ARGENTINA: Protests and Disturbances Continue

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Jan 11 2002 (IPS) - The latest street protest in the centre of the Argentine capital ended Friday with looting of shops and stone-throwing against banks, after thousands of demonstrators banged on pots and pans to demand that the government allow them to gain access to their deposits.

Banks, restaurants, phone booths and bus stops were destroyed in the early hours of Friday morning by a small group of protesters, after more than 6,000 people demonstrated in the Plaza de Mayo in front of the presidential palace.

Foreign exchange houses opened Friday, five days after the devaluation of the peso and other economic emergency measures were announced. There has been no foreign exchange trading since Dec 21.

The banks also resumed all of their activities, in a climate of discontent among clients, who have had to stand in endless lines over the past few weeks.

While pensioners tried to cash their retirement checks and other clients attempted to pay overdue bills, the peso was trading at 1.45 and 1.70 to the dollar.

The official rate for most foreign trade and financial transactions was set Sunday at 1.40 pesos to the dollar – a 28.6 percent devaluation after more than 10 years of stability and a currency peg that kept the peso at par with the dollar.

“Thieves!”, “Out with them!” and “I didn’t vote for him!” were the most often repeated chants heard in the Plaza de Mayo.

Insults to political leaders also abounded, targeting former president Carlos Menem (1989-99), his successor Fernando de la Rúa, who resigned on Dec 20, former economy minister Domingo Cavallo – the architect of the currency board – and current caretaker President Eduardo Duhalde, who was designated by Congress on Jan 1.

The “cacerolazos” or “pots and pans banging” protests began to be heard the day before the de la Rúa administration collapsed on Dec 20. The social uprising led first to the resignation of Cavallo, and then that of de la Rúa. Eight days later, another cacerolazo toppled interim president Adolfo Rodríguez Saá, who handed in his resignation on Dec 30.

Duhalde, of the Justicialista (Peronist) Party, is to serve out the remaining two years of de la Rúa’s term, until December 2003. The protest that broke out Thursday night was the first against his administration. Although the demonstrators were less numerous than on previous occasions, the situation caused concern among those close to the president.

Presidential spokesman Eduardo Amadeo said the cabinet “shares the pain, the anger and the need” of those demonstrating in the streets. But he urged the public to “stay away from the violent” protesters provoking the disturbances.

“They are vandals,” said Amadeo, referring to the small group of young demonstrators who threw rocks and destroyed property, triggering a crackdown by security forces using tear gas and rubber bullets.

A handful of demonstrators wrecked furniture and computers in several banks, after shattering the windows, and even set fire to a branch of the Banco de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, although firefighters were able to put out the flames. Pharmacies, toy stores and a supermarket were also looted.

The incidents, which ended with four detainees – one of whom was injured – began after thousands of people spontaneously took to the streets in around 50 Buenos Aires neighbourhoods, according to federal police reports, banging on pots and pans and lighting bonfires in protest against the government and the so-called “corralito”.

The “corralito” is the local name given to the restrictions on cash withdrawals, put into effect on Dec 3 to curb a run on banks, and stiffened Thursday.

Account-holders with savings in pesos will only be able to withdraw their money in installments starting in March. Those who have deposits in dollars will not begin to recover their money until next year.

Only in 2003 will fixed-term deposits in dollars begin to be released. For those who have less than 5,000 dollars in the bank, the gradual release of their money will begin in January of that year. But savers who have more than 30,000 dollars must wait seven more months, and will not recuperate all of their money until 2005.

The deposits being retained by the banks total 65 billion dollars. The government insists that the release of that money would drive the banks, which placed a large part of the deposits in now devalued government bonds, into bankruptcy.

The restrictions on withdrawals indicate continued contraction of the financial sector, and a deepening of the 42-month recession. “Who will put money in a bank again after this?” asked one saver after the new timetable for withdrawals was announced.

At the request of the banks, the Supreme Court – another target of the protesters, who have called for the resignation of all of its members – suspended Thursday all court orders defending the right of account-holders to recover their deposits.

The Supreme Court did not pronounce itself on the underlying question, but merely announced a freeze on the execution of the pleas filed with the courts aimed at forcing the banks to return deposits to clients who wish to withdraw their savings.

The presidential spokesman said Argentina is like a country “giving birth,” and admitted that there would likely be continued cacerolazos. Predicting that the demonstrations would gradually wane, he said “One day there will be 5,000 protesters, and the next there will be 300.”

Demonstrations against the restrictions on bank withdrawals were seen not only in the capital itself, but also in the suburbs of Avellaneda, Ramos Mejía, Olivos and San Isidro, as well as the city of Rosario, in the neighbouring province of Santa Fe, where around 2,000 protesters gathered around the monument to the flag.