The protests against the partial reform of the Constitution in Jujuy continue to generate serious confrontations between the demonstrators, who block Route 9, and the police who try to free the traffic. Said circumstance that has had moments of pitched battle, in which both sides accuse each other of having caused a large number of injuries. The protesters, mostly piqueteros, left-wing sectors and members of the Coquena and Collamboy communities, denounced this Sunday that there had been “more than 50 detainees”, while the Jujuy police indicated “We have dozens of troops injured, due to the violence shown by the protesters,” especially in the vicinity of the city of Purmamarca.
Rocks on one side, rubber bullets and tear gas on the other, the truth is that the clashes had already had a violent chapter this Saturday, and this Sunday they were repeated when the police advanced in an attempt to end the blockade of Route 9 in the entrance to Purmamarca, a crucial sector of the tourist movement, and that on long weekends causes even greater problems for motorists.
The protesters extended mounds of stones for more than 100 meters on the asphalt to prevent the passage of vehicles, according to the Télam agency, a situation that further complicated the situation.
Among the detainees is Natalia MoralesPTS-FIT legislator and Luciano Godoy, journalist from La Izquierda Diario. From the FATPREN press union they posted a tweet expressing their position on the events: “we repudiate the brutal repression that is taking place in Jujuy during the demonstrations against the constitutional reform. We demand the immediate release of the journalists Luciano Aguilar and Camilo Galli, as well as all the people detained”.
“Infantry charged the road with rubber bullets, another group of plainclothes police attacked us in the area of the river that is located on the side of the road corridor,” one of the community members recounted about the third attack on Télam.
According to witnesses, the militants found themselves surrounded by the police. The result was several injuries, including policemen who received stones and projectiles from the demonstrators.
The position of the Jujuy government
For its part, the Government of Jujuy insisted on its position of emphasizing that the constitutional amendment does not mean that social rights are being attacked, and in this sense stressed the call for dialogue to “presidents or community members of the indigenous communities of the province, to the effects of reporting on the scope of the extension of rights that the reform of the provincial Constitution implies”.
Gerardo Morales reformed the Constitution that limits the right to protest in
“The Constitution of Jujuy is going to be the first Constitution that puts into debate an issue that we have to discuss at the national level: road blocking and street blocking is prohibited. The Constitution has already been unanimously approved with this partial reform that we have been announcing since September with these axes,” said Governor Gerardo Morales in Radio Miter.
Among the images of the pickets, Diego and Emmanuel Palmieri, lawyers for Milagro Sala, also appeared, a situation that caused the repudiation in the networks of different pro-government militants.
Ctera threatens national strike
As a consequence of the incidents, the Confederation of Education Workers of the Argentine Republic (CTERA) announced that there could be a national strike. The teachers’ union convened an executive board to resolve a national strike for 24 hours. “Given the violent repression of the people of Jujuy, #CTERA summons the Executive Board to resolve a GENERAL STOP. #NoALaRepresion #FuerzaJujuy,” the teachers’ union published on Twitter
For its part, the CTA issued a statement in which it expressed its “strong condemnation” and demanded “the immediate cessation of the repression by the security forces under the command of Governor Gerardo Morales.”
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“We forcefully reject the attempt of the radical governor Morales to discipline the people of Jujuy and restrict their right to demonstrate peacefully. It is unacceptable that repressive methods are used to silence the courageous struggle that the people of Jujuy have been carrying out together with social organizations , politics, trade unions, human rights and native peoples,” the document states.
“We hold Morales directly responsible for any situation of violence that occurs against the people of Jujuy, as a trial balloon for the policy that neoliberalism will carry out at the national level if they reach the government,” adds the statement that bears the signature of Hugo Yasky, secretary general of the CTA, and Enrique Rositto, secretary of communication.
NT