Chubut: Voices of the workers who confronted the imperialist mining companies and Arcioni's hunger government in the front lines

After six days of a huge uprising, its protagonists speak

We found dozens of comrades with whom we had fought together in 2019 and we quickly recognized each other again as part of the same fight.
In afootballstadium, where the self-organized Assembly took place, we all got together to vote that no one would leave the streets until the zoning was defeated, until Arcioni was overthrown and until everyone leaves.
Everything was solved in the Assembly. Direct democracy and the self-organization of the workers and the people in struggle were conquered. This is how the militant unions that took part in this great uprising of Patagonian workers were organized. They supported their struggle in the assemblies and got organized among themselvesavoiding the traitors of the union bureaucracy.
I'm looking at the reports of the different left parties that comrades sent from Buenos Aires, but none of them confirms this fact. Why do they hide how the workers and the people organized themselves, with direct democracy to fight? I hope they reflect this on their press.Not taking this fact as fundamental would mean they do not understand anything about what happened here.

No one leaves the square, even though the assembly was over. We all stayed drinking mate (typical infusion) and chatting.
“How are you doing? I haven’t seen youfor a long time”, saidthe comrades with whom we didn’t see each other as a result of the pandemic and the restrictions to move from city to city. The first comments that each of them let us know were about the fighting on Thursday 12/16 at dawn and Friday 12/17: “… we are tired, but we remain firm, many still have wounds on their bodies, dozens of rubber bullets and one of our comrades, Gustavito, was seriously injured in the leg and is still hospitalized”.

"This is the world upside down," says a young man who came from Madryn. "How can it be that in this rich province there is so much unemployment? How can it be that our injured comrades do not have even a little hydrogen peroxide and bandages in hospitals to treat their wounds? ThisGovernment has tofall”.

Comrade Me, a secondary school teacher, told us: “We faced everything in these six days. The police shot us with all types of ammo, with rubber and lead. We knew that was going to happen. But this was everyone's fight and that is why many of us marched with our children and babies in our arms. The police did not care.They shot us all, including our children and little brothers. As we’ve been through that, we know we won’t go back”.
And then she tells me: “I don't know how the fire in the Government House started, but we all put a little spark there and made them burn”. The crackdown was brutal.We went back and forth whenever we could and, along the way, not a single government building in good conditions was left. Our hatred was directed at them. Police squads were also set on fire.
They wanted to use UOCRA thugs, but the stevedores, who were the first line, made them flee like rats from the Government House”.

This is what a fellow sailor affirms first-hand: “When we found out about the vote for the Law, from the body of delegates of SOMU(sailors union) we held a general assembly, we voted unanimously for the strike against mega-mining, because we knew that if progress was made in this law then they would go for the Fishing Law to plunder more the resources of the sea and put us to work as slaves. We finished the assembly of our union and calls began to arrive from the STIA (food workers union) or the SUPA (stevedores union)saying they had also voted to go on strike. We held a general assembly of the four unions of the fishing industry and we have been on a general strikesince December 16”.

The enormous unity in the struggle was clearly seen in the great hospitality we received from all those who came from other cities and it was immense. Every one of those who knew that we had arrived from Comodoro asked us: “Do you have where to sleep? Do you need a car? How can we help you so you can stay as long as necessary?" They immediately made us feel at home.

We immediately had accommodation guaranteed by the comrades who had been fighting in Rawson. This attitude was repeated with all those who arrived to the capital.

We all knew and recognized each other as part of the same fight.We had shared previous combats, and the general assemblies were the true decision-making bodies of what was done each day in Rawson as well as in all other cities. While this was happening in Rawson, in Madryn and Trelew, the fishing processing plants workers and longshoremen firmly stayed blocking the highways. These three cities were absolutely paralyzed and the only body that defined, even where to circulate with vehicles, was the self-organized Assemblies.

What about the governmentand the legislators? They had fled in terror from the rage of the fighting masses.

After the assembly in the football field finished, we returned to the Government House. In front of the main gate of the Governor's office is the Governor's House and there we settled. At every moment, the words “Arcioni out!” reverberated. Everybody out, not a single one should remain!

