the authoritarian repressor Morales will be Larreta’s vice-presidential candidate

As was assumed for a long time, the governor of Jujuy and president of the UCR, Gerardo Morales, will be Horacio Rodríguez Larreta’s pre-candidate for vice president, representing the wing of radicalism that participates in that wing of Together for Change within the internal . The announcement was made at noon this Friday at a joint press conference between the two leaders.

The last weeks of authoritarianism and repression in Jujuy did not change that scenario. Neither the fraudulent realization of an illegitimate Constituent Convention by whichever way you look at it where even the right to vote and protest was attacked (although they had to go back on some articles after the scandal and the mobilizations), nor the repression of the people, nor the arrests , nor the raids carried out with trucks without a patent, made the Head of Government of the City of Buenos Aires change his mind about his running mate.

With a hackneyed and completely implausible speech, at the joint press conference they accused the Jujuy protesters of being violent and wanted to keep the banner of “dialogue” while demanding “order.” Anyone who has seen the images -many of them published exclusively by La Izquierda Diario- knows who the violent people in Jujuy are: the Morales police regime supported by Peronism.

Larreta chooses Insfrán from Together for Change. One of the feudals who rules with authoritarianism and repression for the delivery of lithium and common natural goods.

— Nicolas del Caño (@NicolasdelCano) June 23, 2023

Larreta says that Morales defends education! Jujuy pays one of the lowest teacher salaries in the country. That is why tens of thousands of teachers took to the streets with a historic strike that has been going on for more than 2 weeks. Wages up. Down with the reform.

— Nicolas del Caño (@NicolasdelCano) June 23, 2023

Among the possible analyses, there are those who underline that Larreta’s calculation is that the authoritarian Morales gives him a profile that suits him well to fight the hard right-wing votes of Patricia Bullrich or Javier Milei. The doves are losing profile and increasingly look more like hawks. The bet, however, is risky: the images of Jujuy, broadcast almost on national television in recent days (after many days of media siege during which La Izquierda Diario was one of the few that reported the whole truth), project a an undesirable imaginary even for many voters of the center or of the right who would like to see -utopianly- adjustment without class struggle, which in fact is the promise that Larreta made to them when he spoke of the need for a 70% consensus for his plans. It is not ruled out that Larreta could lose moderate votes, within his erratic electoral campaign path, a zigzag that is an expression of a crisis.

What is certain is that the confirmation of Morales ends up clarifying, if necessary, what the PRO candidate who filled his mouth talking about consensus is offering: adjustment and indiscriminate repression to pass his new plans and structural reforms.

However, Peronism will want to use this to ask for the Malmenorista vote for Daniel Scioli or for “Wado” De Pedro-Manzur. On that side there is no room for confusion either: those candidates, who all supported the agreement with the IMF, also represent adjustment and extractivism that can only perpetuate backwardness, dependency, and the looting of our natural resources in favor of a few. Even more: figures like Manzur represent the most retrograde, obscurantist and feudal that can be found in national politics.

In this, too, Jujuy functions as a laboratory: while Peronism, which today fills its mouth denouncing Morales, was key in providing the votes for the governor of Jujuy to approve his illegitimate constitutional reform, the left, headed by Alejandro Vilca, was the only consistent one who denounced everything from the beginning and was with the people of Jujuy and not with the usual powerful people of the province. One more example, if necessary, that the only way out of this national crisis is with the Left Front.

Who is Gerardo Morales.

The Viceroy” Gerardo Morales is the Governor of the Jujuy Province for eight years (December 2015), one of the poorest and with the lowest wages in the country. presides over the Radical Civic Union since December 2021 (previously Vice President and also President between 2006 and 2009).

He was Vice Minister of Social Development of From the Streetduring the days of December 2001 he was a national senator for the alliance and, despite the “that they all go away”, he continued to hold the position of senator for 14 more years. Within radicalism, he is the greatest ally of Sergio Massa who accompanied him and he put his vice, Carlos Haquim in 2015and one of the main promoters of the looting of lithium.

He had proposed as a candidate for president by Together for Changealthough he will eventually be a running mate of Horacio Rodriguez Larreta to compete internally with Patricia Bullrich. For days he has been confronted by the working people in the streets together with indigenous communitiesthat with huge mobilizations and roadblocks reject an attempt to impose a reactionary reform “expressly” of the provincial constitution with the endorsement of Peronism. His response was a brutal repression.

With a clear right-wing profile, openly criminalizes social protest “in the name of democracy”. In 2015, Gerardo Morales set up a custom-made court for him in three days with his own majority without having much decorum with his “republican commitment and respect for the division of powers.” At his proposal, he appointed three members of the Radical Party, two of them being deputies who on the same day voted for the enlargement of the number of members of the Superior Tribunal for hours later assume as judges.

