Confronting the crisis and the rise of the mass movements, the bourgeoisie and the imperialists are offering a democratic and not a military response. Of course, this does not prevent a resort to military repression in specific instances such as in Caracas in Venezuela and Villa Redonda in Brazil. In Argentina, the only possible option for the bourgeoisie and imperialism is represented by Menem, in the perspective of a capitalist solution to the crisis through a reconsolidation of the army and a defeat of the workers' movement. *
Workers' Party statement on the repression THE WORKERS' PARTY (PO), a Trotskyist formation that broke with the Lambert current in the early 1980s, has been one of the main targets of the repression. Its principal leaders were arrested, but on June 6, as a result of public and media reaction and of the occupation of his offices by PO activists, the prosecutor was obliged to release them.
The following is an official statement made by the PO following the arrests. 16 ON JUNE 1, Judge Larrenvere in the town of Moron, a suburb of
Buenos Aires, issued a warrant against the Workers' Party for "criminal conspiracy," accusing it of being responsible for disorders and the pillaging of supermarkets. The judge's decision was preceded and accompanied by a governmental campaign over radio and TV blaming the far left and the Trotskyists for the events that have occurred in these last months in Argentina. This judge's decision was directly dictated by the government and the repressive services.
The judge ordered the police to search the headquarters of the PO and to arrest its national leadership. Thus, the police came into our central headquarters in Buenos Aires on Thursday night [June 1] and arrested the following people: Catalina Guanigni, leader of the Committee of Relatives of Missing Persons and Persons Jailed for Political Reasons, a mother of two missing persons and a candidate in the May 14 legislative elections; Pablo Rieznik, a candidate for senator, who was kidnapped during the military dictatorship; and Gregorio Flores, a leader of the 1969 Cordoba uprising and candidate for vice president in the recent elections.
While the police were searching the party's central headquarters, a delegation from its national leadership went to the government to denounce these provocations. They were also arrested as they were getting ready to hold a press conference. Those involved were Jorge Altamira, presidential candidate; Juan Carlos Capurro, the party's lawyer and a candidate in the legislative elections; and Cristian Rath.
The six prisoners were isolated and placed at the disposition of the judge in the premises of the political police. Later, Juan Carlos Capurro was released. On Monday, June 5, after a meeting with police chiefs and members of the political police, as well as government functionaries, the judge decided to order preventative detention of the five other persons accused.
Not even an appearance of "independence of the judiciary" was maintained. The government and the judges decided to stage a provocation against the PO, and through it against all the people's organizations, in an attempt to put the "blame" for the demonstrations on them, although it was really the government's starvation plans that were responsible.
The PO is a legal organization. It carries on all its activities publicly. It participated in the 1983, 1985, 1987 and 1989 elections. The provocation staged against it is a very grave violation of democratic rights, of the freedoms of association and expression. If this maneuver succeeds, the mere fact of belonging to a left party, of distributing or reading its press will become a crime.
This provocation is part of the repression launched by the government against the popular mobilizations last week, against thousands of men, women and children who went into the street in search of food. The government decreed a state of siege, which was subsequently ratified in Congress, thanks to the votes of the Peronists, Radicals and right-wing parties. It unleashed a repression that cost the lives of 17 people, and it arrested several thousands.
We demand the immediate lifting of the state of siege, the immediate release of all the political and trade-union activists detained, as well 77 as an end to the repression against the Workers' Party and the immediate release of its leaders. 15 July 10, 1989 • #167 International Viewpoint