in silver, the cut was felt in the morning on the rise of the highway
The Polo Obrero led by Eduardo Belliboni and associated organizations carried out a “piquetazo” yesterday with roadblocks and highways in different parts of the country, in rejection of the lowering of social plans ordered by the government. In return, the head of the Ministry of Social Development, Victoria Tolosa Paz, came out to question the measure of force and affirmed that the conflict over the cancellation of social plans “is not resolved by using the most needy people.”
The “national pickaxe” had been organized by left-wing organizations to request that the government back down with more than 154,000 suspensions of the Potenciar Trabajo program, due to the fact that they are beneficiaries who could not validate their identity.
The measure had repercussions in different cities of the country, and in La Plata it was felt during mid-morning, especially on the rise of the Buenos Aires-La Plata Highway.
At night, Tolosa Paz responded to the measure of force with harsh statements. “This is not resolved by using the most needy people, it is resolved by validating identity,” he said from Entre Ríos, a province where he had an intense agenda with Governor Gustavo Bordet.
Eduardo Belliboni, leader of the Polo Obrero and one of the organizers of yesterday’s protest, had said that if the problem of casualties is not resolved, which he considers “an adjustment measure for the humblest, the most vulnerable, who requested the International Monetary Fund”, next week the cuts, marches and even an eventual camp will intensify in front of the Ministry of Social Development, on Avenida 9 de Julio.
The Minister countered: “Belliboni cannot explain where the 6,000 men and women from the Piquetera Unit, from the Polo Obrero, who certified last month and who were making a consideration are, where are they?”
And he added: “We have our arms wide open to validate their identity, this cannot be resolved by using the most needy people in Argentina in a march in these heats, putting the health of older adults, boys and girls at risk; this is resolved by bringing people to validate their identity.”
To access the Potenciar Trabajo, the beneficiaries must validate, every month before the Management Units (UG) that perform a consideration of 20 hours of weekly tasks. UGs are generally cooperatives that depend on social movements, whether pro-government or opposition, churches, municipalities and governments, among others.
For this reason, Tolosa Paz let it be known that 6,000 beneficiaries were recognized by the Polo Obrero as workers of one of its UGs, but they did not validate their membership in the plan as required by the minister to continue receiving the benefits granted by the State.
“The only thing we established was a clear rule, of transparency, for the stage of Empowering Work,” said Tolosa Paz. And he remarked: “Belliboni has to make the effort to transfer people to the Reference Centers (CDRs), which are the Ministry’s Digital Points where they can validate their identity.” The mention of these physical spaces, 56 throughout the country, is because the leftist leaders affirm that these people could not perform the virtual validation through the Mi Argentina application because “they did not have connectivity.”
And he also explained that so far no withdrawal from the social program has been given. That they are suspensions and that for not having carried out the process, in February they received half of the salaries and that if they do not validate their membership in Empowering Work by March 1, “they will be permanently discharged.”
