Translated "Avante!" article by Luis Carapinha, Member of the PCP International Department
A year upon an electoral clear victory, which renovated president Cristina Fernandez Kirchener’s (CFK) term of office, Argentina is amid a cross-way. Under the capitalism crisis impact, economic growth becomes asphyxiated and the Buenos Aires government looses manoeuvrability to adopt redistribution measures, that do not frontally collide with the economic great groups interests. The high inflation and austerity spectrum once again is imminent, within a country which but only partially recuperated from the 2001 capitalist disaster, upon years of pure and hard neo-liberal incubation, following the IMF and the then Washington’s consensus exact course of action. During the last weeks, the political and social agitation went over flew the streets with demonstrations and counter-demonstrations. The opposition against both the president and Kirchnerism, the most advanced current amid the Peronist party, which came to power in 2003, through the ex-president Nestor Kirchner, diseased in 2010, many forces and sectors from the right - wing opposition (including the Peronist core) and social-democracy to the far left-wing, have come together. The CGT and CTA divided and partly co-opted, the great capital representatives hold demagogically the “defence” of the workers’ demands, as occurred during the general strike on the 20th November, hoping the latter could become persuaded.
Argentina’s complex framework turns the USA counter-offensive within Latin America a very strong bet in the Southern Cone, in order to reverse the force correlation, put an end to the several Latin-American cooperation and integration processes, which defy their position, such as the UNASUR, MERCOSUR,ALBA and CELAC, and therefore, liquidate the progressive and revolutionary processes, in progress. Betting on the Argentina destabilization and the Buenos Aires Latin-American policy reversion - which dropped off the IMF and was the ALCA’s burial -, the perpetrated coup in Paraguay and the military threats with the IVth USA Fleet reactivation and the installing of bases within South America, are pieces of the very same puzzle. One can recall the London occupation of Argentina’s Malvinas’ islands, which, in a few days, will complete 180 years, and the displacement of military and functioning modern means within the Malvinas territory, of a NATO military base, in violation of the UN’s resolution on the South Atlantic preservation, as a peace and cooperation zone.
Rafael Correa, Ecuador’s president, recalled~, some days ago, that the progressive advances within Latin America, in the last years are not irreversible.
In Argentina, following the collapse unto the abyss, in 2001, sovereignty, policies were implemented, opening the doors to a regional integration and cooperation change of direction, and adopting measures of important social nature, although insufficient. The cutting off with the IMF and subsequent restructuring of the huge Argentina external debt, is for some, considered the greatest expropriation suffered by the financial capital, at a world-wide scale. Argentina is the only South-American country where the military dictatorship henchmen (1976-83) were judged and condemned, including general Videla. Judgements carry on and currently, the first high civil servant during the dictatorship sentence, was released. During her first year upon the re-election, CFK advanced with the YPF petrol company’s nationalization and intends to apply a new law against the media concentration. However, the social opposition aggravation and the contradictions amid Peronism, the Argentina great bourgeoisie’s interests pressure in alliance with the imperialist powers, indicate the exhaustion of the Kirchner cycle progressive measures. Regarding the Argentinean communists (PCA), who, keeping on to their independent basis support towards CFK ’s government, the great challenge is to advance in the deepening of structural changes or to be overwhelmed by the demanded “ restoring” of the oligarchy interests.