MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Cristina Fernandez: “no one is going to pressure me especially with bullying or thugs”

For the Argentine president “this was not a strike, it was an intimidation and a threat” (Photo Telam)

After the first national strike against her administration, Argentine President Cristina Fernández blasted the CGT and CTA-led protest claiming they appealed to “bullying” tactics and called on workers to defend the “economic development and inclusion model”.

“This wasn’t a strike no a picket but an intimidation and a threat” she assured and warned that no one is going to pressure her.

“No one is going to pressure me, especially with threats, bullying or thugs. These are not the leaders that Perón and Evita wanted,” she said in a rally honouring Sovereignty Day in Argentina.

Earlier in the day amidst the massive strike, President Cristina Fernández wondered on her Facebook account (Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner): “Does anyone want to go back to that Argentina with an economic model which was bread for just a few and hunger for everybody or almost everybody?”

The president continued on her message that though it was not aimed to anyone in particular; it appeared as a clear message to the umbrella unions holding the strike: “Because we all know that not all Argentines went through hunger in those days. Normally the first ones that feel the hunger are the working class after losing their jobs.”

“This is why I like to call all my fellow-workers to show some conscious and responsibility in order to defend not this government but this political project that has created more than 5.5 million job posts with the construction industry having a fundamental role.”

Meanwhile, in a statement to a local TV station, the Minister of Interior and Transportation, Florencio Randazzo, said that the strike organized by the union sector is an extortionist measure that is misplaced.

“However, it is not a strike in favour of the workers, as they want to pretend. It runs opposite to the interest of workers, because it affected thousands of people, who wanted to get to work,” Randazzo said, in direct reference to the over 200 roadblocks and pickets which virtually isolated the city of Buenos Aires.