Although it was presented three days before, the date of publication of Resolution 499/2024 of the Ministry of Security It is not coincidental. It was published in the early morning of June 13, at the same time that the Base Law and the Fiscal Package were voted in the Senate. At the same time that 35 detainees from the repression in Congress were mistreated in police vans and police stations.
And it is not a coincidence because it is a regulation that reaffirms the decision of the “libertarian State” to apply its repressive forces to guarantee big capitalist businesses.
Productive Security Unit: an infantry of the Bases Law
The resolution signed by Patricia Bullrich resolves to create the Unit to “analyze the situations of insecurity that sectors of the economy present or may foreseeably present which, due to their great contribution to the growth of the country due to the volume of their production, the magnitude of their contribution, the sensitivity of the material derived from their activity or the high value of their products, require special care in the manufacturing process or in the transportation of merchandise.” As he explains, he will deal with “provide, when appropriate, under the exclusive discretion of the Ministry of Security and on an exceptional basisin consensus with the provincial jurisdictions, the security demanded by the situations stated in the previous paragraph.”
Let’s take one more fact: the Unit will be under the orbit of the National Directorate of Operations and Territorial Deployment. This is an area of the Ministry of Security that has the attributes to mobilize and concentrate police and federal forces at any time and place, only by order of the national government. The person responsible will be a man he trusts, Martín Culatto.
In some statements from the ministry, topics ranging from “piracy” to cable theft or illegal mining are discussed. But Let’s look at some statements from the minister to better understand what “productive security” means.
PRODUCTIVE SECURITY
We are going to combat all crimes that harm productivity. We are not going to allow the entrances of companies to be blocked to prevent them from producing.
With legal certainty, giving investment security, Argentina will develop… pic.twitter.com/FJYDBMYRUa
— Patricia Bullrich (@PatoBullrich) June 13, 2024
“Crimes against productivity”
“We are going to fight all the crimes that harm productivity. We are not going to allow them to be blocked the income of companies to prevent them from producing. With legal certainty, giving investment security, Argentina will develop economically.”
This is how Bullrich presented his new “command” on social networks. And the words are becoming clearer. The objectives too.
For the specialized site “Palabras de Derecho”, the resolution “will enable greater protection for the business interests of companies referred to Vaca Muerta in Neuquén and the provinces with lithium and social resistance, such as in Jujuy (Salinas Grandes) and Catamarca”. In the same sense, the newspaper La Nación reports that “the entire mining area of the country will be taken care of with electronic systems” and “Bullrich will install a Gendarmerie unit in the Neuquén town of Añelo, heart of the hydrocarbon production sector known as Vaca Muerta.” The newspaper also highlights that “the security officers private companies and productive sectors They will have a direct line of communication open with the ministry.” If you think about what the managers of Techint, Ford and Ledesma did during the dictatorship, those types of “collaborations” give you chills.
The minister confirmed that these are not just “strategic sectors,” but that she seeks to shield any company that is the target of any labor or social claim. “We do not allow a supermarket to deliver food in any way because that creates a disorder effect. There will be network contact with all the security chiefs of the country’s supermarkets with the aim of protecting them from tightening.” The event was celebrated by the Buenos Aires Commercial Federation (FECOBA), the place chosen by Bullrich to present his new work.
Let’s move on.
The “special unit” will be, first of all, a shock force in charge of guarding large extractive businesses. A “private property” that is actually natural commons given to Paolo Rocca and Elon Musk. The native communities, environmental assemblies and workers who complain against these “productive sectors” will have to deal with the repressive forces if Bullrich and Milei (or directly the “security chiefs” of the companies) decide.
It may also intervene, only by order from the minister, in the face of a protest at the door of a company. One of Bullrich’s dreams, who encouraged the Anti-Blockade Business Movement and “killed himself” so that Senators would include the protests as a reason for “dismissal for cause” in the labor reform included in the Bases Law. We are not talking about an oil well. As the Buenos Aires businessmen thanked, if a group of workers takes direct action in the event of layoffs or closure, they can call the Unit.
But there is a phrase that reveals how far the objectives go. “We aspire to that the Argentine cost goes down”said the minister in her presentation. In other words, the labor reform, the layoffs and salary adjustments that we have been suffering have their “rules” but they also have their weapons. Guard dogs are to defend “order” but also productivity.
Finally, the government recognizes another of its concerns: that hunger unleashes complaints in front of supermarkets. The unity will then have the objective of guaranteeing looting, worker exploitation, but also social hunger.
She also wants superpowers
One fact that must be highlighted is that The resolution reinforces two tendencies of Bulrich’s security strategy. On the one hand, the concentration of power. Shortly after taking office, he created the Unified Urban Command, which has been acting in operations of all kinds. In this case everything will be under the National Directorate of Operations and Territorial Deployment, which has powers to use all police and federal forces. It is directed by Matías Ojeda, a former Argentine Army officer who later became a Buenos Aires security official for the PRO.
The other is the powers it assigns. The selection of sectors or individual companies “will be an exclusive decision of this portfolio or of the orders received from the Executive Branch.” Besides The actions will be under the “exclusive discretion” of the minister and may be “exceptional in nature”, although in “consensus” with the provincial jurisdictions. The word “consensus” in this case not only appears as a legal aberration but (another) authoritarian danger. As it has done in many repressions, the Ministry will do what it wants, it will not care about any agreement with other powers or governments.
Another thing to keep in mind: The person in charge of the Unit will be Martín Culatto, a very trusted man of Bullrich, and the controversial deputy Gerardo Milman. Culatto was Macri’s security official but he is also one of the members of the Institute for Strategic Security Studies (IEES)a creation of the minister and her partner Guillermo Yanco that in addition to being an “ideas factory” for the repressive right, functioned as the fundraising fund for their 2023 presidential campaign.
Anti-authoritarian unit
A week after the resolution was presented, the CGT and the CTA have not said anything. Nor were any complaints heard from Peronism. It is true that the right-wing measure has many antecedents of using repressive forces to help capitalists, from Lear to Pepsico. It is neither more nor less than national history, if we see it from a class point of view. But no one can remain silent in the face of the government’s authoritarian advances. It is true that They express the difficulties of the most concentrated sectors of capital in imposing their policies. That is why the “exceptional” rules and the militarization of state action.
But It is important to denounce and reject them. The infiltration, repression and judicialization operation of the June 12 mobilization had an impressive democratic response, driven by the left but with a very important political breadth.
It is the way to reject these measures. Because We are not going to stop organizing and fighting against Milei’s plan. There is no “special unit” that can crush the growing unrest with the government.
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
