Indymedia-Argentina Eviction

Marie Trigona

The occupied space of Lezama Sur, home of the local community assembly and Indymedia was evicted yesterday morning in a continued government crackdown on occupied spaces in Buenos Aires. The eviction of Lezama

Sur is part of a continued terror campaign against occupied spaces in Buenos Aires--abandoned buildings taken over by activists and families for safe housing and cultural centers.

Police arrived at Lezama Sur in the early morning, with an eviction order signed last week by Judge Francisco Ponte. The organizers inside the building were forced out by police but not detained. Some 50 officers equipped with police vans and motorcycles guarded the building throughout the day. On the street corners, officials placed metal fences to blockade protesters from entering the street in front of the building. Journalists and lawyers were not allowed to enter the building. Materials from the assembly's community kitchen and Indymedia equipment were confiscated by police.

"No to the eviction of ideas," reads a banner during yesterday's street blockade. Throughout the day, assembly participants, piqueteros, and neighbors cut the cross avenue to protest the eviction, filling the street with music and art. A culture of resistance has sprung up in the neighborhood since Lezama Sur was occupied, located on the same block as another occupied space, Tierra del Sur. Tierra del Sur functions as a cultural center where workshops for children, circus acts, and puppet shows are held. This space is also facing forced eviction.
Until yesterday Lezama Sur was transformed into a thriving social center to realize activities--workshops, library, and weekly talks. Also known as the ex-Banco Mayo, the space was once a bank bought by a subsidiary of Citibank. After a fraudulent bankruptcy, so common as
the backdrop of Argentina's crisis, the building stood vacant.

Community activists organizing autonomous projects and resources have been hit hard under Buenos Aires city government's campaign to evict all occupied spaces in the historic neighborhoods of the south. The government hides behind reasoning that the abandoned buildings are unsafe for use and need to be demolished, while the city government is making real estate deals with Corporacion del Sur to build up tourism and shopping centers where these spaces are concentrated. The first eviction in this campaign came a month ago and ended violently. Police brutally repressed 89 families residing in Padelai, an abandoned building occupied for 19 years that sits in historic San Telmo during an eviction ordered by the government. Residents and supporters were tear gassed, shot with rubber bullets and beaten. There were some 86 detained and 40 injured, among them minors and elderly.
Two other spaces been evicted in these past weeks, with police using hard-line tactics and arresting supporters. One such space, occupied by the autonomous piquetero group, Movimiento Trabajadores Descupados (MTD) in the neighborhood of historic San Telmo, had been cleaned up and converted into a space for projects such as a community kitchen, workshops and an organic garden.

Three weeks ago, a police officer pulled his gun and pointed it to an unarmed protester's head in front of a police station in Buenos Aires after a government ordered eviction of an occupied space. Neighbors, assembly members and activists with piquetero group, MTL (Movimiento Territorio Liberacion), were protesting to demand the release of three detained while resisting during the eviction of families living in the space.
Many fear that the government's use of force will only worsen as elections draw nearer. Less than a month before upcoming Presidential elections April 27, the government is cracking down on protests and community projects in a repressive campaign many claim to intimidate activists. The atmosphere of brutal police control seems to grow more intense daily. Almost everyday there are cases of police repression--worker controlled factory evictions, protesters being beaten, government ordered police blockades in the streets, and most frightening assembly members being kidnapped. In recent weeks the media, while busy covering the war, has only sensationalized these acts providing graphic reasons for people to stay at home.
There is a call for international solidarity with the people of Argentina resisting in the midst of repression and economic exploitation.