The bus lines 218, 284, 325, 378, 622 and 628, of the Almafuerte company, and 620 and 328, belonging to the Nueva Ideal firm, did not provide their services this morning as a result of a surprise stoppage ordered by the drivers, in rejection of the arrest of two workers accused of having participated in the attack against the Minister of Security, Sergio Berni, last Monday, in the framework of the protest they were carrying out for the murder of the bus driver Daniel Barrientos in an act of insecurity in the Buenos Aires party of La Matanza.
The measure of force, which this morning affected the operation of these bus lines that circulate in the western zone of Greater Buenos Aires, demanding the “immediate release” of the two detainees for the attacks suffered by Berni on Monday morning , when he approached to talk with the drivers in the framework of the protest they were carrying out for the crime in Barrientos.
“In principle, the strike is until midnight today, but it will be ratified in an assembly. There is also an intention for workers from other lines in the area to join,” said union delegate Salvador Strazzeri, who announced that the bus drivers will concentrate on the next few minutes at the intersection of kilometer 42 of Route 3, in the town of Virrey del Pino, in the La Matanza district, “where we will decide the steps to follow.”
“The strike is for an indefinite period, until the two companions are released,” said Luis Gómez, driver of line 620, one of the companies of the Nueva Ideal group, which this morning began with an unexpected strike demanding the release of the two workers arrested, accused of having participated in the attack against Berni. And he added: “Berni is making a circus with those arrests and if he wants a circus he will have a circus here in La Matanza because the different lines will begin to join the strike until the last detained compañero is released.”
The arrests of Jorge Oscar Galiano and Jorge Ezequiel Zerda, who would be workers accused of having participated in the attack, were ordered by the Buenos Aires Justice on charges of aggravated attack against authority, which provides for a sentence of between six months and two years. prison.
The decision was made by Judge Luisa María Escrich, head of the Criminal, Misdemeanor and Misdemeanor Court of CABA No. 20.
This is the magistrate who intervenes in the case labeled as “NN s / attack against authority aggravated by putting hands on authority” (figure typified in article 238 paragraph 4 of the Penal Code), in which the prosecutor also acts Carlos Fel Rolero Santurian, from the Criminal, Misdemeanor and Offenses Prosecutor’s Office No. 31 of CABA.
After the arrest, Galiano and Zerda were transferred to the headquarters of the Prosecutor’s Office, located at 1333 Paseo Colón Avenue, 7th floor of the Buenos Aires district.
The cause for which they were arrested began with a complaint from the City Police, which last Monday intervened in the demonstration of the bus drivers with their infantry corps, to take Berni from the intersection of General Paz and José Manuel de Rozas, the place where the drivers had gathered on Monday to repudiate the murder of Barrientos.
The Buenos Aires minister had been attacked with fist blows to the head and stone blows for long minutes without any public force interrupting the attack: the blows caused a fracture in his cheekbone.
The attacks occurred on Monday at midday at the intersection of Juan Manuel de Rosas and General Paz, the scene of the protest of the companions of the murdered bus driver on line 620 and an area whose jurisdiction corresponds to the Buenos Aires Police itself.
Faced with these arrests, the “Choferes Unidos” group, confronted with the leadership of the Unión Tranviarios Automotor (UTA) headed by Roberto Fernández, declared itself in a state of “extreme alert and mobilization”, and demanded that the union “act accordingly and take measures to put an end to this shameful proceeding” of Justice.
However, in statements to this agency, the driver Gómez denied that the workers on strike belong to the “Choferes Unidos” group.
