Unions clash, pension reform approved

At least five state workers were injured yesterday as demonstrators of the dissident CTA union umbrella group clashed with members of the UOCRA construction workers union outside the provincial legislature in Santa Cruz province. The clashes broke out during a demonstration by state workers against a pension reform bill sponsored by the provincial government.
The Santa Cruz branch of the CTA announced a 24-hour strike for today to “condemn the actions of the government, who allowed to the UOCRA gang (to act),” said Pedro Muñoz, secretary-general of the Adosac teachers’ union.
Demonstrations were announced for today across Santa Cruz to condemn the clashes. The five injured workers are members of the teachers’ union, the court clerks’ union and the healthcare workers’ union. All five were allegedly attacked by UOCRA members armed with sticks and stones.
UOCRA activists staged a demonstration yesterday morning in front of the provincial Lower House yesterday morning “to support the bills for the construction of dams on River Santa Cruz,” said UOCRA leader Carlos García.
The Santa Cruz teachers were on a 24-hour strike yesterday and marched with other unions to reject the pension reform bill, which was being debated at the provincial legislature at the time.
Teachers said there was no police at the scene of the protest when they were allegedly attacked. “The zone was cleared (by the police) for the UOCRA gang to act,” the teachers’ union said. 

UOCRA members had being accused of violence in the past. Last September, provincial Deputy Omar Hallar (Radical Party) was attacked by UOCRA activists during a protest. In October, UOCRA members clashed with activists of the farleft Workers’ Party (PO).
Santa Cruz deputies passed a controversial pension reform bill yesterday which increases the required years of contribution for retirement from 20 to 25 in order to receive 82 percent of the minimum salary. Those who do not reach the minimum years of contribution will suffer a discount of one percent per year (workers with 20 years of contribution would receive 77 percent of the minimum salary).
Personal contributions also increase from 12 to 14 percent, while employer contributions increased from 14 to 16 percent (teachers’ contribution are currently at 5.5 percent. Pension payments — currently based on the best salary of the last 10 years — will also be changed and will be based on the average salary over the last five years. The reform also establishes a “solidarity contribution” until the age of 60 for women and 65 for men with different scales — from seven to 12 percent — depending on each pension.

Federal forces bring calm to V. Soldati

Tension began to decrease at the Indo-American Park in the Buenos Aires city neighbourhood of Villa Soldati yesterday as the presence of the Border Guard and the Coast Guard in the perimetre helped to pacify the situation and prevented any new clashes between residents and the squatters who took over the park last Tuesday.
Buenos Aires city Judge Elena Liberatori visited the park yesterday — which is now surrounded by agents of the Border Guard while the Coast Guard patrols the surroundings — and considered “everything is calm.”
Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández released a statement yesterday expressing his vision of the conflict — during which at least three people were killed and several others were wounded or injured — and blamed Buenos Aires city Mayor Mauricio Macri for the incidents.
Liberatori said her presence at the park aimed to generate the necessary “climate” to “arbitrate” and “reach consensus between opposite interests.”
At least three people were killed and several others were injured during the violent clashes that broke out following the occupation of the park last week when police tried to evict squatters from the park.
Squatters received food and medical assistance yesterday while authorities of the federal and city Social Development ministries began to take the census of the people who had taken over the 130-hectare park.

The Judge considered the census is carried out to determine the “vulnerability” situation of the people currently camping at the park and the “living conditions” at the occupation.
City Social Development Minister María Eugenia Vidal said the census aims to determine “who took advantage of the situation” and added several of the squatters are residents from Buenos Aires province. Therefore, Vidal urged Buenos Aires Governor Daniel Scioli to “come to Soldati” to see “what  the situation is.”
“It would be interesting that the Buenos Aires government could participate in the solution (of the conflict),” said Vidal.
Meanwhile, the political row between the national government and the city administration continued yesterday as Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández blamed City Mayor Mauricio Macri for the occupation of the park and the incidents.
Fernández said Macri instigated “the escalation of violence” in the area and aimed to evict the squatters “without caring about the blood, injuries or deaths” it could generate.
In an article posted by the Cabinet Chief at his personal blog, Fernández insisted the administration of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner “does not allow the occupation of any public space” and claimed “the solution to the conflict has to be political,” but he stated Macri “refused to negotiate with the squatters”
The Cabinet Chief insisted the “xenophobic statements” of the City Mayor led to the “violent escalation” of the conflict and claimed the national government “had no choice but to intervene (in the conflict) to avoid an escalation without limits.”
Incidents at the Indo-American park broke out last Tuesday following the decision of the city government to evict the squatters from the park. Two people were killed during the violent clashes that night and another was shot dead on Thursday when squatters and Vi-lla Soldati residents clashed after the police left the area. More incidents broke out on Friday as residents entered the park and tried to evict the squatters, beating them up and burning their tents.
A fourth victim was reported that night by SAME emergency service director Alberto Crescenti, which was later denied by city authorities and the police, alleging the man Crescenti referred to was hospitalized in critical condition.
No further incidents were reported yesterday, although press reports said a minor group of demonstrators — not clear if they were residents or political activists — had clashed with Coast Guard officers outside the park. However, the situation was reportedly calm at press time.

Border Guards deployed

Macri welcomes talks with CFK officials but decries ‘opportunism’

The national government ordered the deployment of Border Guard and Coast Guard troops to secure the surroundings of the Indo-American Park in the Buenos Aires City neighbourhood of Villa Soldati yesterday, following a meeting between city and national officials including Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández and City Mayor Mauricio Macri, after four days of violent clashes over the occupation of the park that killed at least three people since Tuesday. A fourth death was initially reported late on Friday but it was confirmed the youth was hospitalized in critical condition.
The government had initially summoned Macri and city officials to the Government House late on Friday, when a demonstration of local residents to protest against the occupation of the park ended in violent clashes with the squatters during which a fourth death was reported. The meeting began around midnight and extended well into the small hours of the morning when officials decided to take a recess and resume around noon.
In a new day of crossfire, Aníbal Fernández claimed the meeting had  to be halted when Macri “left the room without having reached a formal conclusion.” Representatives of the squatters and human right groups also took part in the negotiations.
Talks were resumed shortly before noon and although no agreement was reached between the parties, Fernández announced in a press conference the national government had ordered the deployment of both the Border and Coast Guards to secure the perimeter of the park and patrol the Villa Soldati neighbourhood in order to “avoid conflicts” between the squatters and the residents.

Representatives of the squatters staged a press conference at Government House earlier, stating they would not leave the park until they receive “decent housing” from the city government.
Afterwards, the Cabinet Chief also talked to the press where he announced the intervention of the Border and Coast Guards. Fernández fiercely criticized Macri, saying he repeatedly told the City Mayor during the meeting that the conflict “will not be resolved via evictions.”
Fernández also blamed the city administration for the incidents, as he considered “from a jurisdictional point of view, the national government has nothing to say on this issue.”
Macri held a press conference after Fernández’ statements where he praised the decision of the national government to deploy the Border Guard and Coast Guards at the Indo-American Park but criticized the words of the Cabinet Chief, which he considered “full of false information and political opportunism.”
“Despite the malice of the government’s rhetoric, I celebrate the fact that we were able to work together to resolve this crisis,” said Macri. The City Mayor insisted “the responsibility of public order in the city belongs to the national government, since they refused to transfer the Federal Police (to the city).”
The Border Guard arrived at the Indo-American Park around 5.10pm yesterday with hundreds of agents in trucks, vans, buses and helicopters flying over the area.
No incidents were reported throughout the afternoon, although left-wing demonstrators who had arrived at the park to support the squatters were denied entry by the police.
Villa Soldati residents also held a demonstration to reject the occupation yesterday, despite Macri’s request to suspend the protest in order to “pacify” the area.
Clashes in Villa Soldati began on Tuesday, when City Hall ordered the eviction of the people who had taken over the park. Squatters clashed with the police and two people were killed that night during the violent incidents — a 22-year-old Paraguayan man and a Bolivian woman of 24. Tension continued all Wednesday, eventually ending in new clashes on Thursday, when, given the zero presence of the police, residents and squatters clashed and another Bolivian citizen (38) was shot dead, with his wife blaming the city’s Metropolitan Police for the killing.
On Friday, tension mounted during the day as national and city authorities discussed who was responsible for security in the area — with Fernández stating the government would not deploy the Federal Police to evict the squatters. While President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announced the creation of the Security Ministry on national broadcast, a demonstration of Villa Soldati residents escalated into a violent eviction of the squatters by the residents, burning down the tents of the people who had taken over the park while beating up and injuring several of them.
SAME emergency service director Alberto Crescenti told the media a 19-year-old youth had been shot in the head when doctors were putting him in an ambulance, but police and city sources denied such information yesterday and claimed the teenager was hospitalized in critical condition.

