An editorial in English translation

["Nestor Miguel Gorojovsky" <Gorojovsky@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear friends and cdes.,

Hinrich Kuhls has asked me privately if I could draft a translation of the
editorial by Prensa Sindical Internacional on the current situation in
Argentina. PSI is a news agency with close links to the rebel Peronist unions
in the CGT led by Moyano. They are particularly close with the Maritime union.
I thought that maybe the whole article would be of general interest. Here it
goes. The article must have been written, in all probability, by Máximo García
Reyes, a friend of mine.

BUENOS AIRES, 2(PSI).- BETWEEN NEOLIBERALISM
AND CONSERVATISM, A DECEIVED PEOPLE

Less than an year ago, De la Rúa came to power
with the approval of a majority of the voters,
who had decided to appoint him in order to revert,
once and forever, the political horizon of our country
during the last decade.

He made himself convincing by means of some
highlights during the campaign, symbols of the
new times to come. He promised that state
corruption would be put to a definitive end. Those
found guilty would go to jail, and would be left
without the shelter that, until his term in office,
they seemed to have become used to receive
from the highest levels of power.

He convinced many that the monopolies
that had obtained the plentiful gift of
uncontrolled management of our country's
public utilities would, after his taking of possession,
be subject to the judgement of everyone interested in
those services, and that they would not be allowed
to make decissions on the basis of their exclusive profit any more.

De la Rúa came to the Pink House thanks to the
promise that now power would be used in favor of the people,
not of the great economic powers, nor the international
financial instititions, as he claimed that had happened
during the long administration of his predecessor.

An age of active policies would thus open up,
to step out of the recession that Menemism had
generated, and to put an end to the shameful
unemployment that had got installed as the worst
plague decimating Argentineans.

Fair laws would be prepared for the retired, those
who week after week, during the ten years of Menemism,
occupied Congress Square claiming for minimally
dignified retirement payments.

On december 10, 1999, there was an outburst of
popular happiness. Today, 380 days later, the scenario
seems to have suffered a substantial transformation.

During the last day of the year, the country
witnessed the ruling by the judge who investigated
the most sounding case of corruption of the De la Rúa era,
that of the presumed bribery in the Senate, and got
informed that, fulfilling the expectations of many, the culprits
were forgiven.

It was not just a new denunciation of presumed
impunity: it was a leading case, which put the
government to test. The results would give the
clear indication of what could be expected for
the future.

Carlos Alvarez, self-ejected from power because
he could not obtain the answer that -in his belief-
the Alliance have to give to the people in front of
this case of presumed bribery, slammed the door shut
on October 6th, explaining that he felt sympathy with
the people who was experiencing again the viscose feelings
of frustration and impotence.

But things went further on. The Federal Justice is
investigating the presumed malversation of public money
incurred by Fernando de Santibañes and the head of
government himself, Fernando de la Rúa, when they
paid with funds from the State Intelligence Secretariat
(SIDE) the services offered by the American citizen
Dick Morris and the expert Mattie Lalovar.  The last one has
made a denunciation from her residence in Virginia (USA) that
there existed many very serious issues that forced her to
establish a distance with the contract signed with the
"intelligence agency", according to her own words..

We have also returned to the times against which
most of the citizens had voted: the New Year Eve decrees,
where the Government, lacking a subservient Parliament that
endorses the interests of the Executive, attempts to make
laws by its own will in order to please the officials of the
international institutions and the transnational bankers.

This is how the Argentineans welcome the new year:
watching the neoliberal and conservative position assumed
by a ruling team that had been voted due to the promises
made in the Letter to the Argentineans, which became in
fact the mask behind which the same face against which
Argentineans cast their vote was lurking.

Néstor Miguel Gorojovsky
gorojovsky@xxxxxxxxxxxx