Argentina arrives wrapped in violence to the crucial presidential primary elections this Sunday: after the death of a protester in the middle of incidents on Thursday night in the center of Buenos Aires, this Friday the area was the scene of serious incidents, stone throws against the police and various acts of vandalism. In this context, the Minister of Security, Aníbal Fernández, questioned the holding of the elections.
Far-left organizations marched on Thursday afternoon to the Obelisk, the emblematic monument on Avenida 9 de Julio, the main artery of the city. Several members of the group sang against the elections and burned ballot boxes. Buenos Aires city police clashed with Facundo Molares Schoenfeld, a former FARC member and dissident in the Colombian peace process. Molars, who decompensated, died despite the resuscitation maneuvers of the police. An independent autopsy seeks to establish the reasons for his death.
A protest march to the Obelisk, called by anarchist and far-left organizations, degenerated this Friday into serious incidents, with a rain of stones, destruction of public furniture and attacks against a police facility. After initial doubts and a clear situation of anomie in the country’s capital, the police resumed control to pacify the area.
In the midst of the outbreak of violence on Thursday, Minister Fernández surprised with a tweet: “Will there be elections on Sunday?”
Argentina will hold primary elections this Sunday, before the general elections on October 22, which everything indicates that they will put an end to 20 years of political hegemony of Kirchnerism. The great unknown of the elections is who will win the inmate of Juntos por el Cambio, the opposition coalition to Peronism, which hopes to return to the Casa Rosada on the 40th anniversary of the recovery of democracy.
Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, mayor of Buenos Aires, is measured against Patricia Bullrich, former Minister of Security. While Rodríguez Larreta embodies the optimistic wing prone to consensus in the opposition, Bullrich leads the tougher wing. The incidents in the center of the capital were a test for Rodríguez Larreta, who is blamed for being weak in the face of public disorder. Kirchnerism, in turn, accuses him of being responsible for the “murder” of Molares Schoenfeld.
