Mission: Protests do not stop with batons or tear gas | Repression of teachers and doctors in Posadas

From the Missionaries

Missionary history full of milestones, myths, heroes and legends made last night an epic day to remember, thank you The courage of teachers and health sectors who resisted two repressive attacks by the InfantryHe overcame the indifference of the provincial legislators and organized a massive march on the Governor’s House Hugo PassalacquaWhich continues even after a week of protests, not only without achieving the different sectors demanding equal pay, but also without showing its face or giving any official message to a society that is increasingly questioning it.

Prior to that outcome, the struggling teachers had to face the contempt of the police in a protest in front of the Posadas Radio Command (who, despite speculation about their participation, ultimately refrained from joining the march that was ultimately fighting for the same thing they fight for: 100 percent salary restructuring).

Camp of the Teaching and Health Associations in Misiones

Thus, a large caravan began its march at 6 p.m. from the camp of Uruguay and Trincheras de San José, on the corner of the Posada neighborhood of El Palomar, around which the most militant teaching unions decided to gather (in addition to male and female teachers, and self-operated teachers) who did not accept the proposal of truce presented by the Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Ramiro Aranda, and who, instead, signed the Teachers’ Union of the Province of Misiones (UDPM) and the SIDEPP (public and private teachers).

The procession (which was attended by teachers as well as health workers, specifically doctors from the Fernando Barreiro Pediatric Hospital) initially had an already established destination: the Chamber of Representatives, located in the area of ​​the Parque República del Paraguay, on the Paraná River and about three kilometers north of the camp.

The column moved mainly along Colon Street, which allowed them to pass first through the main square of Posadas, 9 de Julio, in front of which the Government House is located, and also through the main part of the capital, the First Police Station, the Missionary and one of the Memory Spaces, since during the previous dictatorship a clandestine detention center operated there.

Around 7 p.m., at least two thousand protesters arrived at the pedestrian esplanade of the Missionary Legislature, ready to meet. Among its forty representatives are important references in the history of the Frente Renovador de la Concordia, which has administered the province since 2003, among them its president, Óscar Herrera Ahuad (governor between 2019 and 2023) and Carlos Rovira, the absolute driver of the political space.

Repression in the Provincial Legislature of Misiones

As seen in various videos circulating during Thursday’s cold and rainy afternoon, barricades were erected in front of the Misiones House of Representatives. About twenty infantrymen with helmets, shields and weapons equipped with rubber bullets were positioned behind these structures, supported by about forty more police officers and a similar number spread around the Legislative Palace.

The first scuffles occurred when some teachers wanted to enter the legislature with the aim of being welcomed by the provincial representatives. To do so, they tried to break the fence, however the security forces immediately intervened and this led to a dramatic moment: the uniformed men fired pepper spray in various quantities repeatedly and indiscriminately, even affecting press personnel who were investigating the events. They also wielded sticks and injured at least three different teachers, one of whom had to be taken away by ambulance.

After fifteen minutes of intense tension, the soldiers stopped their aggression, but remained deployed to form a human shield that blocked access to the legislative complex at all times. On the upper floors of the Provincial Congress, several legislative staffers were seen filming the protesters with their cell phones, some of them with provocative looks.

During the two hours of the parliamentary session, teachers and pediatricians took turns using microphones or megaphones to deliver different speeches or messages, while in the background the different batucadas gave rhythm and warmth to a day that began with winds, storms and cold, but then led to the classic coastal humidity.

Missionaries Applaud Their Teachers

Mónica Guarina, teacher and secretary general of the ATE Autonomous of Misiones, said that “we are not going to give up until we have a 100 percent increase” and made some predictions: “We want them to take care of us, so we are going to look for them wherever they go.” In addition, there were several songs dedicated specifically to Rovira, which followed the events inside the Chamber.

Indeed, when the clock struck 8 and the parliamentary session ended without giving an answer to the protesters, they voted in assembly and made a bold and unprecedented decision by raising their hands: to walk to the home of Governor Hugo Passalacqua, with whom they had to protest. Page 12 He tried to talk during the day but got no response.

The procession to the 25 de Mayo and San Martín building, about two kilometers from the Legislature, where Passalacqua lives, added a detail that had not happened so far in the week of protests: many missionaries came out on the sidewalks or on their balconies to applaud teachers and health workers. An affection that preserves confidence in a protest considered long and difficult.

Although the march took place without problems and with the contribution of a Misiones Transit vehicle, which proceeded to cut the street and allow the protesters to move around without problems, half a block before Passalacqua’s house appeared two vans with Infantry soldiers who were stationed at the entrance of the building that houses the governor’s residence.

The scene was violent and dramatic: uniformed men formed a human chain and fired tear gas again, this time in a much more concentrated area of ​​people, since 25 de Mayo is a narrow, single-lane street. In addition, at least ten bullets were fired into the ground and in the air, causing confusion and a rush in a very narrow and densely occupied area.

How protests continue in Missionaries

When events inevitably led to a repressive escalation, something happened that changed the dynamics: various teachers (especially women) sat on the sidewalk where the Infantry, although behind their backs, was sitting. The purpose of this was to prevent the uniformed men from advancing, as they had initially signaled with their traditional voices. This peaceful and courageous attitude of young and experienced teachers gave courage to the other protesters, who surrounded the security forces, which were significantly smaller in number than the mass of people who had marched.

An image will always remain in the minds of those present on this historic night: a police officer with a clear face of anguish began to plead with the protesters to calm down and it was a doctor with a mask and a drum who intervened to prevent him from being beaten to death by the mob. Shortly after, the man who seemed to be the head of the operation negotiated with the teachers the withdrawal of the Infantry, who retreated to San Martín Street.

There, then, teacher Carlos Lezcano occupied the floor with a microphone that amplified his voice in front of the Passalacqua balcony. “The governor thinks he will solve the hunger of the workers with tear gas. But poverty cannot be cured with sticks. The only way is dialogue and we want it to open a discussion table because we have arguments to show that there is money to restore poverty wages. We do not have books, chalk or erasers, and social work does not even cover us if we fall ill.

We pay the most expensive bus tickets in the whole country and there are teachers who can no longer even go to work. The interesting thing about all this is that Passalacqua is himself the son of a teacher, although his mother must surely be ashamed of the attitude of the person she raised. But it does not matter: someone has to be qualified to deal with this issue. And, if they are not in the right mind or do not have the capacity to solve it, they should step aside and resign.’ Applause, cheers and peaceful concentration towards the zero point of this march and this demand: the camp on Uruguay Street where the fighting action will continue.