MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Unrelenting upheaval in President Kirchner's home province

Argentine president Nestor Kirchner faced on Tuesday another political challenge in his own turf, the province of Santa Cruz he ruled for years and where unions and other social groups marched along the capital Rio Gallegos to reject violence and bullying by former local allies of the president, one in particular who last Friday with his vehicle run over seventeen protestors.

Literally thousands in the Patagonian province with a total population just above 200.000, in the extreme south of Argentina, concentrated before Government House in Rio Gallegos and marched under the banner of "Respect for life", while five of those injured last Friday by the former Kirchner official, Daniel Varizart, remained in hospital including a woman under intensive care. Activities in the three branches of the provincial government joined the stoppage as well as most unions representing private sector workers. Furthermore opposition groups together with the Catholic Church signed a document requesting the provincial government that "life be respected", "governance ensured", "the Justice Branch act independently from political influences" and that Mr. Varizat be sent to a common jail. As has happened in several other Argentine provinces relatively small or poor and virtually managed as feuds by certain political families that enthrone themselves in power, it was Catholic Bishop Juan Carlos Romanin who played a leading role in criticizing the local government. "It's time provincial authorities assume their role of governance", said Bishop Romanin, adding that "the life of each of us and of our children, friends and companions, must be respected and loved". "People have reacted with rationality to irrationality, with justice to criminality", said the bishop recalling the violence of last Friday and the special conditions under which the former Kirchner official has been arrested. With presidential elections next October 28, and the Kirchner family intent in consolidating power at national level, all the mobilization in Santa Cruz should not be surprising, particularly since 2007 has not been a graceful year for the Kirchner administration. The Kirchners have been under siege by the energy shortages, growing corruption cases, inflation, deteriorated foreign relations, exposure of manipulation of cost of living indexes on which a precarious salaries increase equilibrium and the interest rates of the sovereign restructured debt, rest. Mr Varizat belonged to one of the several provincial administrations President Kirchner fired, allegedly for incompetence, or for having failed to reach an agreement with an acrimonious weeks long teachers' strike that last Friday spotted him in his 4x4 van stationed close to where government employees were holding a political rally. He fled the crowd/mob that surrounded him by speeding his car and injuring at least 17 protestors. Varizat alleges that under the stressful situation and fearing attacks by protestors who begun rattling his car instead of pressing the break in the confusion he "pressed the accelerator". The car attack on protestors occurred last Friday just a few blocks away from where President Kirchner and his presidential candidate wife Cristina were on a political rally in support of the local governor and their government's aspirations. Most of Buenos Aires media downplayed the incident, including Clarin, so as not to shadow the Kirchner couple visit to Santa Cruz. La Nacion was one of the few exceptions and obviously the blogs and YouTube that had the video of the incident.