A new chapter in the internal Kirchnerist conflict was exposed this Monday in the Buenos Aires municipality of Quilmes. A protest against an ordinance to limit the activity of the "trapitos" led to incidents and cross-accusations between the Kirchnerist mayor Mayra Mendoza and piquetero leader Juan Grabois.
Activists linked to the group that answers to Grabois mobilized toward the Honorable Deliberative Council of Quilmes. There, an ordinance promoted by the local government to organize parking and regulate the activity of the so-called "trapitos" was being debated. The demonstration ended with clashes with the police that were guarding the municipal building.
The open bidding process that infuriated Grabois
Municipal authorities explained that the initiative arose from repeated neighborhood complaints and is part of a comprehensive traffic management plan. The regulation contemplates the existing car guards, incorporating them formally with proper working conditions.
However, one of the points of conflict is that the mayor's office ruled out directly awarding the service to a cooperative linked to the Excluded Workers Movement.
Instead, it decided to move forward with an open bidding process for those who comply with the terms. That decision upset Grabois, who is close to that cooperative and is desperate not to lose his own sources of funding.
Amid the incidents, Grabois targeted Mayra Mendoza's administration directly and denounced repression. "The Quilmes mayor's office enabling, together with the Buenos Aires provincial police, the repression of activists and workers over a social protest is regrettable while they are discussing in the Deliberative Council the rigged privatization of metered parking," he wrote on social media.
The social leader also took the opportunity to expose the internal tensions within Buenos Aires Peronism and to distance himself from the disputes between factions. "I clarify that I could not care less about the internal conflict between La Cámpora and the Movimiento Derecho al Futuro", he stated.
