They will reform the Constitution to end social chaos
In Jujuy, one of the 23 Argentine provinces, they are planning to reform the provincial constitution to incorporate some innovations. One of them, to prohibit the blocking of roads and the blocking of public spaces, as well as to regulate social protest and other potentially coercive measures so that its exercise as a constitutional right does not collide with the normal performance of the daily activities of the affected community. . From Buenos Aires they wasted no time firing at the initiative and calling the provincial governor and his followers fascists and enemies of the working class.
Jujuy is part of the “lithium corridor” that integrates with two other provinces, Catamarca and Salta, which have placed the country as the fourth largest producer of this essential mineral for the manufacture of batteries for state-of-the-art electric mobility. Although the export of this product barely reached US$ 185 million in 2021, the projects underway aim to bring that figure to US$ 4,000 million by 2025. Canada, the United States, South Korea and China are the main destinations of the lithium produced in the northwest. Both the avidity for the alkaline metal and its great availability in the Andean foothills close a virtuous circle of large investments and job creation.
But against this brilliant business perspective, a social conflict arises in Argentina that has become a preventing machine. The roadblocks, the blockades of companies and the indefinite occupation of public spaces for any pretext -valid or not- make displacement almost unfeasible every time a union or social movement thinks of marching or camping. In the small province bordering Bolivia and Chile, they seem determined to put an end to this disturbance factor that, in the case of the city of Buenos Aires, turns the country’s capital into a territory free for all kinds of outrages on a daily basis.
Jujuy has launched its initiative to put an end to uncontrolled social turmoil and give way to a climate of work and investment. “To attract foreign capital, order and predictability must be offered,” said the provincial governor. “And we are determined to guarantee them by reforming the constitution of this province, although some may not like the idea.”