CGT, UIA: No pact to freeze bill

Deputy Héctor Recalde claims profit-sharing debate will continue

 

The Central Labour Confederation (CGT) union umbrella group and the Argentina Industrial Union (UIA) denied yesterday an alleged pact between the two organizations to suspend discussng the CGT-sponsored profit sharing bill — presented by pro-government Deputy Héctor Recalde — following the death of former president Néstor Kirchner.
Recalde, who is also a lawyer for the CGT, insisted yesterday the initiative will continue its debate in Congress and claimed only the meeting scheduled for tomorrow with members of the UIA was suspended by request of the entity due to Kirchner’s death.
“I though it was sensible (to do it) given the mourning, but that doesn’t (imply) the suspension of the bill’s process (in Congress),” said Recalde.
“It even worked out better for me because I am not in the emotional condition to discuss such important issues while suffering this loss,” added the Lower House lawmaker during a radio interview yesterday in reference to the death of the former president.
The legal adviser for the CGT also considered that the meeting between CGT leader Hugo Moyano and Héctor Méndez, the head of the UIA, after Kirchner’s funeral was “an important step.”

“The rapprochement with some business sectors, such as the meeting with the UIA, were an important step,” said Recalde. “It is good to resume the agenda of major issues that had been interrupted, but in no way that impedes the evolution of situations that had been developing previously,” he added.
Recalde insisted the bill which aims to distribute 10 percent of the company profits between the workers has not been “frozen” and insisted “it will continue its development and evolution, while the CGT also tries to reach an agreement with the business sectors in several other issues.”
“The project continues in the same situation as a week or two weeks ago, it does not alter the institutional life,” said Recalde. “It was impossible to debate the bill in November due to a legislative process, there are many pending issues; but I was not worried in any way about the suspension of the meeting (with the UIA),” he added.
In line with Recalde’s statements, Méndez rejected the
existence of a pact to “freeze” the CGT-sponsored bill, which was strongly criticized by the UIA, and insisted he and Moyano
“did not even talk about the issue” during their encounter at Kirchner’s wake in Government House.
“All I said was that we were in mourning and that it was not appropriate to meet on Tuesday (tomorrow). Due to that situation, people are not in the mood to go and argue about things,” said Méndez.
The UIA leader defined his meeting with Moyano as “an informal talk” during which they “spoke about the possibility of working together to bring security and guarantees in a process where all of us have to collaborate with dialogue.”
“We both agreed we have to sit down at the table together, we will see how things go the next few days but so far we gave a sign, which is important to society, that we can sit down and negotiate,” said Méndez.
On Saturday, Buenos Aires Governor Daniel Scioli also praised the “maturity of the CGT and (local) businessmen” for resuming talks following the death of Kirchner.

CFK returning to work tomorrow

 President also confirms first public activity in Córdoba on Tuesday

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is scheduled resume her official agenda at Government House tomorrow according to official sources, while her presence at a rally in Córdoba province on Tuesday was also confirmed yesterday, which would be her first public activity following the death of her husband, former president Néstor Kirchner.
Media Deputy-Secretary Alfredo Scoccimarro confirmed yesterday Fernández de Kirchner will resume her official activities tomorrow while the Córdoba government announced later yesterday afternoon the President had confirmed her presence at the event.
On Friday, two days after Kirchner’s death, Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo stated “the President will get back to work very soon.”
Also yesterday, Labour Minister Carlos Tomada expressed his support for the idea of Fernández de Kirchner’s re-election bid next year, in line with recent statements byForeign Minister Héctor Timerman.
Fernández de Kirchner spent the night in Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz province, after the remains of her husband were taken to the local cemetery, and travelled to her residency at El Calafate after the coffin was placed in the Kirchner’s family vault yesterday morning.
The President was joined by her children, Máximo and Florencia, at a house in the Barrio Jardín neighbourhood, where her late husband planned to have his legal address changed to.

Fernández de Kirchner had suspended her official agenda for 48 hours last Monday due to an angina before the sudden death of her husband on Wednesday.
Kirchner’s burial was initially scheduled for Friday night, but official sources confirmed his coffin was placed in his family vault yesterday morning as the wake held at the Río Gallegos cemetery extended overnight due to the large number of people that went to the cemetery to pay their last respects to the former president.
The remains of Kirchner, 60, will remain in the crypt, owned by his cousin Carlos Kirchner, until the construction of a new family vault is finished.
On Friday night, Fernández de Kirchner thanked Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and the members of the cabinet who travelled to Santa Cruz for the funeral.

The President headed the official ceremonies following the death of her husband and is scheduled to return to Buenos Aires tomorrow morning to resume her activities.
Yesterday, the pro-government sectors of the Peronist party — which Kirchner headed at the time of his death — confirmed their support for the administration of Fernández de Kirchner and considered the President is “the political boss” and the “best representative figure” of the party, which is formally headed by Buenos Aires Governor Daniel Scioli following Kirchner’s death.
Deputy Agustín Rossi, the head of the ruling party caucus in the Lower House, said “it is clear” that the President “is our boss.” However, asked about the statements of Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman who said Fernández de Kirchner will run for re-election next year, Rossi stated “it is not the time” to evaluate such a decision.
San Juan Governor José Luis Gioja agreed with Rossi as he considered as “inopportune” the statements by Timerman while he did not rule out the possibility of a reunification of the Peronist party as stated by Hugo Moyano, the head of the CGT union umbrella group.
Scioli is scheduled to meet with Peronist mayors and party authorities tomorrow to “honour the commitment of Néstor Kirchner with Buenos Aires province,” according to government sources.
The Buenos Aires Governor also praised the “maturity of the CGT and (local) businessmen,” who resumed talks following the death of Kirchner and confirmed the suspension of the CGT-sponsored profit distribution bill which was introduced by Deputy Héctor Recalde in Congress.
“I praise the maturity of the businessmen and the CGT,” said Scioli. “We have a big challenge ahead of us to continue the path of growth,” he added.

