Streets blocked by fences,
police everywhere and silence
.
This is how the Retreat dawned in the run-up to the CELAC Summit that will take place throughout this Tuesday at the Sheraton Hotel.
That neighborhood calm begins to fade when you cross the heavily guarded opening set up for pedestrian entry to the summit venue and begin to explore the
microworld of press, security and noise
that extends everywhere.
In anticipation of the arrival of the presidents and foreign ministers participating in the VII Summit of Latin American and Caribbean Heads of State, the atmosphere at the Sheraton is
nervous and expectant
.
Security forces around the Sheraton.
Photo: AP
Between corridors it is said
In the conversations heard in passing, speculations about the reason given by Venezuela for the absence of its president, Nicolás Maduro, and questions about
never-confirmed rumors
that Lula da Silva and the Cuban president, Miguel Díaz Canel,
went to see the vice president
, rattle. , Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
In the press room arranged in the Pampa Hall, the different media camp out to broadcast.
Cameramen, producers and journalists take up positions around the cordoned off area from where they will give access to cover
the parade of the invited presidents.
Alberto Fernández attends the VII Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States at the Sheraton Hotel.
Photo: EFE
There is only one waiter attending to the container of coffee and milk that he serves to those who come to ask for something.
In the flow of people that quickly begins to flood the press section, it becomes clear that the boy is quickly going to be overwhelmed by the task and
the bets begin about how much
he should be paid for such a thankless task.
Five hundred dollars collectible from the Argentine Chancellery seems to be the remuneration in which the majority seems to agree.
And the Wi-Fi?
As perhaps it could not be otherwise, the state of the WiFi in the Salón Pampa
is a subject of eternal debate
.
A connection that seems to fluctuate from computer to computer in a space of eight inches.
Streaming is an odyssey.
A machine with the apple icon fails to capture even a signal bar, while a slightly more pedestrian model
located in front achieves full coverage
.
But that state lasts only a few minutes, and the wheel turns again, with other beneficiaries.
The WiFi lottery punishes and rewards.
A woman holds up a sign that reads "Cristina and Alberto clearly do not love our country."
Photo: Alejandro Pagni/ AFP
Through the room, which is already practically full,
spokespersons circulate
and from time to time generate a circle around them of people eager to know what the agenda of the day will be like.
The conversations are in a low voice, and you have to strain your ears if you want to pick up any details.
There are some more details about some acts, but the news does not seem more than what is already known from the official communication, and
a certain frustration is palpable due to the televised nature of the event
that takes place just a few meters away.
On the televisions posted in the room, images of Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero receiving his peers begin to run, and the room lights up again as the different media begin to report on the news.
protest marches
A woman protests in front of the heavily guarded hotel.
Photo: Alejandro Pagni/ AFP
Through the living room window you can see the marches and protests.
A congregation of social movements protesting against the government, and meters away another of Cubans residing in Argentina marching against the Cuban president, Miguel Díaz Canel.
For a few minutes, attention is concentrated around the window, trying to decipher
the scale of the demonstrations
in the middle of the gaps that open up between the trees and the police cordon.
The photographers and videographers stationed behind the entrance belt are already a crowd.
And just at the moment when not one more seems to fit in the narrow hallway where they are stationed, the tape suddenly runs and they are allowed access to take pictures and film.
With
the disappearance of the raid
, the corridor is empty and suddenly it seems to be bigger.
The waiter in charge of the coffee is still stationed next to the container, only now he looks from one side to the other in search of interested parties who are no longer there.
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