Buenos Aires - Amidst a general strike that has curtailed
public services, many thousands of people demonstrated Monday
through the streets of Buenos Aires, Neuquen, Salta and other
Argentine cities to protest the death of a teacher killed by
police in a demonstration last week.
Trade unions and other social organizations accused centre-right
governor of Neuquen Jorge Sobisch - a presidential candidate in the
South American country's October election - of being responsible for
the death of the teacher.
Carlos Fuentealba, 41, died in Neuquen on Friday a day after he
weas wounded. A provincial police sergeant has been arrested for
allegedly firing the grenade which hit the teacher's head.
Most schools and universities in the country remained closed,
while subways, trains and buses did not function for an hour or two,
hospitals provided only emergency care and other sectors also
contributed to the strike.
'We are here not only to repudiate the man who pulled the trigger
but also the person who gave the order,' said Nora Cortinas of the
human rights organization Madres de Plaza de Mayo, who read a
consensus document in central Buenos Aires.
Trade union leader Hugo Yasky went further and directly accused
the governor of the southern province of Neuquen.
'Sobisch is intellectually responsible (for the crime). There is a
murderer whose name is Sobisch who has to pay, leave (the
governorship), answer before the courts and pay for the crime
committed with jail time,' said Yasky.
While thousands of people demonstrated in Buenos Aires, thousands
more gathered in Neuquen.
Teachers in the southern province said that they plan to camp
before the seat of the governorship until the crime is solved and the
pay demands that the dead teacher had been agitating or are met.
Trade union leaders called upon provincial authorities 'to solve
conflicts in a peaceful fashion and opening channels for dialogue
with workers.'
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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