In the afternoon, a press conference was announced from ComodoroRivadavia, where Arcioni announced the suspension of the Zoning Law and said that they would be studying the call for a Plebiscite.

Who could believe something to the government in these conditions? No one. And the farce maneuver of a plebiscite by Arcioni and his legislators was quickly exhausted. The position that the plebiscite had already been held in the streetsimmediately came out, defeating Arcioni and his murderous police,stating that his would end when we kick him out like De la Rúa. A new resolution was taken in all the assemblies of the province, “Neither plebiscite, nor suspension, derogation NOW! Down with Arcioni and all the corrupt politicians!”. That was the immediate response.

That night we went to rest early, because first thing in the morning the legislature would begin to meet virtually to treat the Zoning Law again and they had already announced in advance the possibility of repealing the law.

The workers no longer delegated to anyone.They knew that their power lays in the general assemblies of all sectors in struggle.

Faced with the campaign of slanders reproduced by the bourgeois press against those of us who fought in the streets, all those who fought needed to make known the real situation that was being experienced and that is why they asked us to record each of the facts in photos, videos and broadcasts. They gave us photos and videos that they had taken so that the actions are widely spread first-hand and the information is not manipulated against all sectors in struggle.

The immeasurable hatred against the police and the repressive forces was evident.Their cowardice was seen as they shot children, women, the elderly and the workers' own houses in their neighborhoods. "Let there be no doubt that, after the Zoning Law was voted, we had two harsh days of crackdown and hunting by the State”, explained comrade Ro, a state worker. And she continued saying: “We are never going to forget this again.
Years ago, we looked like just a few crazy people marching.The government repressed us and imprisoned us. They took us in custody in 2020.We were sentenced and we were able to turn them around. But now we were no longer just a few crazy people, we were thousands, and we knew we were right.People realized that, because before they attacked us separately from the workers, but now they came for all of us and we went against all of them.
So this continues. There is not stopping; everyone has to go."

Cr, a teacher and state worker, told us something similar: “The crackdown the day after the Zoning Law was voted was very savage, but we defended ourselves well. Comrades were arrested. There were many wounded. The police even tried to hunt us house by house, because the neighbours and many store owners opened their doors for us to take shelter from the shooting and the gases.
Our fishing comrades and the young people were the bravest.The neighbours were totally supportive. And that's why we pushed them back.
The coward police began to go to our neighbourhoods at night, as it happened in Río Chubut neighbourhood, but we also waited for them there and took them out, although many boys were injured. But we took them out, because we defended our houses and our families."

On the morning of December 21, the legislators, hiding behind a computer screen, began to hold virtual sessions at 9 o'clock. People were feeling strong and were already anticipating that those who had voted for the Zoning Law were going to have to back down.

And finally it was like that. The legislature unanimously approved the repeal of the Zoning Law. They were all proud, satisfied because they had rolled back the law, but it was not hubbub and celebration that was experienced. A huge reflection was opened among all those who had closely followed the phony Legislature session via teleconference. "How do we continue now?" "They backed down with the law, but we cannot leave the streets" "Arcioni is still in power.The corrupt politicians of the legislature are the same.Until they all leave, we cannot stop fighting". Those were the phrases that were repeated in every corner of the city center, in front of the Government House, which, due to the high temperatures in the afternoon, caused the charred elements inside that building to emanate a deep smell of smoke. We drank some mate under the shadows of the trees and we went to rest. In the afternoon we had a new march that would end in the general assembly in all the squares of the province.

After the repeal of the Zoning Law was announced,comrade Re, a young worker from Rawson, who had also defended herself against the crackdown in Río Chubut neighbourhood, told us: “We no longer believe politicians. That is why when Arcioni announced the plebiscite and the suspension of the Zoning Law we said: No.Repeal the law.Arcioni out and everybody out!
The legislature had to meet virtually and all these scoundrels of the legislators had to vote the repeal. This is a huge first step for us. And we conquered it in the fight.
But we know that this did not end, it is just beginning."

