arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

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.