March 30, 2018

My name is Sebastián Romero, and I am a victim of political persecution by Macri’s government.
I am a worker as many others, but for over three months I have not seen my family, my coworkers at the factory or my neighbors. I am persecuted as if I was a terrorist because I was part of the thousands that, on December 18, resisted on the streets against the theft that was taking place in the Congress against our elder. And they did vote the Social Security reform after all, but we stopped the Labor reform, and they will not let this go.
A few days ago, judges Gustavo Hornos and Ana María Figueroa, from Division I of the Court of Cassation, once again refused my appeal for prison exemption, just like Judge Torres and the Division II of the Criminal and Correction Chamber did before.[1] The government wants me in prison to scare all those who are struggling. So I ask all of you to share and diffuse this letter as much as possible.
As part of the persecution, I was fired from General Motors, where I was also a delegate. My co-workers continue the struggle in the present, to take down all traitor delegates that endorse layoffs. All the strength, comrades! We can win this!
To scare me and make me surrender, they are threatening and attacking my family, my friends and my party, the PSTU. They even set on fire the car of one of my lawyers, Martín Alderete. But this the justice does not talk about.
What authority can this government have, when the President himself is prosecuted for robbing money from the State? A government that killed Rafael Nahuel, Facundo, and so many poor young people, in the back. A government that hides that Gendarmerie killed Santiago Maldonado, that keeps in jail the detainees of D14 with no trial as well as Milagro Salas for occupying a square, and that extradites Jones Huala as a terrorist?
How is it possible that they order international arrest for “the mortar madman” (as the media calls me) as if I was an ISIS terrorist, while they free military genocides of the dictatorship? This persecution against me, and against Arakaki and Dimas Ponce, has to end now.
They want me in jail because they are scared of the growing number that confronts Macri’s adjustment. But, despite not being able to see my people, despite the threats and bullying, I will not give up, because workers don’t do that. I feel like just one more of the hundreds of miners from Rio Turbio that resist the layoffs, occupy the mines and confront Gendarmerie with whatever they have handy. They are an example of what needs to be done!
The puebladas in Azul and the mills in the North are fighting for bread for their families! We cannot accept any more “stick” against our people and hunger for our children when we leave of lives at work every day. This cannot go on!
For all this, I want to give a message to all workers that get to read this letter: do not leave the streets! Let’s not allow any more layoffs! Let’s not let them ruin our lives with an adjustment that our families will have to pay! We have to organize and unite to fight this famine-causing government! The leadership that says that wants to confront the government has to call for a General Strike, and if they don’t, we have to organize it from the rank and file!
We cannot take this anymore. Workers, women, youth, popular sectors, and everyone fighting for our rights have to take Macri down like we did with De La Rua in 2001. Let’s organize assemblies and meetings with our coworkers at every workplace. Let’s organize our outrage. There is no other way – it is them or us.
Long live the working class’ struggle! Out with Macri!
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Notes:
[1] See article https://litci.org/en/we-repudiate-the-prison-exemption-refusal-to-sebastian-romero/