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Police killing of teacher provokes national strike in Argentina
Teachers throughout Argentina staged a nationwide strike Monday to protest the cold-blooded police murder on April 4 of one of their colleagues, Carlos Fuentealba, during a protest in the southwestern province of Neuquén, approximately 600 miles from the capital of Buenos Aires.
The strike was accompanied by a demonstration that saw some 50,000 march from the Obelisk in downtown Buenos Aires to the Neuquén government house. Marchers carried placards bearing Fuentealba and the slogan “Nunca Mas” (Never Again), referring to the fierce repression unleashed against the Argentine working class under the military dictatorship that ruled the country from 1976-1983.
A demonstration in Neuquén itself brought out another 30,000 people, and similar protests were held throughout the country.
Carlos Fuentealba was killed during a protest by teachers in the city of Neuquén, the provincial capital, who sought to block a road to press their demand for higher salaries. Provincial riot police attacked the demonstrators. Fuentealba’s death was caused by a tear gas grenade fired intentionally at his head, smashing his skull and causing a severe loss of blood. He died hours after the attack at a local hospital.
Police Sergeant Dario Poblete fired the projectile at the Fuentealba, who was still in his car with other teachers preparing to join the protest, from a distance of barely six feet.
Poblete had previously been sentenced to two years in jail for corruption. Despite the conviction, he was kept on the police force after his sentence was overturned by a higher court.
The murder of the teacher took place in the midst of rising class tensions in Argentina, where the recovery from the economic crisis of 2001-2003 has been accompanied by record levels of economic inequality, persistent joblessness and rising inflation.
The killing has called into question not only the violent and repressive measures employed by the Argentine police to confront questions of a social character, but the political system in Argentina as a whole. Almost before the slain teacher’s body was cold, the incident had touched off a series of charges and counter-charges between principal candidates for president and for governor in elections set for June.
The governor of Neuquén, Jorge Sobisch, who has announced his candidacy for president on the platform of the right-wing Movement of the United Provinces, accused Daniel Firmus, the minister of education, along with President Néstor Kirchner, of bearing political responsibility for the death of the teacher. Sobisch’s reasoning was that by decreeing that teachers starting salaries should be raised from 840 to 1,040 pesos without previously consulting with the provincial governments, they had created the conditions for confrontation.
More
http://wsws.org/articles/2007/apr2007/arge-a11.shtml
A demonstration in Neuquén itself brought out another 30,000 people, and similar protests were held throughout the country.
Carlos Fuentealba was killed during a protest by teachers in the city of Neuquén, the provincial capital, who sought to block a road to press their demand for higher salaries. Provincial riot police attacked the demonstrators. Fuentealba’s death was caused by a tear gas grenade fired intentionally at his head, smashing his skull and causing a severe loss of blood. He died hours after the attack at a local hospital.
Police Sergeant Dario Poblete fired the projectile at the Fuentealba, who was still in his car with other teachers preparing to join the protest, from a distance of barely six feet.
Poblete had previously been sentenced to two years in jail for corruption. Despite the conviction, he was kept on the police force after his sentence was overturned by a higher court.
The murder of the teacher took place in the midst of rising class tensions in Argentina, where the recovery from the economic crisis of 2001-2003 has been accompanied by record levels of economic inequality, persistent joblessness and rising inflation.
The killing has called into question not only the violent and repressive measures employed by the Argentine police to confront questions of a social character, but the political system in Argentina as a whole. Almost before the slain teacher’s body was cold, the incident had touched off a series of charges and counter-charges between principal candidates for president and for governor in elections set for June.
The governor of Neuquén, Jorge Sobisch, who has announced his candidacy for president on the platform of the right-wing Movement of the United Provinces, accused Daniel Firmus, the minister of education, along with President Néstor Kirchner, of bearing political responsibility for the death of the teacher. Sobisch’s reasoning was that by decreeing that teachers starting salaries should be raised from 840 to 1,040 pesos without previously consulting with the provincial governments, they had created the conditions for confrontation.
More
http://wsws.org/articles/2007/apr2007/arge-a11.shtml
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