And as if something were missing to consecrate itself as a true provincial fiefdom, twenty-five relatives of the governor are officials in different branches of the State.

Under his regime, the ban, fraud attempts and political prisoners are the order of the day. He persecuted social and political organizations, with infiltration and illegal espionage as he denounced left front and was repudiated by the mobilization. The high point of his proscriptive regime was the illegal detention in 2016 of the leader of the organization Tupac Amarú, Miracle Room. Despite her international repudiation of her arbitrary detention by Human Rights organizations, she remains in prison under sentence with false causes.

With this case, Morales unsuccessfully sought to impose fear and social discipline. By means of the reform of the provincial constitution, directly tries to ban demonstrations, roadblocks and street blockades, and denies the right to social protest protected by the National Constitution and jurisprudence. But Morales did not expect the response of the people of Jujuy in the streets and throughout the province, fearlessly confronting the “viceroy’s” regime.

This modification would be a first step to advance more rights for working people and clear the way for lithium extractivism in the face of resistance from communities that defend water and their lands. That’s why the protests continue until the reform is withdrawn.

Thanks to the massive mobilizations, other undemocratic aspects of the reform have already been thrown back, such as allowing the Executive to have an automatic majority in the Legislature for the party that governs, the suspension of elections every two years and other articles on private property and indigenous communities. , as well as a decree from Morales against social protest.

The alliance with Sergio Massa

Morales does not act alone or under the exclusive protection of radicalism and Together for Change. The regimen includes political agreements with peronists for its governability (the approval process of the constitutional reform itself demonstrates this), but especially it has a fundamental ally: the current Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa.

The exchange of favors is mutual. In the 2015 elections, The radical supported Massa’s presidential candidacy and he, in turn, supported the Jujeño’s candidacy for governor. So much so, that he “contributed” to the lieutenant governor, Carlos Haquim. Not coincidentally, Massa remains silent in the face of the repression carried out this weekend by order of Gerardo Morales. The link between the two continues to this day, and even the Minister of Economy tried until the last moment to get the UCR bloc to support the appointment of Cecilia Moreau as president of the Chamber of Deputies in 2022.

But what unites them are not only political agreements but business. They are strategic partners for the lithium exploitation in the northern provinces, agreeing benefits for foreign companies and the “legal framework” that allows their extractive activity in the country. While Massa negotiates the debt to the IMF and gets into the dispute between United States and China For the looting of natural commons by Chinese, Canadian and North American foreign companies, among others, the “viceroy” Morales promotes the “lithium table” together with the governor of Salta (Sáenz) and Catamarca (Jalill) and the mining companies.

He also knew how to get close with Alberto Fernandez. Despite the “tweet war” to get rid of responsibility for the repression in Jujuy, during the pandemic the president praised the governor’s “very important work” due to the severe restrictions imposed. But the province was one of the ones that suffered the most from a health collapse due to covid-19, due to the lack of investment in health and infrastructure.

Morales, the “ephemeral” and the reform of the provincial Constitution

Morales never had much passion for being a Constituent Conventionalist. He wanted to be President but the numbers were not giving. Faced with the harsh reality, he sought to be re-elected governor, but last year there was no water in the pool to gamble on a Constituent Assembly that would enable him, because few people were going to vote to hold an assembly whose agenda could not be further from the concerns of the people.

He rubbed the lamp and the idea of ​​passing the constituent election to unite it with the governor’s election came up, thus guaranteeing that participation would be dignified. By joining the two elections, he left behind his dream of staying on the throne of the Government House of Jujuy. He put a Minister who knows how to adjust salaries, but little how to smile to be liked as a candidate for governor. So Morales was placed on the list of Conventionalists and assembled the body of ballots so that that part would be first to drag Sadir, “the Unknown”.

This is how he ended up being the conventional elect and later the addicted convention voted him President of the Convention. That was in the morning, and while an Agenda that explicitly censured the Left Front was handed out to the Convention members, in the afternoon Morales presented a license request. The ephemeral, he will now dedicate himself to seeing what he achieves for his (vice) presidential campaign.

Then he was seen on the property of the Rural Society in Buenos Aires. There the “Arminera” fair was held. Morales, together with the governors of Salta and Catamarca, invited the mining companies to join the “lithium table” and celebrated that in Argentina mining has a Constitutional and legal path to make scorched earth.

The constitutional reform that had the votes of radicalism and Peronism, seeks to strengthen everything possible by repressive apparatusfurther concentrate power and establish an “order” so that the mining companies maintain their right to looting. Gerardo was ephemeral but since he summoned this monstrosity, he assured the monopolies that his interests will not be discussed, neither lithium nor the concentration of the land.

21st century Menemismwith a Convention included that could well compete with that of the Olive Pact where the resolutions were already known before the first session.