in the Plaza de Mayo, to say that we no longer want a plan adaptation for the people “.
In December 2001, Argentina had seen years of persistent debt, austerity plans and finally a liquidity crisis with a freeze on bank deposits, a boom in shoplifting, riots and the 48-hour resignation of President Fernando de la Roua. Adolf Rodriguez Saa’s interim successor has ordered the biggest bankruptcy in history ($ 100 billion).
The “great crisis” of 2001 left the Argentines with a constant trauma and a constant uncertainty about the economic future, but also the memory of an uprising.
On Monday afternoon, the Plasa de Mayo, after a first demonstration, was again filled with thousands of people to the sound of winds and drums, this time after calls from unions and various leftist movements, such as the PCR (Revolutionary Communist Party). ), or those close to Peronism, such as the MUP (Popular Unity Movement) and the Evita Movement (Peron). Another rally was scheduled for the end of the day.
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