Faced with the serious situation in Argentina

Statement from the CLACSO Steering Committee

In the last two weeks, Argentinians have watched with great concern and anguish the consequences of a complex socioeconomic situation that primarily affects vulnerable sectors and middle-income earners. This scenario is conditioned by a disastrous IMF loan requested in 2018 by then-President Mauricio Macri (US$44.000 billion), leaving the progressive government that succeeded him in December 2019 with a sword of Damocles hanging over its administration. Shortly after taking office, like the rest of the world, the new authorities had to confront and protect human lives from the COVID-19 pandemic. Just when it seemed that strategies could finally be found to overcome the critical situation, the war between Ukraine and Russia added new difficulties due to the increase in energy and fuel prices. commodities.

Alongside these socioeconomic difficulties, the same period saw a growing unease and fear regarding the hate speech and violence disseminated through social media, mainstream media, and some urban demonstrations. Adding to the expressions of right-wing sectors was the harangue of Aldo Rico, who has a long history as a coup-plotting military officer. In a message addressed to his comrades-in-arms, he declared:We need to organize ourselves, unite; for that, we need to reestablish our connections and organize ourselves wherever we are.” For those who lived through and suffered the consequences of the nefarious civic-military dictatorship that Argentina endured between 1976 and 1983, these words signify an incitement to a coup against the democracy that the country has been experiencing since 1983.

Painful scars from that dictatorship remain, borne particularly by workers, unions, cultural figures, politicians, and the general public. Public universities were the focus of the dictatorship's attacks and are always present in the violent rhetoric of the right wing, especially regarding the social sciences.

The majority of the Argentine people do not wish to return to a breakdown of the institutional system and deeply respect the rule of law. They are acutely aware of the socioeconomic difficulties and await urgent solutions from the national government. However, violence, threats, and hatred will not be the answer to the crisis.

The financial sectors, both international and national, must consider the value of every human life in the country. And the right wing and its followers cannot continue with acts of intolerance and violence. Meanwhile, within Argentina, there is an urgent need for unity among social, cultural, and political groups committed to solidarity and the pursuit of a dignified life for all, with the full exercise of justice.

The Argentine people, who chose to live in peace and for the memory of the 30.000 disappeared detainees, for the children who did not return and the grandchildren who are still being searched for, say again in a loud voice: “Never again”.

The CLACSO Steering Committee expresses its concern regarding such destabilizing statements and joins the numerous voices calling for prioritizing the defense of democracy above all contingencies and differences, as a way out of this crisis which, as always, affects the most vulnerable in our societies.

CLACSO Steering Committee
26 of July 2022