In each celebration for the day of San Cayetano, the main social movements related to the Government, grouped in the Union of Workers and Workers of the Popular Economy (UTEP) are mobilized from the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Liniers, where the homonymous Church is located, to demand an agenda of claims for “Land, Roof and Work”. The central call will be repeated tomorrow, Sunday, starting at 8 in the morning, when a massive column of protesters will head towards the Obelisk to demand the implementation of measures aimed at informal workers.
The UTEP, the “union” arm of the cartoneros and of those who work in cooperatives of the popular economy —such as orchards, textile establishments, canteens and picnic areas, among others—, brings together leaders with direct influence on the social policy of the Executive Branch. It has as its highest representative Esteban “Gringo” Castro, its general secretary. Under this umbrella, groups such as the Avoid Movementby Emilio Pérsico and Fernando “Chino” Navarro, the Movement of Excluded Workers (MTE)which has among its references Juan Grabois, the Classist and Combative Current (CCC) of Juan Carlos Alderete and the We are neighborhoods standing movement of Daniel Menendezand the Darío Santillán Popular Front (FPDS) headed by Dina Sánchez.
“We have great expectations, there is a lot of energy. San Cayetano is a moment of encounter, we always say that San Cayetano unites us. It is a journey of several days that will be replicated in almost all the provinces. We are expecting to ratify the ‘Land Roof and Work’ agenda, “he told Infobae Gildo Onoratounion secretary of the UTEP and leader of the Evita Movement.
The march for San Cayetano began in 2016 during the government of Mauricio Macri. From that alliance, the social movements then baptized as “cayetanos” -because of their closeness to the Catholic Church and their identification with Pope Francis- relied on the religious festival to promote a list of demands linked to work and economic activity. popular, including Social Emergency Law which instituted the “Complementary Social Salary”, the immediate antecedent of the “Promote Work” program.
In contrast to recent years, the mobilization takes place in a climate of growing impatience and growing claims to the Government due to high inflation, which hits the levels of poverty and indigence of the population. The nervousness due to the deterioration of income exposes the differences in strategies of the social leaders allied to the Front of Allwhich are addressed how far to stress with the rest of the official coalition.
From this sector grouped in the UTEP, who represents the most confrontational position is the leader of the Great Fatherland Front, John Grabois. This week, his group issued a statement in which he insinuated the idea that the three national deputies Itai Hagman, Natalia Zaracho Y Federico Fagiollitogether with the legislators Ophelia Fernandez (CABA) and Lucia Klug (PBA) could break with the legislative blocks of the Front of All, after the announcements of the Minister of Economy, Serge Massadid not include a “redistributive measure” aimed at unregistered workers and “the most neglected social sectors”.
To advance with the fracture of the interblock of the Front of All in the Chamber of Deputies, the ruling party would lose the first minority. However, the legislators of the Great Fatherland Front make it clear that the intention is to set up their own “bench” that does not necessarily imply leaving the bloc. The final decision will be made at a party congress scheduled for next week.
The truth is that, in his latest public statements, the path traced by Grabois is inclined to “leave” the official factions and deepen the social protest, given the failure of these negotiations with the different interlocutors of the Executive Branch. The Great Fatherland Front promotes the sanction of the Universal Basic Salary (SBU), a measure that does not have the support of the entire coalition. The discomfort of this sector deepened due to the lack of advertisements that recompose the income of those who do not have a formal job.
Other UTEP organizations, such as the Darío Santillán Popular Front (FPDS), are also critical of the performance of social policy and support the implementation of a universal income. “We return to the streets in unity, demanding urgent responses for the last and last in line. We return to the table the Law of Land, Roof and Work, and that it advance with the universal basic salary to end indigence in Argentina. We need urgent answers because the situation can’t stand it anymore”.
Deputy Juan Carlos Alderete, leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party (PCR) and its territorial arm, the Clasista and Combative Current (CCC), is usually harsh in his speech against the government, but he does not think of divisions in the Frente de Todos. His party has two national deputies. Unlike the Great Fatherland Front, Alderete clarified that he is not considering fracturing and leaving the first minority to Together for Change in the lower house.
In the Evita Movement, meanwhile, they refrain from fueling the conflict with the Executive Power and President Alberto Fernández, of whom they are direct allies. The Secretary of Social Economy, Aemilius Persiandefined in radius 10 that “This is not the time for a large income distribution, It’s time to calm the markets”. “Tomorrow is a day of celebration, in which popular religiosity and struggle merge in an embrace that unites and mobilizes, that bet on social peace conquering the rights that the most humble are demanding”, considered Onorato, with conciliatory rhetoric.
What unifies all the sectors of the UTEP is the sanction of an “omnibus” law of “Roof, Land and Work”, which includes different chapters such as the universal basic salary, the productive monotax project, non-bank credits for cooperative members, the Packaging and Wetlands Law, among others. That list of demands will be revealed during the central act, which is expected to be at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday. From a box located in downtown Buenos Aires, the speakers will be Gildo Onorato, Juan Carlos Alderete, Norm Morales (Standing Neighborhoods), Dinah Sanchez and “Gringo” Castro will close.
On Saturday, the Catholic faithful began to gather around the sanctuary located in Liniers, on Cuzco Street and Rivadavia Avenue. The militancy will leave from that meeting point to the intersection of Avenida de Mayo and Avenida 9 de Julio.
In this political context, the confessional seasoning will be present throughout the weekend. At 11 o’clock the main mass will be celebrated, which will be presided over by the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Mario Aurelio Poli. In the afternoon, at 5:00 p.m., Bishop Gustavo Carraraepiscopal vicar for the towns and popular neighborhoods of CABA and vice president of Cáritas Argentina, will share another celebration with Fr. Jose Maria “Pepe” DiPaola, parish priest of the San Juan Bosco church in José León Suárez, in the province of Buenos Aires. Organized by Cáritas, the Familia Grande Hogar de Cristo and the Unión de Clubs Parroquiales, the religious meeting is the kickoff of the traditional pilgrimage throughout the country, which takes a replica of the Virgin of Luján to the neighborhood centers with the motto #NiUnPibeMenosPorLaDroga. It is also another activity that has the inspiration of Pope Francis.
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