MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine: Kirchner inaugurated oil plant, keeps mum about oil protest.

President Néstor Kirchner yesterday avoided talking about an oil workers protest in three Patagonian provinces as he addressed a crowd in Santa Cruz. But he did say that the province's next governor must be a courageous person.

Kirchner visited his home-province yesterday to take part in the 105th anniversary of the seaside city of Caleta Olivia, one of the northernmost cities in oil-rich Santa Cruz.

Governor Carlos Sancho was standing at Kirchner's side as the President proclaimed that "We will work with all our energy to deepen the process of change in Santa Cruz in 2007 and to have somebody as governor who won't give in, who will put up a fight, somebody with courage."

Sancho served as lieutenant-governor until nine months ago when then governor Sergio Acevedo was forced to resign and Sancho took his place. Acevedo's resignation came amid rumours that he had fallen out of grace with Kirchner and was involved in a power struggle with Julio de Vido, the national Federal Planning minister. Critics say that Sancho is Kirchner's puppet.

In his speech Kirchner stated that Argentina was "in flames" when he came to office in 2003 and because of this, "We had to do just as we did in Santa Cruz, in 1991."

Kirchner was the mayor of Río Gallegos, the provincial capital, before he became governor for three consecutive terms in 1991 and left the province with a fiscal surplus produced mainly by oil revenues.

In Caleta Olivia Kirchner inaugurated an oil plant built by the Brazilian firm Petrobras that cost an estimated 15 million dollars yet he did not mention the salary fight of local oil workers. The protests began last week and seemed to end on Friday when the workers reached salary agreements after negotiations at the labour ministry in Buenos Aires. However, new protests began immediately as senior workers began their own protests.

Acevedo resigned following weeks-long protests by oil workers in the town of Las Heras that began in January and ended in February after the demonstrators raided a local police station and killed officer Jorge Sayago. The protesters attacked the precinct to demand the release of union leader Mario Navarro, who was being held in custody.

Yesterday, Judge Graciela Ruata de Leone, who is investigating the murder of Sayago, ordered the arrest of Navarro after he failed to comply with a summons to testify as a suspect. Navarro is suspected of having encouraged others to commit a felony.

Sayago was bludgeoned to death and then shot several times in the shoulder as the protesters broke into the police station. Buenos Aires Herald