First: The Kirchner administration, now in power, has advocated a much tougher stance on perpetrators of human rights abuses under the military junta. In the 30 years since its fall, different presidential administrations have gone back and forth on how to deal with the leadership of the junta. In addition to repealing a law that previously gave amnesty to anyone below a certain point on the chain of command, the Kirchners instated a "Day of Memory of Truth and Justice" holiday. The first one was this past Monday, the day after I returned from Chile. I decided to go walk around the Plaza de Mayo, where human rights groups were congregating. Though the day commemorates a tragedy I was surprised to find an almost festive atmosphere. People were grilling, dancing, shouting to each other. I was alone so only stayed long enough to walk around a bit, and then headed home. Over dinner, Nancy and I talked at length about the meaning of the day, and she had some really interesting observations. She noted that since the day came after the long weekend for Semana Santa, most people were treating it as a longer vacation and hence the gravity was lost. Christina Kirchner, the president of Argentina, hadn't even gone to the memorial service because she was still at her country house. The girls didn't have school and so were not being taught about WHY a day was necessary. I asked her if she thought, even though it was a holiday, a day was worthwhile because it makes the junta easier to talk about and brings things out in the open whereas if there were no memorial people would keep hiding it. Of course, she said, she just thought it was the wrong way to go about things. Turning a memorial for 30,000 people disappeared into an excuse to stay at the beach an extra day is insulting to their memory and not what such a memorial should be about. She also noted that, to instate a day 30 years later is very after the fact. The legacy of the junta is one of the sorest spots in Argentine society and divisions run deep. Although I agree with Nancy that such a holiday should be treated with more gravitas, something is better than nothing.
The second headline I wanted to talk about is the over-two-week farmers' strike that ended yesterday. In order to reduce the federal deficit caused by inflation, the Kirchner administration raised export tax on agricultural goods to 40% from 27%. After operating costs and allowing for inflation, that leaves almost nothing for the producer. Agriculture is Argentina's biggest industry, and this was the first time in history that all industries: meat, dairy, fruits and vegetables; and both management and workers, were completely in agreement and all stopped production. Many times in the past the workers have struck against management, or the dairy industry will have some problems, but never all at once. Fruit started going bad and some butchers ran out of meat (which, in a country of meat eaters, is a HUGE deal). Christina ignored them for about 10 days before giving an inflammatory speech and used the phrase "I will not give in to extortion." That just made things worse. Then, on Thursday, she adopted a more conciliatory tone in another speech, tensions lifted slightly, and negotiations began yesterday. Never before had I seen such an illustration of another division in Argentine society: porteños (people who live in BsAs) and campesinos (people who live in the provinces and work on farms). The unfairness of the tax aside, the reaction of the Kirchner government to the concerns of their people was appalling. I only hope that with the negotiations a fairer deal can be found.
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