Opposition calls to ‘defend institutions’

Officials confirm support for CFK government but voice criticism

Opposition figures from different parties agreed yesterday on the importance of “defending the institutions” after the death of former president Néstor Kirchner and confirmed their support for President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to stay in office until the elections of 2011 — although they confirmed their criticism toward the government — amid the power struggle which is likely to beunleashed due to the political void left behind by the head of the Peronist Party.
Left-wing Proyecto Sur leader and Lower House Deputy Fernando Pino Solanas called for anti-Kirchnerites to “help the country recover” and said he did not know how the ruling party would “resolve the void” left by the former president.
Since Kirchner’s death from a heart attack on Wednesday, the majority of the opposition kept a low profile and made cautious and respectful statements, avoiding any predictions about the political future of the country following the news of Kirchner’s death. However, many opposition figures began to refer to the probable political situation in the near future yesterday.
Radical Deputy Ricardo Alfonsín stated he does not believe “any major changes will be seen in the ruling party or the opposition” and also expressed his doubts about a possible reunification of the Peronist party — currently divided between pro-government and dissident factions — as suggested by CGT union umbrella group leader Hugo Moyano, a close ally to the late former president.
“We are not willing to generate conditions to achieve that rapprochement,” said Alfonsín, one of the two possible presidential candidates of the Radical Party along with Vice-President Julio Cobos. The son of the late former president Raúl Alfonsín also stated his party “will continue with the same (political) position as always” and insisted the Radical Party “does not change its opinions and considerations” about the national government.
However, Radical Party chairman Ernesto Sanz had a more conciliatory stance and said he hoped “the country can modify its confrontation agenda.”
On Thursday, a delegation of the Civic Coalition visited Government House to express their condolences to the President and her family, although coalition leader Elisa Carrió did not attend, neither did she make any public statement of condolences for the Kirchner family.
Civic Coalition Deputy Adrián Pérez tried to defend the attitude of the lawmaker yesterday and considered “absolutely hypocritical and harmful” the gesture by several opposition leaders who had voiced strong criticism against Kirchner and changed their attitude after his death.
Although Pérez did not made any particular reference, his statements seemed directed at Cobos, who had been at odds with the government since the farm sector protests in 2008 but referred to Kirchner as “a great president” after his death.
“That’s absolutely hypocritical and harmful, you can’t be a critic and all of a sudden praise (the government)” said Pérez. “There have been officials who had that attitude and I find it absolutely wrong, almost speculative,” he added.
Meanwhile, Solanas insisted on the importance of “defending the institutions” and expressed his concern on “how to resolve the void left by a man who covered so many fronts,” although he stated he was “not underestimating or denying the capacity of the President.”
However, Solanas also criticized the government for “the way they have handled the Congress and how they have distorted the institutional life of the country,” which he considered “unacceptable.”
“We cannot continue on this road,” said the filmmaker. “Congress had worked to 30 or 40 percent of its capacity,” he added.

Scioli confirms support for President

Moyano: ‘Cristina is the boss’

Buenos Aires Governor Daniel Scioli and Hugo Moyano, the head of the CGT union umbrella group, yesterday both expressed their support for President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner following the sudden death of her husband former president Néstor Kirchner on Wednesday.
Scioli, who was vice-president during Kirchner’s term in office (2003-2007), arrived at the Government House early yesterday and was part of the motorcade that took the former president’s remains to the Metropolitan Airport.
“I will be wherever Cristina needs me,” Scioli said when entering the Government House yesterday morning. “That was always Néstor’s request, to administrate with her,” added the Buenos Aires governor.
Moyano — who had already confirmed the support of the CGT for the government of Fernández de Kirchner that same Wednesday — said yesterday that “Cristina is the boss.”
Moyano considered the “massive turnout” to Kirchner’s wake at the Government House proved “the absolute and total support of the people” for her administration.
Kirchner was chairman of the ruling Peronist party. Scioli, who was the party’s vice-president, is technically in charge. But Government House sources said that “Cristina will be the party leader.”

Weeks before Kirchner’s death speculation was rife that Scioli, who was outperforming the Kirchners in public opinion polls, would make a bid to clinch the Peronist party’s presidential nomination next year with or without Kirchner’s blessing.
Also yesterday, the head of Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, Hebe de Bonafini, stated the human rights organization was “proud of being Kirchnerite” and supported the alliance between the government and the CGT.
Meanwhile, the CGT leader also hinted at the possibility of a reunification of the Peronist party — currently divided between a pro-government and a dissident faction. Peronism, Moyano said, is “like a big family” despite the differing views of many of its officials.
“I think it is possible,” said Moyan when asked by journalists about the possibility of a reunification of the Peronist party. Moyano claimed “there have always been some differences” within the party “because it is such a large movement.”

“The only person who could hold together the Peronist movement was (former president Juan Domingo) Perón,” said Moyano. “After him, it has been very difficult,” added Moyano. On Wednesday, after the former president’s death, unconfirmed reports surfaced that Moyano and Kirchner had argued on the phone about the situation in the Buenos Aires branch of the party. Moyano, with Kirchner’s backing, was recently named head of the Buenos Aires province after Buenos Aires province Liuetenant Governor Alberto Balestrini suffered a stroke. But a group of eight Peronist mayors from Greater Buenos Aires, including Tigre Mayor Sergio Massa, are not ready to accept Moyano as leader of the provincial branch.
CFK administration officials meanwhile also tried to put in context Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman’s statements to CNN on Thursday that he expected the President to seek re-election. “Now is not the time for candidacies,” the sources said.

Favale turns himself in to Police

 Two days after arrest warrant issued for alleged murder of Ferreyra

Cristian Favale, the main suspect in the murder of Mariano Ferreyra, an activist of the Workers’ Party (PO) shot dead during a demonstration on Wednesday, turned himself in yesterday after being fugitive for two days following the international arrest warrant issued against him and two other members of the Unión Ferroviaria railworkers’ union — one of them, shop steward Pablo Díaz, was arrested on Saturday.
Photos of Favale — an alleged member of the Defensa y Justicia second-division soccer club hooligan gang who was pointed by witnesses as one of the people who shot Ferreyra during the protest — posing with government officials and other pro-government figures had been found on his Facebook profile, but he denied any ties to the ruling party and stated he took the photographs because he is a “star-chaser.” The photos showed Favale with Economy Minister Amado Boudou, Education Minister Alberto Sileoni and journalist Sandra Russo. Favale, 37, stated he was innocent and claimed he could identify the shooter, who he claimed “had a tattoo of a clown in his right arm.”
Press reports yesterday quoted sources from the railworkers sector who said a man of similar features works as train guard at the Constitución station of the Roca railway line and linked him to the “Guardia Imperial” hooligan gang of Racing Club.

After turning himself in at the Penitentiary Service Unit No. 28 in the Buenos Aires city neighbourhood of Congreso, Favale was transferred to the Internal Affairs Division of the Federal Police. Favale’s lawyer Sergio D’Amico said his client “is willing to testify” in the case.
Roca railway line shop steward Pablo Díaz has also been arrested in the case, while another unionist remains fugitive.
Ferreyra, 23, was shot dead during a demonstration in support of outsourced workers from the Roca railway line. The left-wing activists were ambushed by a group of alleged railworkers’ union activists, killing Ferreyra and wounding three others. Elsa Rodríguez, one of the people wounded, remains hospitalized in critical condition after being shot in the head.
Several opposition figures had denounced ties between the government and the leadership of the Unión Ferroviaria union and voiced strong criticism against the ruling party for the incidents.
PRO Deputy Gabriela Michetti said the government “aims to keep away (from the incident) rather than resolving” the case, while former Health minister Graciela Ocaña warned that if President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner wants to find the “ideological authors” of the murder should “look around and behind her.”
Also, Radical Party chairman Ernesto Sanz warned that the photographs found in Favale’s facebook profile proved the government “recruits violent people” who “receives money from the state.”
President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner herself downplayed the importance of the photos and defended Boudou and Sileoni via her Twitter account, where she expressed the photographs were “casual pictures” taken “at a public event” and did not prove any link between the government officials and the suspect.
Senator Miguel Ángel Pichetto, head of the ruling party caucus in the Upper House, also considered officials “many times take photographs with people they don’t even know” and claimed “that doesn’t mean absolutely anything.”
Pichetto said the opposition “intends to link the government to the situation” but insisted “there is no relation” between the government and Favale.

