La Izquierda Diario spoke with Alejandrina Barry, a deputy from the CABA for the PTS-Frente de Izquierda and a leader in the fight for human rights, following the Supreme Court ruling that confirmed the sentence for Rubén Santos, former head of the Federal Police during the government of the Alliance, and the arrest of Enrique Mathov, former Secretary of Security during the same period. Both were politically responsible during the repression of the days of December 19 and 20, 2001.

What do you think about the arrest of Mathov, one of the political leaders behind the repression in December 2001?

  • First of all, I must say that justice in Argentina is really slow. It took 23 years for the politicians responsible for the murder of three people and dozens of wounded to be arrested. It is an achievement, once again because their families continued to fight, as always. Because there is a great tradition in Argentina, so we were able to condemn many of the genocidaires, thanks to a collective struggle of the relatives, the survivors, in this case, the families who continued to fight in their name… We reject house arrest, of course.

    In what political context did the 2001 repression take place?

  • This ruling is very important because it is mainly related to the 2001 repression that was a response to a popular rebellion against the government of Fernando De la Rúa, against the terrible living conditions that resulted from years of Menemism. The same Menemism that increased unemployment as a result of the privatization of companies – something that Javier Milei so strongly advocates, and who wants to do today with a similar program with Aerolíneas Argentinas, with the layoffs and the labor counter-reform. In this context, fundamental democratic freedoms were also attacked, such as the declaration of a state of siege on December 19 by De la Rúa. It was in response to this that there was a generalized rebellion, saying that we are not going to abide by the state of siege, and massively people took to the streets, went to Plaza de Mayo, and held the days of mobilization that ended with the president fleeing in a helicopter. It is in this context that the government security forces fiercely repressed and murdered these comrades.

    What relationship do you see with the repressive policy of the current government?

  • I think it is important to take into account the context in which this is happening, because Minister Patricia Bullrich and also the Minister of Security of the City of Buenos Aires, Waldo Wolff, believe they can go unpunished. In the case of Bullrich, she has already been in many governments where she was Secretary or Minister of Security in the government of Mauricio Macri – where Santiago Maldonado and Rafael Nahuel were murdered – in addition to the wounded she leaves behind and thinking that she will always be taken to the top. And no, that is not the case. This ruling shows that in order to impose this economic plan of planned misery, it is necessary to develop very harsh repression. We have seen it since this government took office. We had the case of our colleague Matías Aufieri who lost his eye as a result of the repression during the vote on the Ley Bases, the repression of retirees and a few days ago, the repression of a 10-year-old girl.

    How do you think it can influence from now on?

  • We have fought against impunity in this country many times and we will continue to fight so that Bullrich ends up in the dock as he deserves, so that she has a trial for each of the victims of her repressive policies. I believe that this ruling is also given to put a limit on Bullrich and that is what we have to assert.








    • Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com



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