We could not do less but go findGustavito, a young worker who lives every day from temporary jobs. He was seriously injured in the lower leg. Since the early hours of Thursday 16, he has been admitted to the Rawson Hospital.

“I marched as everyone did here.We could not allow our water to be stolen. I'm unemployed, I was supposed to start working painting a house the next day after the crackdown, but now I don't know if I'll be able to climb a ladder again. I'm not even sure I'll be able to walk normally again.

The memory of Wednesday night and Thursday morning is very dark. They literally hunted us down, locked us up, and chased us block by block. They grabbed me in a corner.They locked me up with a truck. Two with shields and two with Ithacas got off.A few meters away, one of the armed policemen shot me at point-blank range. I immediately fell to the ground and they began to hit me with the sticks.Then they got back into the truck to continue repressing other comrades.

I got up as best as I could and some people came to help me. I was dizzy and I saw that myleg was black, full of gunpowder. A comrade poured water on me and blood immediately began to gush out.Almost my entire muscle was taken away from me by an Ithaca shot.

Now, I am in the hospital. I am even with another comrade who is also injured and we both know that we are going to spend Christmas and New Year in the hospital. But we want to get out of this well.We want to heal as much as possible.

The pain I have is very intense.I feellike burning throughout the wound several times a day. I have already convinced myself that I have to be strong, be patient, because this is the only way to get out of the hospital well. My life is not going to be the same, but I have to move on.

Many of us were injured. I am very bad. But nevertheless I learned that the Zoning Law was repealed and that one of the objectives that we had is fulfilled. I knew that everything we have done has not been in vain and I feel very proud of it.

I want to salute all my fellow comrades in struggle. I'm going to recover as soon as I can, because I know that this is not over yet.This continues. The government has to fall.Arcioni and all the corrupt politicians have to go.The crackdown has to end once and for all. We have already decided that "No means No"and no one is going to make us change our mind even if they continue to repress us as they have been doing."

We were with comrade Noelia Silva, a worker in struggle and a member of the Commission against Impunity.

She told us: “I want to thank DemocraciaObrera for spreading these words and being here in this struggle.

I am quite exhausted, but I think that the first conclusion that I draw from this great Chubutazo is that the phrase that says that "only the people save the people" came true.

In these days we have lived through situations of great violence, although we have suffered it for years, but on December 15, with the approval of the Zoning Law, it overcame all the violence that this town has been suffering. The people said enough. They had underestimated us and they were wrong.They did not believe that we were going to have so much strength.

I celebrate this. I celebrate that the youth put the body.

This is something that I’m interested in praising, the attitude of the youth, who were in the front line, those who received the shots... those who threw stones, those who set everything on fire and understood that foronce we had to stop being the target of all violence, that this State is horribly repressive and violates our rights. Then the rage was more than justified.

I praise the rage of the people in action, because we are tired of keeping it to ourselves. So I also understand that, without this first line of comrades, we would not have overturned this law so quickly.

We made history and we have not yet finished evaluating the greatness of the enormous political act that we did.

We show the whole country and all the countries of the world that you don't screw with the people and that if we put our minds to it, we can have power.

Today we have to relax a little, but this continues. Because we cannot trust this democracy of these corrupt who love to grope the people. That is why we are going to go against that plebiscite, that the Popular Initiative is voted, which is our law and the only one that we are going to accept.

Nothing was finished here. We are going to go out with the same rage, because the people already know. They measured us.They wanted to tease us.They wanted to make us pass as ‘500 noisy madmen’ and they met thousands of enraged people who taught what dignity is.

From the Commission Against Impunity we continued working with the complaints of the injured and denouncing this.We were in the hospitals and the police crackdown was savage. It was brutality the way they handled what they call "guaranteeing peace" to the shots.

We have seen that the true terrorist is the State and not those of us who fight.

They wounded many comrades.There are children with dozens of rubber bullet impacts in their torsos and legs. That is why we are preparing a joint complaint in all Human Rights organizations against this state repression.

I would like to hug all of you, but today I have to be with my family. In these struggles we are missing a lot in our homes, but we know that this fight is for our families. Count on me for everything you need."