ARGENTINA: 'LEFTIST' RULERS PUT POOR PEOPLE'S MOVEMENTS IN A FIX.
| Autor | Mitchell, Chip |
By Chip Mitchell [The author is a radio and print journalist based in Bogota, Colombia]
During the next six months, presidential elections are taking place in Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, and Nicaragua. Each race has at least one contender who blames poverty on free-market orthodoxy and who pledges a stronger government hand in the economy. Purported leftists have already taken power in several Latin American countries. But it is debatable whether any of these governments has taken significant steps against poverty.
This has put poor people's organizations in a quandary: should they support a president who says all the right things but often lets them down?
Piqueteros (jobless) still protest, but numbers down
Nowhere is the dilemma hotter than in Argentina. Three years into Nestor Kirchner's presidency, a third of Argentines remain mired in poverty. And the movement of unemployed protesters who enabled Kirchner to take power has split apart on what to do about it.
Argentina's unemployed protesters emerged as a force in the late 1990s, when the country's economy was wallowing in recession. The protesters became known as piqueteros (pickets) because of their trademark tactic--the roadblock. After Argentina's banking system collapsed in 2001, piquetero roadblocks helped bring down four presidents within two weeks (see NotiSur, 2002-01-11, 2002-02-01, and 2002-07-12). Kirchner, a left-leaning governor, eventually filled the power vacuum when he won the 2003 presidential election.
Piqueteros still hold protests, but their numbers are down. "The movement lost strength for two reasons," says Rosendo Fraga, a leading Argentine political analyst. "One, because unemployment dropped. And, two, they negotiated with the government and accepted [welfare] money."
Divided movement
But there is another reason the piqueteros are making less noise these days. President Kirchner has appointed some of their leaders to his administration. "This government gives the piqueteros a place within the state, which has divided the movement," says Uruguayan journalist Raul Zibechi, who studies Latin American social movements.
The examples include Jorge Ceballos, who in 2001 helped form Barrios de Pie, a piquetero network focused on nutrition. Since 2004, Ceballos has not only coordinated the network but he has directed the community-aid program of Argentina's Social Development Ministry. He accepted Kirchner's appointment, he says, because "the movement today...
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