Democratic Peace and Harmony
"The Argentine people want peace and harmony. Demands of this nature go beyond any expected limits."
"To be a police officer means carrying weapons to protect the citizens, not to generate anxiety among the people and use extortion against their elected leaders."
"In some ways this amounts to the crime of treason."
Jorge Capitanich Argentina cabinet chief, former Chaco province governor
Argentina is in a chaos of police strikes, affecting many of Argentina's cities. Appeals for calm come from politicians representing both the left and the right. Looters have been carrying off merchandise in the opportunity presented to them without a law-and-order police apprehending presence, leaving business owners to fight off roving mobs.
Seven people have died, killed in a week of extraordinary chaos. So much for collective dedication to the vital job of society's security. That's some extraordinary celebration of 30 years of democracy following on Argentina's past experiences with a brutal tyranny. The freedom of democracy is hardly respected when people hired to protect the public weal, choose to abandon their posts and open society to rampaging riots.
Police are demanding pay increases. Most of the dead were those involved in looting. A store owner's burned body was discovered in the remains of his Buenos Aires province looted market last week. Hundreds of people have sustained injuries, while thousands of businesses have been damaged in the scattered incidences of violence taking place throughout many of Argentina's provinces.
Public transportation has been shut down in some cities. Public hospitals have been turning away non-emergency patients, fearful they will become looting targets. On Monday night Buenos Aires Governor Daniel Scioli reached a deal with police that includes an amnesty wiping out sanctions for officers who have engaged in breaking the law.
That makes them eligible for the 14,000 promised promotions.Police officers who have retired on 90% pay, in the deal reached by striking police, will be allowed to return to work, effectively collecting double salaries.
Cabinet chief Jorge Capitanich blamed Cordoba Governor Jose de la Sota for failing to contain the police demands, but there is no one Argentine politician that is immune to the blackmail that police are exerting through their extortionate demands; abandoning their posts unless and until their demands are met.
A three month delay in debt payments that most Argentine provinces would have to make by month's end will facilitate their need to accommodate the demands of striking police to bring an end to the lawlessness and mob riots. Entre Rios provincial Gov. Sergio Urribarri has placed blame for the violence in his city of Concordia on a group of 50 police "most of them with bad records", promising to prosecute them for "sedition, a crime against the democratic system."
Consumer prices have been rising in Argentina at over 25% this year. Strikes by public health workers are also spreading. Other public employees are planning to strike for raises as well. So, in province after province even those governors who have been able to restore calm through agreeing to comply with steep police pay raises, cannot claim that they have solved the societal dilemma of satisfying the wage demands of public servants.
Gov. de la Sota who doubled police salaries was of the opinion that Argentina's twenty-three governors and Buenos Aires' mayor could avoid more such troubles should they agree on a unified salary scale nationwide to satisfy the demands of security forces.
On the other hand, perhaps nothing would really satisfy for long people who feel entitled to abandon their responsibilities, leaving their posts of public trust to embark on a self-interested ploy to force governments and by implication the tax-paying public itself struggling under the burden of high inflation, to accede to unreasonable demands, given the financial climate of the country.
So much for national solidarity during times of economic stress.
Labels: Argentina, Conflict, Crime, Social-Cultural Deviations
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, December 12, 2013
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