Railway union strikes over Díaz’s arrest

President condemns action measure

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner condemned the 12-hour strike which was held yesterday by Roca railway line workers to protest unionist Pablo Díaz’ arrest on Saturday. Díaz is suspected of being connected with the murder of Mariano Ferreyra — a Workers’ Party (PO) activist shot dead during a protest last week.
Fernández de Kirchner considered the measure to be “shameful” and urged “not to pressure the judiciary.”
“Strike at the Roca (railway line). A shame of the same dimension as those who refused to collaborate with the judiciary before being rehired,” posted the President on her Twitter account in reference to the alleged attitude of outsourced workers who demanded to be rehired in exchange to testify before the judge. “Let the judiciary work without pressures or extortions,” added the President.
The strike was announced by the Unión Ferroviaria railworkers’ union to protest Díaz’ arrest. He is accused of heading the group — allegedly formed by Unión Ferroviaria members — which ambushed and opened fired against the outsourced workers and left-wing demonstrators during Wednesday’s protest, killing Ferreyra and wounding two others, one of them a woman who remains in a critical condition in hospital.
The measure was lifted following the mandatory conciliation ruled by Labour Deputy-Minister Noemí Rial at midday yesterday.
Díaz is believed to have ties to  José Pedraza, the leader of the railway workers’ union, and was described by several press reports as the right hand man of Unión Ferroviaria Administration Secretary Carlos “El Gallego” Fernández.
The Workers’ Party released a statement yesterday condemning the strike at the Roca railway line, which they considered to be “a lock-out of the Unión Ferroviaria gang to cover up a crime.”
The PO accused the union of “managing labour relations at the railway line in representation of the government and the private companies, while they also own several of the outsourced companies.”
The party headed by left-wing leader Jorge Altamira claimed the strike “demands the release of the leader of the gangs from the union bureaucracy who has been arrested following a judiciary order — Pablo Díaz — and prevent the arrests of Juan Carlos ‘Gallego’ Fernández and José Pedraza.”
“The lock-out is also an extortion for the government to stop the judiciary’s investigation,” read the statement signed by Altamira and PO officials Néstor Pitrola and Marcelo Ramal, who demanded “trial, punishment and jail for the political masterminds and attackers of the murder of Mariano Ferreyra and the attempted murder against Elsa Rodríguez, Nelson Aguirre and Ariel Pintos” — the three other activists wounded in Wednesday’s incidents.
The Workers’ Party also demanded “the immediate reinstatement of sacked workers and permanent hiring of outsourced workers.”

Unionist arrested for Ferreyra’s murder

International warrant issued for main suspect, also railway union worker

Pablo Díaz, a shop steward of the Roca train line, was arrested last night in connection with the murder of Mariano Ferreyra, the 23-year-old activist of the Workers’ Party (PO), who was shot dead on Wednesday in the Buenos Aires City neighbourhood of Barracas following a demonstration at the Avellaneda railway station.
Court sources said Díaz was arrested in the Greater Buenos Aires locality of Adrogué. The sources said Díaz — who has ties to the leader of the railway workers union José Pedraza — is suspected of having headed the group that ambushed and shot the activists after the protest.
Sources said more arrests could be made in the next hours. Judge Susana López had ordered the arrest of three suspects, all of them members of the Unión Ferroviaria railworkers union, on Friday night.
The judge also issued an international arrest warrant for the main suspect, who was identified yesterday as Cristián Favale, an alleged hooligan gang member of the the second division soccer club Defensa y Justicia.
According to sources close to the investigation, Favale was pointed at by the witnesses who testified before the prosecutor that he was one of the people who shot Ferreyra during Wednesday’s protest. Sources said Favale was linked to the Unión Ferroviaria railway workers’ union after a series of raids conducted by the Border Guard at two houses in the Greater Buenos Aires district of Florencio Varela.

Photos of Favale posing with Economy Minister Amado Boudou and other pro-government figures such as Education Minister Alberto Sileoni and journalist Sandra Russo were found yesterday on the suspect’s page in the Facebook social network.
Judge López, in charge of the investigation, also ordered a 10-day period of court secrecy as requested by prosecutor Cristina Caamaño.
Meanwhile, Nelson Aguirre, one of the activists wounded during the incidents, confirmed yesterday he was unable to identify his aggressors in a series of images shown to him by the Judge late on Friday.
Ferreyra was shot dead during a demonstration of left-wing organizations in support of outsourced workers from the Roca railway line when they were confronted by a group of alleged railworkers’ union activists who ambushed them in the Buenos Aires city neighbourhood of Barracas. Two other people were wounded in the incident, including a woman who remains in hospital in critical condition.
Yesterday, Aguirre also criticized the work of the Federal Police during the incidents, as he claimed during a radio interview there were patrol cars and police trucks that “could have prevented the ambush.”
Also yesterday, dissident Peronist officials criticized the ruling party for accusing former president Eduardo Duhalde of being implicated in Ferreyra’s murder.
Several pro-government organizations linked Duhalde to the attack and compared the murder to the deaths of picket activists Maximiliano Kosteki and Darío Santillán in 2002, when Duhalde was in office.
Senator Hilda “Chiche” González de Duhalde, the wife of the former president, considered such comments as “miserable” and accused the pro-government sectors of “trying to take advantage of the death of a youngster.”
Dissident unionist Luis Barrionuevo, also a close ally of Duhalde, agreed with the latter’s wife and considered as “stupid” the statements linking the dissident Peronist leader to Ferreyra’s death.

Cabinet chief calls Cobos ‘immoral’

Aníbal Fernández tweets: Vice-President ‘clearly disloyal’ toward the government

The government continued its attacks against Vice-President Julio Cobos for his positive vote to the opposition-sponsored pension bill passed on Thursday, which established pensions at 82 percent of the minimum salary and was vetoed by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner who considered it “a bankruptcy law” for the state and called Cobos “a squatter” in his post.
Following criticism from several government officials during Thursday and Friday, Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández continued the criticism against the Vice-President yesterday via his Twitter account, where he questioned Cobos’ “clear disloyalty” toward the government and considered his attitude is “immoral.”
“What Cobos has been doing is immoral. Is not worthy of the post. A clear disloyalty. He embarrasses the institutions,” Fernández posted on his Twitter account yesterday.
“Insisting on something in particular, given his deeply-rooted misbehaviour, is trying to plough in the desert. But a petty quota of shame would be enough to understand him,” added the Cabinet chief.
In the early hours of Thursday, Cobos broke the tie of the pension bill vote in favour of the opposition. As several government officials had announced before the voting, President Fernández de Kirchner vetoed the law that same afternoon and accused the opposition of aiming to force the government into bankruptcy.
Cobos gave the closing speech at the IDEA business colloquium in Mar del Plata city on Friday — attended by several members of the opposition including Radical Party chairman Ernesto Sanz, Santa Fe Socialist Governor Hermes Binner and dissident Peronist Deputy Francisco de Narváez — where he defended his decision to vote in favour of the bill.

