Argentina Responds to the Brutal Repression of Retirees’ March

After the protests on March 12, more than a hundred people were arrested and dozens injured in the violent repression by Javier Milei’s government. The retirees are demanding an improvement in their living conditions and the pensions they receive, the vast majority of which do not allow them to cover their basic needs. The demonstrators blame the neoliberal measures of Milei’s libertarian government for having reduced their quality of life. Several unions, leftist political parties, and notably, fan clubs of football teams, participated in the protest on March 12, in support of the retirees who have been demonstrating every Wednesday for several weeks.  

Luciana Lavila, journalist of Barricada TV, told Peoples Dispatch “Last Wednesday in Argentina we had a clear view of how Javier Milei’s government responds to a genuine and fair mobilization. I’m talking about a concentration…of retirees simply asking for an increase in their pensions and for the return of the medicines that this government took away from them.”

Bullrich files criminal charges

The Government of Javier Milei has accused the detainees and supporters of the retirees’ march of sedition, attacking the constitutional order, and illicit association. The criminal complaint was requested by the Secretary of Security, Patricia Bullrich. Among the accused are political and social leaders, mayors, and leaders of soccer fans who took to the streets to support the retirees’ demonstration. The subsequent repression by the security forces caused injuries to almost 50 people.

One of the government’s targets is Leandro Capriotti, leader of the Chacarita Junior fans, for being, according to the government, “the main organizer of the violent march”. The accusation also targets Mario Firmenich, former head of the political group Montoneros. Although Firmenich lives in Spain, Bullrich has accused him of being one of the organizers of the march based on a public video in which he asked people to come out to support the retirees in their demands for a more dignified life. Similarly, the two mayors of municipalities in Buenos Aires, Fernando Espinoza and Federico Otermín, opponents of Milei’s government, have been denounced for allegedly supporting violence.

Judge orders the release of the majority of prisoners

The complaint filed by Bullrich also questions the actions of Judge Karina Andrade, who ordered the release of almost a hundred people detained after the protests. According to Andrade, the arbitrary detention of the protesters endangers the constitutional rights to protest and freedom of expression.

Furthermore, Andrade affirmed that the detainees were not properly entered into the security system, so it was appropriate to release them. The “basic information on the detention of these people” was not specified, so due process was complied with in 114 cases. According to Andrade, “The elderly should be guaranteed freedom of expression, a constitutional right. That was the context [of the protest]. They were exercising a constitutional right. A criminal context [of the detainees] was not brought to me. They began to generate arrests that were not communicated to me and hours went by. Besides, when it was reported, we did not even have the data of the place.”

However, the Secretary of Security warned that she is evaluating the possibility of denouncing Andrade for prevarication and violation of the duties of a public official due to the freedom she granted to the detainees. Bullrich posted on her X account “We will demand the removal and background check of Judge Karina Andrade for releasing more than 100 detainees without verifying background or evidence, violating the Law of Reiteration.” Bullrich also said: “We detain the violent, and they release them so that next week they can return to crime. They are organized criminals, picketers, and militants who seek only one thing: to destabilize.”

Complaints against Bullrich

In turn, Bullrich was criminally denounced by one of those injured in the demonstration. Beatriz Blanco, a pensioner who was demonstrating against Milei’s neoliberal austerity policies when she was beaten by a policeman. She fell backward from the assault and suffered a head injury. Blanco denounced Bullrich for serious and aggravated injuries and other crimes.

This complaint is in addition to the one filed by the Procuraduría de Violencia Institucional (Procuvín) against Bullrich for the injuries to Blanco and photographer Pablo Grillo, who is still in critical condition. In a video that has gone viral, Blanco can be seen falling after being pushed by a security agent, after which she fainted.

On the force with which the Argentine police acted, journalist Luciana Lavila said, “Nothing mattered to the government, nor to those who were repressing. One of the most serious victims of this repression was Pablo Grillo, a photographer who was there to record what was happening, to make it visible, to denounce repression and institutional violence… An agent of the security forces shot him directly in the head with a long-distance gas gun, which caused a skull fracture. Today Pablo remains hospitalized and is still fighting for his life with a reserved diagnosis. This, of course, provoked a response from the press union in solidarity with Pablo, but also to denounce that every day it becomes more difficult not to fulfill the journalistic task.”

Reactions from journalists: “We demand that Bullrich resign”

After the repression of the march of retirees and other citizens, several social and trade union organizations have expressed their opposition to the actions of Milei’s right-wing government, especially the journalists’ unions, who state that in Argentina the practice of journalism is threatened by the actions of the Executive.

Journalists associations and unions outside Argentina’s Congress in an action denouncing the police attack on photojournalist Pablo Grillo. Photo: SiPREBa

The Press Union of Buenos Aires (SIPREBA) repudiated the actions of the forces of law and order against the demonstrators and journalists covering the events. “Neither protesting nor journalism can put our lives at risk. Javier Milei and Patricia Bullrich are responsible for the brutal repression on Wednesday 12 that caused the very serious injury suffered by photographer Pablo Grillo, a former student of ARGRA. We repudiate all the violence in the retirees’ march, promoted by the climate of war installed by the government, of which many comrades from different media were victims,” SIPREBA said in its communiqué.

For its part, the Argentine Federation of Press Workers (FATPREN), which groups together press unions from all over the country, repudiated how Milei’s government acted towards the demonstrators and demanded the resignation of the Secretary of Security, Patricia Bullrich: “We demand [Bullrich’s] immediate resignation and the urgent investigation to find those materially responsible. At the same time, we demand an end to the repression and attacks on press workers, which have only been on the rise since the arrival of Javier Milei’s government, a situation that we have been denouncing on repeated occasions.”

Likewise, in a press conference, the Association of Graphic Reporters of the Argentine Republic demanded the end of repression in citizen protests that affect citizens in general and journalists and photographers in particular: “We need Bullrich to resign and put an end to all his unconstitutional policies. We are photojournalists, we need freedom of the press and not to be assaulted. It is not only Pablo [Grillo], but we have been demanding for a year and a half that the security authorities do not hurt us anymore” said one of the journalists at the press conference.

On whether Wednesday’s march marked a historic event in the balance of forces in Argentina, Lavila told Peoples Dispatch, “These people know how to fight, they managed to break, somehow, the quietness that had been prevailing during these months in our country after the arrival of Javier Milei to the Government. We believe that this may become a turning point. And surely this will also cause the mobilization to be much bigger next Wednesday, in the concentration that the retirees will make.”