Since the Chubut case, the conflict between the national government and the governors escalates

Ignacio Torres attacked this Friday, from the box given to him by the general secretary of the Private Oil and Gas Union, Loma Ávila, (national representative for Together for Change) against the oil, construction and truck drivers who were staging a strike of 12 hours (without interrupting work in the wells) and an important mobilization in the city center against the threat of layoffs in the sector, and harshly attacked President Javier Milei.

Torres attacked the national government for withholding $3,000 million pesos per day from the federal co-participation, in retaliation for the claim for the transportation subsidy and threatened to “close the valve” that allows the oil production generated by this province to reach the rest of the country.

From the Office of the President of the Argentine Republic they responded to the governor confirming that “the $13,500 million that was deducted from the federal co-participation in February responds to a debt of the province with the Trust Fund for Provincial Development” and that in “no way “The National Executive Branch will contribute to the waste of the provinces that refuse to reduce unnecessary expenses,…, and govern with austerity.”

This escalation of statements and threats between the national government and the governor of Chubut, allies until yesterday, has revealed the weakness of the national government after the defeat of the omnibus law in the national congress. The governors of Neuquén, Río Negro, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego have joined these declarations of war by Torres and the national government, demanding the return of national funds to subsidize transportation under threat of cutting off oil and gas.

HELLO NACHITO AND COMPLICES
I give you something about the Penal Code.

ARTICLE 194. – Anyone who, without creating a situation of common danger, prevents, hinders or hinders the normal functioning of transportation by land, water or air or public communication services,…

— Javier Milei (@JMilei) February 24, 2024

This statement by Torres achieved the support of the Kirchnerist Kicillof, as well as of all the governors of Together for Change, of federal Peronism and even of the CGT, showing the rejection of this attack on federal co-participation (the funds that the nation sends by law to the provinces) and that is an essential part of the funds that the governors have in each province.

As Fernando Rosso pointed out in his Círculo Rojo editorial on Thursday, February 22, “the political consistency of the Government: the eventual “merger” with Macri, which was presented as the possibility of increasing Milei’s “political volume” and parliament, was bogged down; After the failure of the Omnibus Law, a crisis and a confrontation began within the cabinet (they even accused each other of spying on the intelligence services); The Decree of Necessity and Urgency is stuck in Justice and Milei is in charge of blowing up all the bridges with governors and with the collaborationist opposition that does not know how to do because they will not let it collaborate. The radical De Loredo even started crying because the government “won’t let us help.” The threats from Governor Torres, from the Pro’s small table, are another manifestation, but with vandorist reminiscences, which combines “they won’t let themselves be helped” with “don’t mess with the provinces’ funds.”

As the journalist Esteban Rafele said sarcastically on the X network, “The United Patagonian Emirates are born.” The “emirates” would become a league of boss governors, regardless of whether they are from the Pro or are Peronists, who carry out the Milei adjustment in their provinces, who govern at the service of the large extractive and looting companies of gas and oil such as in Vaca Muerta or Cerro Dragón, and that in turn gives them great negotiating power in the face of a weak government that has the need to deepen the adjustment in search of the foreign currency it needs to pay the external debt, as it once again committed. this week before the number 2 of the IMF and the US Secretary of State. This power to negotiate the adjustment is given to them by being gas and oil producers that travel north from the Patagonian provinces and which is vital for the rest of the country to continue functioning and obtain dollars for the IMF.

These threats from the governor, who until now had tired of saying that he was “90% in agreement with Javier Milei”, but in the province he carried out an attack against the right to strike of education workers, similar to that promoted by Milei by declaring public education essential, or by promoting, together with the Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, and with the support of Peronism, the Unified Security Command, allowing the action of federal forces in Trelew and the entire province , are more similar to the saying “a dog that barks does not bite”, but they show the tensions of the national government with one of the governors of its most faithful ally, Mauricio Macri and the Pro.

For this reason, in the face of this ongoing crisis that shows the disputes between sectors of the dominant classes, united in the adjustment and the attack on the working people, it is necessary to redouble the fight against the adjustment of the national government and the governors who govern at the service of the oil multinationals.

This crisis among those at the top opens the possibility of a governance crisis developing, with a Milei that attacks governors, teachers, state officials, imposes tariffs and fiscal adjustment, recession, all at the same time.

The working class and the working people in the face of this crisis need to intervene with an independent policy, resuming the path opened by the national strike on January 24 until overturning the adjustment of Milei and the governors. From the popular assemblies, the combative unions, the social movements, and all of us who have taken to the streets since December 20 against Milei’s chainsaw and blender plan, we have to demand and impose on the union centers to break the truce and call for a national strike and plan of struggle until defeating the Milei package, the big businessmen and the IMF.