“We lost the opportunity to implement a great state policy for the pension system,” said Cobos, who had voted in opposition once before during the controversial government-sponsored export duties bill in 2007 and has detached himself from the government ever since.
Cobos considered Fernández de Kirchner “made a mistake” by deciding to veto the law and said he “would have preferred a law with more consensus and more votes.”
“I took my oath to be loyal to the Constitution,” said Cobos in reference to the accusations of “treason” made against him by the government. “And it establishes two articles to define a treason: to rise in arms against the nation or to delegate all the concentration of power in one of the branches of power,” he added.
However, Fernández contradicted Cobos’ explanation and said he should represent the government in the Upper House.
“I know that Cobos, the VP who betrays, is an engineer and not a lawyer, but he could as well get some advice on how not to speak  nonsense,” commented Fernández, who quoted Article 57 of the Constitution, saying “the Vice-President will be president of the Senate, he will not have a vote except in the case of a tie,” and added “he doesn’t have a voice either.”
“The VP is (a part of the) Executive branch (of power) and his salary is paid by the Treasury. Learn it, you don’t represent the Senate,” the Cabinet Chief posted on his twitter site in reference to Cobos’ statements saying “the Vice-President is responsible for other branches of power and eventually replaces the President in case of absence.”
Former Cabinet Chief Alberto Fernández also criticized the Vice-President as he considered that “this thing of voting against the government creates a very conflictive situation.”
“It’s very difficult to understand Cobos’ stance because he is there to break the tie in favour of the government, given that it is a presidential system,” said the former government official, who claimed he has “affection” and “respect” for the Vice-President.
Radical Deputy Silvana Giúdici defended Cobos on her Twitter site: “Aníbal Fernández attacks Cobos because he does what corresponds. Cobos’ vote expresses the (will of the) people, he is loyal to his principles, NOT the government!”

Santa Cruz: gov’t seeks ‘political solution’

Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández claims ‘there is no other way out’

Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández called yesterday for “a political solution” to the conflict in Santa Cruz province over the Supreme Court ruling demanding the restitution of prosecutor Eduardo Sosa, fired by former president Néstor Kirchner in 1995 during his stint as governor. Meanwhile, Radical Deputy Ricardo Gil Lavedra condemned the graffiti sprayed by pro-government activists in the province against the Radical Party leaders last week, which he considered as “an overreaction of the ruling party leadership.”
Aníbal Fernández said Supreme Court Judge Eugenio Zaffaroni had stated in an interview earlier last week that “the only solution (to the conflict) is political” and agreed with the Court official
“If a Justice of the (Supreme) Court, who is part of the issue, says that, it is because the situation is complex,” said Fernández during a radio interview yesterday. “The only way out is political, there is no other solution,” added the Cabinet Chief, who backed Governor Daniel Peralta.
“A political way out is what the Governor suggested to the legislature,” said Fernández. “The prosecutor post is split in two, so the one that is currently on the post doesn’t have to leave and the new post created will solve the problem of Sosa, who had complained about his sidelining,” he added.

Fernández insisted “that is what Peralta suggested and the legislature will have to make a decision.”
“This situation of public provincial right never reaches the Court,” said Fernández. “It reached the old Court with automatic majority because the goal was to pressure the provincial government for other reasons,” added the Cabinet Chief in reference to the complaint filed by Sosa after being sacked in 1995.
Fernández claimed the issue reached the Supreme Court back then due to the fact that Kirchner’s administration, which ruled the sidelining of Sosa, “did not obey the orders of the national government” of former president Carlos Saúl Menem.
The Supreme Court has ordered the reinstatement of Sosa in his post, but the provincial administration has refused to obey the ruling claiming they cannot sack the current prosecutor — a position that has been publicly supported by the national government.
The Radical Party presented a bill requesting the federal intervention of Santa Cruz to restore Sosa in his post, and were accused by pro-government activists of being “coup mongers.”
Gil Lavedra said “an absolute tall story has been set up” in the province “saying we are trying to sack local authorities,” and insisted the Radical bill does not contemplate the replacement of the province Governor or Lieutenant Governor.
The Radical Deputy said the bill contemplates “an intervention with no sidelining” and aims to obey the Supreme Court ruling: “Remove the current prosecutor (Claudio Espinosa) and restore Sosa.”
“Under no circumstance the other branches of power in the province will suffer any interference in their functions,” said Gil Lavedra.

Kirchner discharged from hospital

 After undergoing surgery late Saturday night

By Pablo Krause
Herald staff

Former president Néstor Kirchner was discharged from hospital yesterday after recovering from an angioplasty on a coronary artery performed on him after being hospitalized late on Saturday at a private clinic in the Buenos Aires city neighbourhood of Palermo.
Kirchner, 60, left the Sanatorio de los Arcos clinic at 8.20pm yesterday in company of his wife, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, in an automobile that took him to the presidential residence of Olivos, in Greater Buenos Aires.
A stent was placed in an obstructed coronary artery during the operation, which was done with local anesthesia, Presidential Secretary Oscar Parrilli said.
In brief statements to the press standing outside the clinic, Kirchner said he felt “perfect” and thanked government officials, political leaders and party activists for their support.
The President’s husband was admitted to the Palermo clinic, where he arrived from the Clínica Olivos, a private clinic nearby the presidential residence which he allegedly attended on Saturday afternoon for a “routine checkup,” according to his spokesmen.

The current Deputy and head of the UNASUR Union of South American Nations has a history of heart disease and felt numbness in his legs during an alleged routine checkup, which led to doctors advising an immediate angioplasty, for which he was transferred to the Palermo clinic.
Kirchner went to the same clinic for emergency surgery last February to remove a plaque from his right carotid artery after having trouble moving his arm.
According to press reports quoting sources close to the former president, Kirchner was taken to the Olivos clinic after feeling “a pain on his chest” during the afternoon.
Carotid artery disease involves the narrowing of the main arteries that carry blood from the heart to the brain. These arteries can thicken with fatty substances and deposits of cholesterol known as plaque, slowing the flow of oxygenated blood to the brain and increasing the risk of a stroke.
In a joint statement released yesterday afternoon, presidential Doctor Luis Buonomo and physician Marcelo Ballesteros of the Los Arcos clinic said Kirchner was having a “favourable recovery” after the angioplasty and added “evaluation studies were carried out and results were in the range of normal values.”
Around 8pm yesterday, Media Under-Secretary Alfredo Scocchimarro confirmed the “institutional discharge” of the former president, who left the clinic minutes afterwards.
President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner spent the night at the clinic by the side of her husband and only left the institution for a few hours yesterday at noon.
Kirchner was visited by Parrilli, Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández, Planning Minister Julio De Vido, Economy Minister Amado Boudou, former Senator José Antonio Romero Feris and boxer Jorge “Roña” Castro.
After spending more than an hour at the clinic, the Cabinet Chief said he found Kirchner “in a good mood and looking all right.”
Meanwhile, pro-government activists from La Cámpora, Martín Fierro and Juventud Peronista organizations stood outside the clinic for several hours to express their support to the former president.
 

Cobos-Alfonsín: Party unity first

Radical presidential frontrunners agree non-aggression pact

By Pablo Krause
Herald staff

Vice-President Julio Cobos and Radical Deputy Ricardo Alfonsín — the two top contenders in the Radical Party for the presidential nomination next year — met in Tucumán province yesterday and agreed to stay united through the campaign, in a tacit non-aggression pact between the two.
“Nothing should jeopardize the unity of the party or the (electoral) front,” said Alfonsín after the meeting staged at the house of Radical Senator José Cano in San Miguel de Tucumán.
The two Radical leaders agreed on “sending out signals of unity” and pledged to support the candidates for mayor or governor of either faction who perform best in polls.
Cano — who aims to run for Tucumán governor and hosted yesterday’s talks — became the first candidate to have the support of both Alfonsín and Cobos for his candidacy.
In a press conference held after the meeting with Cano, both Alfonsín and Cobos said they had not discussed the issue of presidential candidacies. “The next step now is to construct a government programme to present to society,” said Alfonsín.
 

