The gray sky that prevents seeing the sun does not pale the beauty of those hills that face the desk of Gerardo Morales, who has undoubtedly had a week more than hectic after the violent acts of vandalism to the Jujuy Legislature, the salary protest of the teachers and the need to define their political aspirations in the face of the closure of lists of Together for Change, which has a deadline of next Saturday.
The governor chose his office anchored in the Cultural City, a complex just 10 minutes from the center of the provincial capital, to receive Clarín and before starting the conversation he makes it clear that "it will be complicated that there are acts of violence" such as those that occurred last Tuesday in front of the Legislature, in which 19 tons of stones were collected that were thrown by the violent to attack the guarded building. by the police.
While the cell phone rings urgently, Morales insists that President Alberto Fernández and his vice Cristina Kirchner were the promoters of an attempted "institutional coup" in his province. "The government's slogan is to liberate the area, let Morales endure it, let's try to push him and give a coup d'etat," he remarks while the sack is settled.
How do you describe the situation in the province a week after the protests began?
- The city is controlled, there are roadblocks with people who are part of the scheme of violence. There is a lot of work of Tupac with 20 thousand social plans. The attitude of teachers in protesting is very different. Even teachers are upset with policy intervention that discredits the just claim they have. In the last offer we raised the floor of $ 130 thousand for the national parity to $ 179 thousand, but it is the only proposal in the country that is progressive depending on seniority. There are 5% of teachers with $ 179 thousand, but 95% of teachers with $ 200 thousand and up. Now the floor would be above $ 200 thousand, and a school director will be between $ 400 thousand and $ 700 thousand, while a supervisor will charge more than one million pesos. There are secondary school teachers who exceed one million pesos.
The march of the teachers to the governorship of Jujuy. Photo: Fernando de la Orden / Special Envoy
Then there is the conflict over constitutional reform...
- That is another issue in which the Government of the Nation participates. Alberto's press conference on Wednesday is the best example that the government participates in the acts of violence. He announces actions of unconstitutionality for the reform of the constitution, which addresses issues that Cristina asked for when she was president. (Author's note: at the time the now vice president called for measures against roadblocks and pickets.)
Can there be acts of violence like those that occurred on Tuesday in front of the Legislature?
- I think not. They have already spent the silver bullet to carry out the institutional coup. Yes, there is an activity orchestrated by the national government with Alberto and Cristina as the most responsible to harm the government of Jujuy. Moreover, people repudiate these facts. We have lived more than 15 years that situation that we have banished in these eight years of management and that today they want to replicate again. La Tupac feels strong, she has Milagros Sala under house arrest who receives all the support. He is managing the protest because of the 55,20 plans in the province he manages <>,<>. The President's visit is also eloquent in terms of how the national government stands on the side of violence.
Gerardo Morales again blamed Cristina Kirchner and Alberto Fernández for the incidents in Jujuy. Photo: Fernando de la Orden / Special Envoy
Is there concrete evidence linking the government or Kirchnerism to these violent groups?
-Yes. That is processed in Justice, but there are chats, telephone crossings and an investigation underway. The direct participation of deputies Carolina Moises and Leila Chaher in stopping the intervention of the Gendarmerie, which has federal competence.
Is there a complaint from the government of Jujuy for the non-intervention of the Gendarmerie?
-Exactly. We have denounced the non-intervention of the national Government and the Gendarmerie, which in flagrante delicto should have acted. The government's slogan is to liberate the zone, 'let Morales endure it, let's try to push him and give a coup d'état'. We need to discuss the limits of the right to demonstrate. Acts of violence cannot be committed. Article 67 (of the reformed constitution) that refers to the prohibition of roadblocks and usurpation of public buildings establishes that the law that regulates when there is a collision of rights must comply with international standards that guarantee peaceful demonstration and under no point of view can stigmatize and criminalize. That is put in the constitution and Alberto did not read it. That is why Wednesday's conference lays bare how the government is part of the acts of violence and a cause of impeachment.
-Leftist organizations denounced the participation of vehicles without license plates during the arrest of demonstrators. Was this so?
