MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Former minister exposes Kirchners leniency towards union leaders abuses

Ms Ocaña said huge workers funds are managed by union leaders as their own private monies.

Argentina’s former Health Minister Graciela Ocaña revealed she resigned because she has “a different way of acting in politics” and criticized the growing influence in the Kirchner couple administrations of the head of the country’s main unions’ organization Hugo Moyano.

Ms Ocaña who resigned following the defeat of the ruling coalition in the mid term election of June 28th said the electorate sent a “very strong message” to the government for having abandoned “many of the banners and targets” of former president Nestor Kirchner’s administration, 2003/07.

“I feel sad. I sincerely hope president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner can retake her administration and lead it as she originally proposed, which was to solve many of the deep problems, strategic problems faced by Argentina”, said Ms Ocaña in a long interview published in the Sunday edition of La Nacion.

Ocaña said she left government because she has “a different way of acting in politics” and criticized the government’s decision to abandon the construction of a solid political base with the support of members from the different Argentine political forces, as had been her case.

But instead of that, the government turned into a “Moyanolandia” in direct reference to the trade unions leader Moyano, who is head of the all powerful Labour General Confederation.

Ms. Ocaña also revealed that in the midst of the advance of the A/H1N1 virus flu, the voice of the Minister of Public health was ignored when deciding.

She admitted feeling abandoned by Mrs. Kirchner when “problems arose with the management of social services with workers monies”.

“What we are talking about is the management of those funds from the trade unions, funds which are fed by each of us with our contributions, as workers, and how those funds are used by union leaders who believe they can use them as if they belonged to them”, underlined the former minister.

Ms Ocaña said that while in office she tried to bring some transparency to the management of those huge funds and to the social works and activities which are run as “private” and “personal” by trade union leaders.

“Moyano has a full network of links and relations with companies managed by his family, his wife, children, who work on both sides of the counter: they provide services at the social organizations which are built to provide those services by the trade unions”, claimed Ocaña.