Cobos also said technical advisers of both candidates will meet with the National Committee and  Radical Convention authorities on September 20 and 24 to start working on developing the party’s government platform for the 2011 elections.
According to press reports, the meeting with the National Committee was scheduled by Radical Party chairman Ernesto Sanz and would also include the head of the Radical caucuses in the Lower House and the Senate, Deputy Oscar Aguad and former party chairman Senator Gerardo Morales.
Both leaders agreed the electoral platform should be defined before the end of the year.
Alfonsín insisted the presidential candidacies “could be decided by consensus,” while Cobos said “the citizens will express themselves in the primaries of August (2011).”
Although the Vice-President insisted the current electoral law establishes “a process of open primaries,” he admitted “that does not rule out the possibility of reaching an agreement” on the candidacies, which has been demanded by other sectors in order to avoid confrontation between the two.
In that sense, Deputy Margarita Stolbizer — head of the GEN Party — said yesterday: “I think it’s excellent that Cobos and Alfonsín meet here in Tucumán, because is something that we have been requesting.”
“Without meddling in the Radical primaries, we think it is very positive for them to meet as a sign of unity,” said Stolbizer.
Meanwhile, both contenders praised “the current favourable international conditions for the country” and agreed on “the need to grant a frame of predictability for international investments.”
Cobos also said that after the meeting, “the stage of reaching agreements with our GEN and the Socialist Party allies to move forward on the construction of a progressive front will come.”
In that sense, Alfonsín urged Civic Coalition leader Elisa Carrió to “reconsider her decision” of breaking ties with the Social and Civic Accord as “nothing has happened to justify that decision.”
The son of late former president Rául Alfonsín also downplayed the rumours of a rally to launch his presidential candidacy at the indoor Luna Park stadium on October 30.
“That’s just a proposal which was made by some friends, which we are currently evaluating, but the important thing is to make progress on the (government) programme,” said Alfonsín.
Cobos and Alfonsín were invited to Tucumán by the Moisés Lebensohn Institute — a Radical branch close to the Vice-President — to participate in a conference at the National University of Tucumán and there was wide speculation about a meeting between the two.
According to press reports, the talks were not confirmed until Cobos called Alfonsín from Catamarca province on Friday, asking him to meet.

Nightclub VIP lounge collapses

Two young women killed, city officials say building permits in order

By Pablo Krause
Herald staff

The mezzanine of a night club in the Buenos Aires city neighbourhood of Palermo collapsed yesterday killing two women and injuring 24 people, who were reportedly out of danger.
The accident occurred minutes before 4am yesterday at the VIP room of the Beara nightclub, on Scalabrini Ortiz avenue.
The two women killed were identified as Adriana Lizarraga, 20, and Leticia Provedo, 21, Fernández Hospital sources said.
Sergio Aranda, one of the members of tropical group Ráfaga which had just finished their gig at the night club, said: “We heard an awful noise and the ordeal began. There were people crying everywhere,” said Aranda, who added a private party was being held for around 300 people.
At least 20 people — all of them between 18 and 29 years of age — were transferred to different city hospitals while another five youngsters went to private clinics, according to SAME Emergency Service head Alberto Crescenti.

 The nightclub had permits and the number of people inside the club did not exceed the amount of people allowed by the law, the city government said.
City Cabinet Chief Horacio Rodríguez Larreta said several inspections were conducted during the last year without registering any irregularities.
“An in-depth investigation will have to be carried out to establish what went wrong,” Rodríguez Larreta said.
The accident happened only a month after the collapse of a gym in the neighbourhood of Villa Urquiza which killed three people and injured 11 on August 9.
Relatives and friends of the victims of the gym cave-in demonstrated on Thursday to mark the first month since the accident and demand justice.
Buenos Aires City Mayor Mauricio Macri, who is currently in Rome, expressed his “condolences to the families of the victims” via Twitter and praised the work of the emergency services during the accident.
“I want to express my condolences to the families of the two girls killed today in the collapse,” Macri posted on his Twitter account.
“Also I would like to thank the doctors, firefighters and policemen who did a great job during the emergency,” the centre-right mayor wrote.
In an official statement released yesterday, the city government said Macri “brought forward his return to Buenos Aires ahead of the tragedy that occurred at the Beara club and ended his tour through Spain, France and Italy after the meeting he shared with Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno.”
Although Macri had no activities scheduled after the meeting with Alemanno, government sources explained “his return was scheduled for Monday but was brought forward for Sunday.”
Several opposition figures criticized the city government and Macri after the collapse.
Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández said Macri’s administration “will have to give explanations” about the inspections carried out at the nightclub, while Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman posted several messages on his Twitter account directed to the city Mayor.
“Macri is taking a walk in Paris speaks about solving ‘the isolation of the country,’ he’d better  prevent the city from collapsing or the schools from falling down,” Timerman posted via Twitter.
Judge Alicia Iermini asked the city government to report on the inspections carried out at Beara, as well as the official plans and other documentation.
The judge also questioned the employees who were present at the time of the collapse and was waiting for survivors to be discharged from the hospital to summon them.
Rodríguez Larreta attributed the tragedy to the “misuse of the mezzanine” at the nightclub as he claimed “the authorization was granted correctly and several controls were carried out” and “no irregularities were found.”
In a press conference staged yesterday, the head of the Government Control Agency Javier Ibáñez said “several people moved to the mezzanine and started jumping,” while Macri’s Chief-of-staff Marcos Peña claimed “what happened was clearly a misuse” of the facilities.
An official statement said the nightclub had been controlled nine times this year, the last inspection was carried out on September 5.
The manager and one of the owners of the nightclub were in custody yesterday, while the owner’s lawyer linked the tragedy to “a failure in the construction materials.” Beara was authorized since August 29, 2009, as restaurant, coffee-bar and house for private parties and had a maximum capacity of 491 people, government sources said. 