-But there are no missing people, they are all in prison, the agencies have gone...
But it is a serious situation considering the history of Argentina and what was experienced during the dictatorship. Therefore, did this circumstance that the organizations denounce exist?
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It existed with the participation of uniformed police and they identified themselves in all cases. And all that procedure will have to answer the Ministry of Security and the Police. What happened is that there were violent groups that dispersed and attacked a television channel.
-Was everything planned?
- Everything was planned, they were going through another channel and they could stop. In addition to the attack on the Legislature, there was another plan to reach private homes. We were threatened days before and that day they threatened to burn down my house, which is actually my wife's house. The country is experiencing a parallel state situation. What happens in Chaco is what happened in Jujuy, here there was more violence and more corruption. It is the same model of parallel State that is installed in the country, social organizations have managed $ 700,000 million without control. On the day of the attack on the Legislature they took assistance to the beneficiaries of the social plans and if they did not go they took out the plan. They also paid them $ 5,000 and there is evidence of that that is being processed in justice.
Gerardo Morales with the hills in the background. Photo: Fernando de la Orden / Special Envoy
Why did you present the constitutional reform?
-This is a partial reform that aims to eliminate indefinite reelection, to end the privileges of politics, for greater institutional quality. There was also a debate regarding the system of selection of judges by competition, we have an evaluation tribunal, there was a debate about the system and with the reform the Council of the Magistracy was given constitutional rank. In addition, the Public Prosecutor's Office is granted independence, pardons are prohibited for cases of corruption and femicide. I did not want to leave a constitution that pardons Milagro Sala. In addition, it had an important modification on indigenous communities - it modified article 50, which finally remained in force - and that established a tutelary treatment of communities as an object of law, not as a subject of law.
Why is there conflict with the communities?
-Because the communities were misinformed. The 156 communities have been summoned for this reform that was launched in September of last year, it is not an express process. Since January, there has been a path of participation by the communities that have presented minutes confirming that they dealt with the issue of reform. There is no lithium treatment project that aims to subjugate communities. If there is no approval from the communities, no progress is made. There has to be prior consultation and there are ten instances of community participation. As there was misinformation, in order to relax and seek dialogue with the communities, we ceded Article 50, which was an advance in terms of rights. What happened is that in the article we had put that the State promotes the delivery of other lands, other than community lands, for human development. This is for the Ava Guaraní groups, which is not the case of the communities of the Quebrada and the Puna, which can verify the ethnic pre-existence and recognize community property. They thought that the word promotes is because they are going to move them, that's why we decided to go to the old text.
What happened to the idea of eliminating the midterm elections?
Since there was no agreement with the Justicialist Front, we did not move forward. That rule change has to have the agreement of the policy.
But that modification was quite risky, in democratic terms, because it also established that the winner of the election would keep the majority in the Legislature.
- Twenty-five out of 48 legislators. It is the norm that exists in Santa Fe, in Córdoba, in the English system, because there is no possibility of recovering representation in Congress. That's where the country would have to go, get out of the elections every two years, do it directly every four years, and establish a mechanism that also allows whoever governs to have a majority. Today we have two-thirds, 33 legislators out of 48, with that new rule we could never have two-thirds. The opposition always has control over key decisions. We agreed that if Justicialism did not agree, we would not move forward. That is why we achieved unanimity on the reform.
What response do you give to the questions of international organizations after Tuesday's violence?
International bodies are acting irresponsibly and unilaterally. Only with the version of the government that has taken part in the conflict and that is part of the attempted coup d'état in Jujuy. It is irresponsible what they are doing. The High Commissioner and the Inter-American Commission cannot establish opinions such as those they are issuing without holding a hearing and listening to all parties. No one has asked us for information to assess the situation in Jujuy. It is a move by the government. The police have acted when they should have acted. After 42 minutes of stoning, the Legislature began to intervene. In the case of Purmamarca, at 6 o'clock in the morning progress was made to evict the roadblock and the police were stoned. We had wounded policemen, we set up a mediation system with ministers and secretaries of state and at 4 o'clock in the afternoon they advanced without firing a single rubber bullet. The police have to act when the march is violent.
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