Montevideo, April 10, 2007

To the President of the Republic of Argentina

Mr. Néstor Kirchner

Casa Rosada

Buenos Aires

Subject: “We are all Fuentealba”

Dear Sir,

On behalf of the IUF, I wish to express our most profound grief and indignation over the abominable murder of the teacher Carlos Fuentealba. As you rightly said yesterday at the press conference, Fuentealba “was executed, and that is obviously inadmissible and can never happen again in Argentina.”

The truth is that the murder of Fuentealba, a dearly loved chemistry teacher of Neuquén, who was riding in a car totally defenseless, is a new addition to the list of more than fifty political and social activists killed by police brutality since Argentina recovered its rule of law.

The execution of this teacher unionist is an “unacceptable act”  -just like you described it-, as are also inadmissible the working and wage conditions suffered by education workers in your country.

It is highly probable that, addicted as he is to abusing and clubbing, the governor of Neuquén, Jorge Sobisch, imagined that he could silence the voice of the unionists with repression. But he was wrong. The acts of condemnation against Fuentealba’s murder and the countrywide displays of solidarity with the teachers of Neuquén have not only been firmly backed by the organizations affiliated to the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) and the Argentine Workers’ Federation (CTA), they have received strong support from the general population as well, who are also clamoring for justice against repression and unequivocally demanding that the impoverishment affecting the lives of Argentine teachers be brought to an end. 

The democratic future of Argentina requires the absolute eradication of repressive practices that evoke the dark years of the military dictatorship. The future of Argentina as a Nation entails, among other efforts, the strengthening of the State’s education policies, opening ways for a more active citizenship to develop, and thus enabling processes that will further the country’s progress towards the targets of social justice and economic inclusion.

That is why, mister President, our 365 affiliated organizations from 122 countries give their full international solidarity in support of the just demands of the education trade unions of the Republic of Argentina, and at the same time demand “justice and punishment” for those responsible for the death of Carlos Fuentealba. It is in respect to his memory and his struggle that we exhort you to heed the just demands of the trade unions of education. So that never again will “chalks be tainted with blood,” so that teaching will stop being synonymous with punishment and social exclusion, and so that the struggle for a better life will stop being, once and for all, a permanent death threat.

Sincerely yours,

Gerardo Iglesias

IUF Regional Secretary

cc     Ministry of Education / Ministry of Labor / CGT / CTA