Erdogan cancellation sparks controversy

No one takes blame

By Pablo Krause
Herald Staff

The cancellation of the visit by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was scheduled to arrive in Buenos Aires yesterday but suspended his trip late on Saturday, led to the governments of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Buenos Aires City Mayor Mauricio Macri swapping the blame.
The CFK administration released a statement late on Saturday citing the cancellation of a ceremony scheduled for this morning to place a bust in honour of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (the founder of the modern Turkish Republic) as the reason for Erdogan’s decision and blaming the Macri administration for the incident. However, City Hall rejected the accusations and claimed that no such ceremony was scheduled.
Yesterday, the city Foreign Affairs Department released an official statement expressing its regret over the suspension of Erdogan’s visit but insisting that the alleged ceremony was never on City Hall’s schedule.
“In reference to the statements of the Foreign Ministry, we insist the alleged ceremony as well as the placing of a bust of former Premier Atatürk was never authorized or communicated to that Ministry or the Turkish Embassy and it would have required a law approved by the local legislature in order to carry it out,” read the statement.
Asked by the Herald about the incident, PRO Foreign Affairs Secretary Diego Guelar said: “The Turkish Embassy requested permission from the Public Space Ministry to erect a monument to Atatürk about six months ago, allegedly in replacement of an existing bust, but the ministry confirmed there was no previous bust so the request did not progress.”
Guelar claimed: “There was never any ceremony scheduled neither was there an existing Atatürk bust to replace” and insisted such a bill would have needed the approval of the Mayor and the city legislature.
“There was no such ceremony on the schedule of Mauricio (Macri) for Monday,” Guelar told the Herald.
“We don’t know why the tribute was in the Ambassador’s agenda because it would have required a resolution signed by Macri, which he didn’t,” added the Foreign Affairs Secretary of PRO.
Guelar claimed City Hall became aware of the ceremony on Friday when the Armenian community requested an interview with Environment and Public Space Minister Diego Santilli to protest against the display of the Turkish founder’s bust, which was due to be unveiled in a park at the intersection of Figueroa Alcorta and Sarmiento avenues.
The Armenian community published a paid ad in a local newspaper on Saturday, repudiating Erdogan’s visit and making reference to the inauguration of Atatürk’s statue. Later on Saturday, the Foreign Ministry confirmed the Turkish Prime Minister had cancelled his visit and said Erdogan took offence at “a decision by Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri to cancel a scheduled tribute in which he was to take part.”
Foreign Ministry sources consulted by the Herald yesterday denied the City Hall statements and insisted the ceremony was part of Erdogan’s agenda for his visit.
Sources claimed Erdogan himself told Taiana in Brazil the suspension of the ceremony was the reason of his cancellation.
In statements to local media, Turkish Ambassador to Buenos Aires Hayri Hayret Yalav said the procedures for the monument “started in November, 2009 and there was no problem until yesterday (for Saturday) when Santilli informed me in a letter that the monument would not be placed.”
News agency Reuters reported Turkey’s Foreign Ministry confirmed in a statement the two-day visit scheduled had been cancelled and blamed the move on Armenian lobbyists.
“The trip was cancelled because written permission for the monument given to Turkey beforehand by the Buenos Aires district was reversed as a result of initiatives by the Armenian lobby, which is opposed to Turkey,” said the statement, adding Turkey hoped Argentina would take steps to remove the shadow cast on Turco-Argentine relations.
According to Reuters, President Fernández de Kirchner spoke with Erdogan to explain she could not overrule the decision, yet he found this unacceptable and decided not to go, the statement added.
The Herald was unable to reach Turkish Embassy sources yesterday but a brief statement was released informing the cancellation of a forum at a downtown hotel where Erdogan was scheduled to participate, quoting “last-minute changes in the Prime Minister’s agenda.”
Despite the official explanations and the exchange of accusations between the city and national governments, several rumours spread about the reasons behind Erdogan’s cancellation.
City Hall sources which requested not to be named said the incident “could have been a misunderstanding on the part of the Turkish Embassy, which might have assumed the ceremony was already scheduled, despite having received no confirmation from the city government.”
On the other hand, a source from the Foreign Ministry consulted by the Herald, who also requested that their name not be published, said there was “a verbal agreement” between Macri and the Turkish Embassy for the ceremony but the city administration decided to cancel it following the protests of the Armenian community.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the first Turkish President and founder of the Republic of Turkey, is highly revered by Turks, but Armenians cite him as one of the main culprits for the mass killing of Armenians in 1915, known as “the Armenian Genocide.”
All officials consulted agreed the cancellation was a serious incident and an offence to the Turkish Prime Minister, comparing the situation to a last-minute suspension of a monument to national independence hero José de San Martín or a memorial of the Malvinas War during the visit of an Argentine president to a foreign country.
Some observers had even cited a possible link between the cancellation of Erdogan’s visit and the nuclear fuel agreement signed by Iran — which Brazil and Turkey have supported despite the protests from the United States and on which Argentina has not yet taken a position. However, all sources consulted by the Herald denied such possibility both on and off the record.

Link: http://www.buenosairesherald.com/BreakingNews/View/35044

The last action hero

Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine and his affair with Argentine fans

By Pablo Krause
Herald staff

In their long-running affair with the Argentine audience, Megadeth have visited here no less than six times, played at least 12 shows — excluding several acoustic sets in different locations from malls to radio stations and even the San Martín square in downtown Buenos Aires!
In addition, Megadeth recorded a live concert on DVD (That One Night In Buenos Aires) and even dedicated a song to their Argentine fans on their 1999 album Risk (I’ll Be There For You), played live only during the That One Night concert in 2005. In spite of all of the above, Megadeth’s performance at the Luna Park stadium last week (their 13th concert in Buenos Aires) was not just another tour date.
With bass player Dave Ellefson (from the original lineup) back onboard after an eight-year fallout with band leader Dave Mustaine (singer, guitarist, songwriter and, in other words, Megadeth himself), the band continued the South American leg of their Rust In Peace 20th anniversary. It meant the band would play the whole nine songs from their 1990 masterpiece — arguably one of the best metal albums of all time — in the very same order as the original record.
With only one date (not enough for for a band that played two soldout gigs at the same venue two years ago) tickets vanished in less than a week. It was Wednesday night, the venue was packed, and nearly a hundred people hang outside the stadium, begging for a resale.
But only a few thousand Megadeth fans were able to witness what was going to be, without a doubt, a memorable concert. Let’s face it, things had to go really wrong to ruin a concert that would include the entire Rust in Peace tracklist.
Even though they had to do without the classic lineup (drummer Nick Menza, and guitar player Marty Friedman), Shawn Drover and Chris Broderick proved be solid replacements on the band’s previous visits.
The scenography at the Luna Park was exactly the same as in the original tour, and it only took Mustaine three songs into the show to announce what everyone in the venue was expecting.
“We know we’re all here for one reason,” the red-haired guitarist said, holding the signature model of his Dean guitar with the album cover on it before the first chords from the memorable riff from Holy Wars: The Punishment Due.
It didn’t really matter that the song has been a staple in every Megadeth concert for the last two decades, usually saved for the show’s end. This time it was the real deal: it marked the beginning of a concert most fans would not even dare dream about only a year ago or less.
Right after this impressive kickoff, the speed metal symphony called Hangar 18 created a special bond between Megadeth and their Argentine fans, with the crowd actually roaring “ME-GA-DETH!” to the double-bass rhythm, almost like hooligans during a soccer match.
Halfway through the song, a teenage boy climbed onstage and hugged Mustaine before jumping back into the crowd. It was too late for security guards were to get hold of him.
The whole stadium gave the kid a big round of applause for his daredevil act, but Mustaine has stated that, since the murder of Pantera guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott (shot dead on stage during a concert in Ohio in 2004) he has become very wary of security, barely leaving hotels while on tour. This may probably explain why the band took nearly ten minutes to come back on stage after the song. Organizers argued technical problems, but it is not hard to imagine Mustaine screaming at the security guy who failed to see the kid coming.
It took the band a couple of songs to get back on track, to the concert’s mood at the beginning. Not even the ferocious Take No Prisoners or the rarely-played Five Magics were able to restore the mood. The crowd seemed to have cooled off.
It was only when Dave Ellefson — alone onstage under the spotlight — played the first lines of Poison Was the Cure that the audience seemed to have swung back to the warm atmosphere palpable at the beginning. Also, the minute-and-a-half intro before the song kicks in with one of Megadeth’s sharpest riffs was the fans’ opportunity to welcome back the legendary bass player after an eight-year absence.
After the complex structure of Lucretia, the long-time classic Tornado of Souls drove the crowd on the verge of insanity, so much so that Ellefson had to repeat his solo sequence. This time it was the instrumental version of Dawn Patrol, which only increased the fans’ hunger in anticipation of the memorable Rust In Peace: Polaris. It is hard to understand why the song was dropped from the band’s setlist over the years).
It was little more than an hour into the concert, but the mission had already been accomplished. Mustaine could have gone ahead and call it a night with his trademark “You’ve been great, we’ve been Megadeth” line right there and hardly anyone would have complained, no matter how much money they had to dish out.
The decision to place the Rust in Peace segment on top of the setlist eventually boosted the raw power of the songs from their new record, such as the energetic Head Crusher or The Right to Go Insane. However, it was the 90’s classics — the beautiful A tout le monde or the fan-fave Trust (probably Megadeth’s last real-classic song to the date) that claimed the biggest ovations. And let’s not leave aside Symphony of Destruction, and the infamous “Aguante Megadeth!” chant on top of the riff — before closing the show with the legendary Peace Sells, the song that, in Mustaine’s own words, proved to the mass media that metalheads actually had something to say, and that their lyrics were rich in political content.
One way or another, the charismatic Dave Mustaine always finds the way to give a special feel to each Megadeth gig in Argentina. The sound at the Luna Park may not have been crystal-clear, as was the case on previous occasions, but it is unlikely that anyone left the arena with any complaint. This was a concert that metal fans in attendance will surely brag about for years to come. Only the few who got in will be able to say, “I saw Megadeth play Rust In Peace complete.“ Not an easy one to beat.

