More than 10 were injured as police moved to break up a road blockade by indigenous protesters in Argentina's Gran Chaco region Feb. 19. Qom indigenous peasants launched the roadblock at Pampa del Indio, Chaco province, to protest the failure of municipal authorities to provide potable water to their communities. They also charged that tank trucks that were promised as an interim measure stopped deliveries because they weren't being paid. Chaco Gov. Juan Carlos Bacileff Ivanoff said the protesters had been "tricked by pseudo-leaders," and charged that two police agents are among the wounded, hit by gunfire. Luis Saravia, local leader of the Movimiento Comandante Andresito, responded that "the indigenous brothers did not have arms." A joint statement by the National Campesino Federation, the Movement of Original Peoples and Nations in Struggle, and the Class Combat Current said the protesters were "savagely repressed" by police. (Argentina Indymedia, Diario Chaco, Diario Chaco, Data Chaco, Feb. 20; La Haine, Feb. 19)
New violence in Argentina’s Chaco
A march of more than 3,000 demanding the resignation of Chaco's interim governor, Juan Bacileff Ivanoff, was attacked by police June 4, sparking street battles in provinicial capital Resistencia, leaving more than 30 injured and 12 detained. The protest was organized by public-sector unions angered over the governor's intransigence on wage demands, and joined by community and peasant groups. (Revolution News, Clarín)