After 10 hours of chaos due to the protests, Minister Zabaleta will receive the picketers next Wednesday

A 10-hour picket in downtown Buenos Aires, which affected traffic in anticipation of a long weekend and the sales of the shops on the eve of Father’s Day, was a part of the postcard that this Thursday captured the groups that make up the Piquetera Unit. The other part was the claims for genuine work and food assistance that the movements exposed at the doors of the Ministry of Social Development, where they threatened to start a four-day camp.In the late afternoon, when the break had already been completed for almost ten hours, the members of the Unit were received by the Undersecretary of Socio-productive Inclusion and Local Development, Pablo Pais. It was after the Minister of Social Development, Juan Zabaleta, refused to receive them at a meeting that was planned in advance and despite which they carried out the march. The meeting was rescheduled for next Wednesday. “They (by the referents of the Piquetera Unit) stated that they wanted a meeting with Zabaleta, which was scheduled for yesterday and that last week it was moved to today due to a trip by the minister to Paraguay ( went to Asunción to participate in the meeting of ministers of Social Development of Mercosur). Anyway, on Monday they announced the march for today, even though they had the meeting. And with a march on the street ‘Juanchi’ does not receive them. [El exministro y actual diputado Daniel] Arroyo didn’t either. There is no possibility that with a march in the street the minister will receive you”, they explained from the Zabaleta portfolio.Protests and cuts in the city of Buenos Aires, there is traffic chaosFabián MarelliOn Monday, the piqueteros groups carried out a “national plenary” in the Obelisk “to discuss the national situation, a list of demands and a plan of struggle”, occasion in which they defined an “action of permanence” that began today on 9 de Julio Avenue in this city and in other parts of the country. Among the main demands, they demand a “minimum salary of 100,000 pesos, in an emergency, and a salary equal to the family basket.” The Piquetera Unit is made up of, among other organizations, the Polo Obrero, the MST Teresa Vive, Barrios de Pie -Libres del Sur, the CUBA-MTR, the National Piquetero Bloc, the Teresa Rodríguez MTR, a fraction of the FOL and the Liberation Territorial Movement (MTL-Rebelde).“The minister saw it as something extortive”They said close to the official, in reference to the march taking place and at the same time looking for the meeting that was planned. “They know that with a march in the street, there is no minister who receives,” they insisted from Social Development.Protests and cuts in the city of Buenos Aires, there is traffic chaosFabián Marelli“They are doing politics. Since March, two plans of struggle have been launched, one that ended a fortnight ago and now another”, they added, to support the decision to not agree to give more quotas of social plans. They pointed out that in recent times they were offered financing for machines and tools for the cooperatives. After what happened today, the meeting of the heads of the groups would take place next Wednesday with Zabaleta, at the Ministry’s headquarters. The meeting is, stressed sources from the portfolio, subject to there not being a mobilization that day. The protesters concentrated since 8 at two points: the Obelisk and the intersection of Independencia and 9 de Julio avenues, since where they marched to the Ministry located on avenue 9 de Julio and Moreno. The arteries in the area were severed and the Metrobús was interrupted for hours.Protests and courts in the city of Buenos Aires, there is traffic chaos Fabián Marelli The meeting with Pais began around 6:00 p.m. There the appointment of next Wednesday was agreed, with Zabaleta. After 7 p.m., the protesters began to lose concentration. The leaders of the Piquetera Unit then improvised a press conference. “The Wednesday we are going to come, as the minister likes, without seeing people on the street. If it is not fulfilled, on Thursday we will be mobilized”, warned Eduardo Belliboni, referent of the Polo Obrero. This morning, when asked by the demonstration, the spokeswoman Gabriela Ceruti He maintained that “the budget continues to be 3.5 percent of GDP for social policies, which sustains and permanently increases the Government’s concern regarding social demands.”