Private security employees of Ezeiza airport have put up a roadblock causing transport problems from and to the airport this morning.

No flight delays have been announced yet but there are fears that passengers flying out of Ezeiza today may face problems on the way to the airport.

Around 30 protesters have set up at the toll on the route to the airport and have partially blocked it causing a traffic jam and delays.

They are members of the Trade Union for Security Workers (SUTCA) and claim that the private security firm ENTHEUS SRL does not respect workers rights agreements.

In a press release SUTCA stated that the company is “violating labour laws” and is “cheating” workers by not respecting their rights.

“We are sorry for the flight delays and cancellations that may happen, but we have been with no other alternative”, they added.

The company has responded saying that the protest is actually a result of internal fighting among trade unionists.

Members of the anti-mining group Asamblea de Tinogasta, in the province of Catamarca, returned to their roadblock yesterday to find various items missing or burned.

The roadblock, which has been in place since 29th January, obstructs the main road leading to Bajo la Alumbrera, Argentina’s first and biggest open-pit mine. Opened in 1994, Alumbrera is a copper and gold mine controlled by the Swiss company Xstrata Copper and Canadian groups Goldcorp Inc. and Yamana Gold.

The vandalism occurred yesterday at midday while protesters were away in town. Assembly member Dario Moreno, who was beaten and arrested with two other protesters in a clash with police on 12th May, believes Tinogasta mayor Hugo Avila is behind the order to dismantle the camp.

“We had gone to do some shopping and in half an hour the Municipality’s white truck arrived, driven by a kid that we know, who we even called to say that we would denounce what they had done”, Moreno told local sources.

“He [the driver] told me that [Miguel] Cassin had ordered it, the Secretary of Public Works, and that he had an order from Avila to burn everything we had here, and whatever they couldn’t burn, to take away in the truck”, he said.

Tinogasta is one of many Andean towns currently at the center of the debate on “mega-mining” in Argentina. Residents worry that the controversial method of extraction can have devastating effects on the environment, such as contaminating local sources of drinking water.

Minera Alumbrera, the consortium of mining companies led by Xstrata, has denied causing any pollution or health problems in the area.

Items taken from the roadblock include goods, pots, blankets, tents, a cellphone, and a radio.

“This is a robbery,” Moreno said, “and it is also a question of politics, a persecution that we’ve been subjected to for a long time.”

Police are currently investigating the incident, and members of the Asamblea de Tinogasta have returned to the site to rebuild what was destroyed.

Members of the Union of Citizen Assemblies (UAC), joined in opposition of megamining operations in Argentina, will hold an escrache outside the House of the Province of Catamarca at 6.00pm this evening.

The UAC’s mobilisation comes after the detainment on Saturday of three assembly members, who confronted police escorting trucks of the mining company La Alumbrera in Tinogasta.

Since 29th January, protesters in Tinogasta have maintained a strategic roadblock of National Route 60, preventing the passage of trucks carrying supplies to transnational mega-mines.

The three individuals involved in the confrontation were deterred with pepper spray and beaten by police, after which their whereabouts were kept unknown for over an hour.

It was later revealed that the three protesters—Dario Moreno, Eduardo Argañaraz, and Ezekial Koch—were temporarily taken to Fiambalá to avoid confrontations with police. They were released that night and returned to their peers, who protested at the police station in Tinogasta.

The incidents in Tinogasta have sparked demonstrations from citizens in Famatina and Chilecito, who marched to the town of Campanas, La Rioja, to denounce mining operations detrimental to citizens and the environment in Argentina.

With as many as 51 protesters detained since the start of the blockade in January, the demonstration tonight will seek to further press citizens’ demands about mining at the House of the Province of Catamarca.

The Peruvian Ministry of Defence has ordered the Armed Forces to remove roadblocks in the south of the department of Puno. The blockage on the Peruvian-Bolivian border is being carried out against mining explosions in this region.

The Peruvian government wants to put an end to the roadblock in the area of Desaguadero. The residents from the countryside have been protesting for the last two weeks for increased safety measures in the area’s mines. They are also asking for an end to the Santa Ana mining project, which already has authorisation to start.

The demonstrators represented by the Defence of Natural Resources in Southern Peru Front maintain that mining works contaminate the rivers and crops.

The Puno Popular Organisational Front announced that they would join in the indefinite strike taking place in Yunguyo, Chucuito and El Collao.

Until now, the attemps at discussion between countryside residents and authorities have not reached agreements.

The protestors say that the mining industry is polluting lake Titicaca and the Desaguadero river, amongst other zones.

Story courtesy of Agencia Púlsar, the news agency of AMARC-ALC.

Angry agricultural producers blocked main roads throughout the country today, protesting against government regulations on trading their produce. Representatives of countryside workers’ unions had wished to meet today in the Congress chamber and debate government retentions on agricultural goods, particularly soy.

When the scheduled hour for the session came, however, the opposition to the government were unable to assemble enough congressmen to pass a vote. Reports vary as to the exact numbers in attendance, but, despite the opposition’s efforts, between 106 and 110 places in the Congress chamber were occupied, falling short of the 129 necessary to conduct a valid vote.

Hugo Biolcati, president of the Rural Association of Argentina (SRA) expressed disgust at the prospect of the government setting up a fund with the tax imposed on soy. “It seems to make a mockery of democracy,” he complained. President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner proposed that the money would be redistributed to the provinces and municipal governments, but the people of the countryside continue to fear that they will lose out.

Following the failure to resolve the issue through debate, the people of the countryside occupied areas of the country’s main roads, causing traffic tailbacks of up to 5 kilometres in length. Alfredo de Angeli, president of the Agrarian Federation (FAA) in Entre Ríos, said that roadblocks were inevitable in the current climate.

Routes were cut off in Entre Ríos, Santa Fe, Córdoba and La Pampa. Route 14 was completely closed at Gualeguaychú. In other areas, interruptions have been intermittent. In Tucumán, traffic was interrupted on Route 9 every half hour.