THE RED-HEAD’S SYMPHONY
Dave Mustaine learned to play fast by striking guitar along Iron Maiden LPs at 45rpm instead of 33 1/2. That way, he managed to achieve an outstanding speed with his fingers that would become one of his trademarks over the years.
In 1981, Mustaine joined thrash-metal pioneers Metallica, playing for two years before being fired. Mustaine is credited as co-author of four songs on Metallica’s debut Kill ’Em All (1983) and two others on Ride the Lightning (1984).
Following his departure from Metallica, Mustaine formed his own project: Megadeth, which quickly made a name for themselves among the “Big Four” thrash metal bands (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax) with their début album Killing Is My Business and Business Is Good! in 1985.
Since their inception, Megadeth were praised for their complex and fast riffing, often described as “a jazz band playing speed metal,” and their 1991 masterpiece Rust In Peace was arguably the peak of their career.
During the 90’s Megadeth turned to a more mid-paced sound more oriented to the traditional song format rather than the epic compositions of their early days. Unlike most cases, fans took the change really well, and the band jumped to the summit of their successful career during that decade — that is, until the traditional Mustaine-Friedman- Ellefson- Menza lineup split circa 1999.
In early 2002, an arm injury forced Mustaine to stop playing and Megadeth officially disbanded. However, after a two-year recovery, Mustaine eventually put together a new lineup and reformed the band.
Since then, in spite of constant lineup changes, Megadeth have returned to their thrash metal roots, which revived their popularity among the heavy metal fans, especially with the release of their latest album Endgame in 2009, with several nods to the Rust In Peace era while keeping some melodies from the 90s.
After almost three decades on the road, business is still good for Megadeth.

Link: http://www.buenosairesherald.com/PrintedEdition/View/32892

The day that finally came

After their 2003 show cancellation, Metallica make it up to fans with two memorable shows

By Pablo Krause
Herald staff

Ten years have passed since the last time Metallica had last set foot on Argentine soil. Ten long years where, in between, thousands of fans had the bitter disappointment of the last-minute cancellation of their South American tour in 2003. However, Metallica aimed to make it up to their fans with two shows at River Plate stadium on last Thursday and Friday — the first of which sold out.
And what a comeback it was. With the band's latest record Death Magnetic taking the group back to their thrash metal roots — something long-awaited, if not demanded by their fans — the World Magnetic tour had focused in their old-school classics, playing little or nothing from their most questioned albums of the 1990s. In other words, anything a Metallica fan would have wanted.
Therefore, the blood of almost 60,000 people seemed to boil as the lights went down in River and The Ecstasy of Gold — the instrumental piece of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly soundtrack by Ennio Morricone which Metallica currently uses as their opener — started to sound on the speakers of the Monumental, only to be abruptly interrupted by the crunching riff of Creeping Death, one of Metallica's biggest classic from their 1984 album Ride The Lightning.
It was the moment thousands of fans had been waiting for over a decade. A massive release of anxiety, frustration and joy translated into hundreds of head-banging heads, thousands of fists in the air and throats that seemed to scream their lungs out.
It seems hard to believe that the four musicians on stage — singer and guitarist James Hetfield, Danish drummer Lars Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammet and bass player Robert Trujillo — will be pushing 50 in a few years (all of them were born between 1962 and 1964). All four continue to deliver an energetic performance and the band proves to be one of the tightest and most powerful acts in the business.
It is true that Hetfield's vocals have became cleaner over the years in comparison to that furious 20-year-old that recorded Kill 'Em All in 1983 almost tearing off his vocal chords, but his singing continues to make blood run cold as he intonates long running classics such as For Whom The Bell Tolls or Ride The Lightning with a deeper and more obscure approach.
Besides, Hetfield is probably one of the most hypnotising frontmen, his sole presence makes it almost impossible to take the eyes off him as he stands in front of the microphone opening his legs and bending his knees in which has already became his trademark pose.
Still, he is not the only one. Ulrich isn’t a static drummer and he is permanently jumping off his drum kit, standing up and screaming at the audience as he plays, acting as the perfect counterweight for Hetfield's hypnotising presence along with Trujillo's constant monkey-moves as he moves through the stage.
Despite the almost 30 years that had passed since its foundation, Metallica probes they still have a lot to offer. Both of the shows at River Plate were equally memorable, as the band modifies its setlist every night, making each show different from one another.
Of course, “mandatory songs” were part of both concerts. Fire and explosions gave way to the epic war story in One while the whole stadium punched their fist in the air to scream “Master! Master!” on Master of Puppets and fireworks lit up the stadium as the whole crowd sang the chorus of Enter Sandman, probably the band’s most well-known song ever.
However, several songs gave each concert its own identity. On Thursday, where the setlist cleared concentrated on the band's biggest hits, Wherever I May Roam and Harvester of Sorrow were part of the unexpected classics while the furious Blackened seemed to be a nod to the die-hard fans.
On the other hand, Friday's show featured some of the old-school fan favourites that Metallica seemed to have excluded from their concerts during the 90s as “Ride The Lightning, Fuel — with 12-metres-tall flames and endless pyrotechnics on the stage — and the epic The Four Horsemen made the first half-hour of the show almost relentless.
Only four songs from Death Magnetic were played at each concert, on both occasions with the classic Sad But True bringing some fresh air in between.
“We know we broke your hearts when we had to cancel our tour in 2003 but we are here to heal that wound,” Hetfield said at both concerts, in the usual rockstar speech that hardly anybody believes nowadays but everybody expects to hear. “Our hearts are back together,” he added near the end of the show.
But despite the “rockstar demagogy” — at least he didn't go for the Argentine soccer jersey! — it is fair to agree with Hetfield's statement. Not because of his words, but because of Metallica's performance. If they had to make it up to their fans for anything, the two concerts in River surely did. Especially with the energetic performances following the encore break which included fast-tempo classics Whiplash (on Thursday) and Fight Fire With Fire (on Friday) before closing the night with the song demanded by the entire audience.
Hetfield hands his guitar to the stage assistant and grabs the microphone with his hands. “I have three words for you: Seek and Destroy!,” says the iconic frontman before getting off the stage and climbing to the fence to sing their classic piece from Kill 'Em All — which they failed to play in 1999 — among the public. Despite the 10-year wait, what else could we ask for? We got what we wished for, and probably even more.

Rock ‘til you drop. Metallica was founded in Los Angeles in October 1981 by James Hetfield (vocals/guitar) and Lars Ulrich after they both answered an ad in a music magazine looking for musicians aiming to form a heavy metal band. They were later joined by guitar player Dave Mustaine (who later formed Megadeth) and bassist Ron McGoveny (later replaced by Cliff Burton, who died in a road accident in Sweden in 1986).
Almost 30 years later, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and its self-titled album from 1991 (also known as The Black Album which was certified as 15 times platinium in the United States last November).
However, Ulrich himself has stated the live performances and the style played by Metallica demand an enormous physical effort.
Asked by the Herald at a press conference before the show about how many years do they think they will be able to keep playing, Ulrich said:
“That’s the great question, the only one who may answer that question is Don (the band’s chiropractic). I think that spiritually, creatively and mentally this band will go on for another hundred years but the physical aspect of it will be the main question, we will have to see how long our bodies will hold up.
“I don’t want to know,” Hetfield added. “I think touring keeps us in shape and we look at other bands like the Rolling Stones or Lemmy (Kilmister) from Motorhead who are older than us and have been doing this forever,” he said. “Even with our level of intensity and energetic performances, I can see that in Angus Young from AC/DC so as long as those guys are around we will try to catch up with them.”

Link: http://www.buenosairesherald.com/PrintedEdition/View/23473