ARGENTINA’S General Labour Confederation (CGT) will be staging a 24-hour general strike against the right wing government of Javier Milei, tentatively set for before April 10th.
Héctor Daer, one of the CGTs triumvirate of leaders, announced the plan last Thursday March 13th during a meeting with social movements and at the closing of Juan Grabois’ Union of Workers of the Popular Economy (UTEP) plenary at the CGT headquarters.
‘What we agreed by consensus is to hold a 24-hour strike before April 10th,’ said Daer. ‘The most affected are the sectors with fixed incomes,’ he added.
The CGT’s board was set to convene yesterday to finalise the details regarding the date to protest against multiple issues, including police repression of recent demonstrations, low wages, lay-offs, and economic policies like wage suppression and increased debt with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Last Thursday’s announcement followed violent clashes during a retirees’ protest in front of the National Congress, which resulted in over 120 arrests and nearly 50 people injured, prompting widespread condemnation of the government’s repressive tactics.
If the strike proceeds, it would be the third against Milei’s administration, following previous strikes on January 24th and May 9th last year.
The CGT and other social movements also address broader concerns like pension rights, industry decline, and deregulation threats.
In Daer’s view, the Libertarian administration is not only ‘stepping on wages’ so that they do not grow above inflation; it is also ‘destroying’ Argentine industry and causing lay-offs. Further borrowing from the IMF could only make matters worse.
Daer also pointed out that the measure would ‘not only be because of yesterday’s (March 12th) repression, but because this government does not blush’ when it proposes the installation of ideas opposing the consensus built over the years by the Argentine society, such as the abolition of gender policies and the figure of femicide in the Penal Code, among others.
‘The claim of the retirees is fair and genuine,’ insisted UTEP Secretary-General Alejandro Gramajo, who was also very critical of the police repression last Wednesday, March 12th.
‘This government has deployed one of the most complex repressive devices we have experienced in Argentina,’ he underlined. ‘This model of cruelty, hunger, and misery has an expiration date, and that date will be set by the working people,’ he further noted.
Among those attending the UTEP convention were Hugo Moyano (lorry drivers), Andrés Rodríguez (civil servants), and Sergio Palazzo (banking workers), among other union leaders, in addition to 1980 Nobel Peace Prize laureate winner and human rights activist Adolfo Pérez Esquivel.
l On Monday, Venezuela’s Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello called for a massive march in Caracas on Tuesday to demand respect for the rights of Venezuelan migrants who were sent to Salvadorian prisons.
‘Notice the difference: Over there, they are being thrown out, and their cars, motorcycles, cell phones, and belongings are stolen. What a difference, right? You are children of Venezuela. Come back to your country. Your family is here, we are here. We do not persecute you,’ Cabello declared.
He emphasised the contrast between the treatment Venezuelans receive abroad and the welcome Venezuela offers to foreigners.
Cabello also harshly criticised far-right politicians who have promoted campaigns against Venezuelan migrants and are now benefiting from the situation.
‘The country and the world must remember that the Popular Will party boasted until recently about being the main advisors to the fascist Nayib Bukele,’ the Interior Minister said, referring to the relationship between the Venezuelan opposition party and the Salvadorian president.
In response to the situation, Cabello called for a massive march in Caracas that would depart from Plaza Morelos and head to the San Francisco corner, where National Assembly authorities will receive the citizens.
‘We invite everyone to participate with their families. Go, demand justice for your children, and insist that they be returned to Venezuela. No one should mistreat your children or accuse them without trial,’ he said.
The Interior Minister also announced the creation of an Instagram page, @migrantesveñe, and a website comitedefensamigrantes.gov.ve, where Venezuelans can register testimonies of persecution and mistreatment in other countries.
‘The Venezuelan state, in a total, integral, and absolute manner, joins the defence of our migrants,’ Cabello said, demanding an end to the persecution and mistreatment of migrants in the United States.
‘Maximum unity among our people. Maximum unity!’ the Bolivarian official stated, calling for solidarity among Venezuelans in the face of discriminatory practices against migrants triggered by the implementation of the 1798 Enemy Foreigners Act.
‘The so-called American dream is not worth it; it has turned into the Salvadorian nightmare. It is an atrocious action only comparable to Adolf Hitler’s racial segregation laws,’ Cabello recalled.
Earlier on Monday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro denounced what the United States is doing by sending Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador as ‘fascism’.
‘If the US has any Venezuelan facing trial and sentencing, dialogue is initiated, and in accordance with our law, action is taken. What is being done is fascism.
‘Venezuela is ready and prepared to denounce this massive violation of human rights against hardworking and noble migrants in the United States,’ the Bolivarian leader said, sending a strong message to Nayib Bukele.
‘I ask the Salvadorian President: “Are you going to support this injustice, of creating concentration camps and imprisoning good people without trial? Is this legal? Is it fair? Is it humane?’” Maduro said, announcing that his administration has prepared documents to activate human rights mechanisms for the protection of Venezuelan migrants.
‘It cannot be that a person, due to their nationality, is captured without the right to defence and sent, without due process, to another country,’ he stressed.
Maduro also emphasised that Venezuela rejects the Enemy Foreigners Act invoked by US President Donald Trump to be used against Venezuelan migrants.
‘That law is archaic and illegal against Venezuelan migrants. It is also an act of aggression against Latin America and the Caribbean. It is an illegal expression of hostility toward our nationality. It is the greatest act of enmity and injustice.
‘The United States has taken a failed step. Our migrants are good, hardworking, and productive people,’ the Bolivarian leader added.
‘We will not rest until the Venezuelans who have been kidnapped and sent to prison in El Salvador, violated and subjected without due process or the right to defence, return to their homeland,’ Maduro said, announcing that a flight from the ‘Return to the Homeland’ Plan, which had been suspended last week due to weather conditions, is expected to arrive on Saturday.
In his weekly programme Con Maduro+, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro reaffirmed his commitment on Monday to eradicate Colombian drug trafficking in the country through a comprehensive strategy that integrates military, police, and community efforts.
During his address, the president highlighted the recent seizure of over 5,000 kilogrammes of drugs and the destruction of illegal camps used by narco-paramilitary groups on Venezuelan soil.
President Maduro emphasised that collaboration between military and police forces, alongside community support, is crucial to eliminating all traces of drug trafficking in the country.
‘Venezuela will be healthy and at peace,’ he stated, underscoring his government’s determination to implement its ‘7T Plan’ to tackle this issue.
The president did not hesitate to link opposition figures, such as María Corina Machado, to drug trafficking, alleging that these actors are funded by criminal networks.
‘We are confronting them on the ground, and our police and military forces know that our government is the world champion in the fight against Colombian drug trafficking mafias,’ he declared.
Additionally, President Maduro referenced Operation Gideon and the alleged connections between drug trafficking and former Colombian presidents Álvaro Uribe and Iván Duque. He claimed that these leaders have used drug trafficking as a tool to destabilise Venezuela and finance opposition groups.
In closing, President Maduro asserted that the logistical networks of drug trafficking gangs have been dismantled politically and economically, marking a significant step forward in the fight against this scourge in Venezuela.
The strategy announced by President Maduro reflects a combative approach to a problem that has been a constant on Venezuela’s political agenda and is deeply intertwined with the historical tensions between Venezuela and Colombia.
