Last Tuesday, the Popular and Solidarity Coordinator (CPS) organized a march in support of the organization due to the decision of the Ministry of Social Development to cut support for this organization when it comes to distributing supplies and doing it directly with the pot networks. After the event in which hundreds of people walked from Plaza Libertad (Cagancha) to Torre Ejecutiva, the spokesperson for this group, Pedro Rodríguez, took stock of it, explained the panorama of the coordinator and its relationship with citizens and the national government and that of the Municipality of Montevideo.
In dialogue with The R JournalRodríguez thanked the popular support, pointed to the intentions of the Executive and the repercussions of the Mides measures.
“We make a very positive assessment of the mobilization and the support it had. We have the support of all the people, especially the entire intersocial, with all the most important organizations in the country, as well as smaller groups that openly supported us. It is something very positive, that supports our work and action for two and a half years and that supports what we propose going forward”, said the representative of the movement.
Likewise, Rodríguez maintained that this week “things also happened that make us reflect on the government’s attitude of attacking our people, the pots, the people. That attitude, that of not looking at any issue that has to do with the human being and with the work we do, is something very worrying”.
The government still supplies, but it is not enough
Rodríguez clarified that the networks of the popular pots still receive supplies from the government, but they do so directly. “However, we have to evaluate to see if there was any difference in the amount of inputs,” he cautioned.
Regarding the products granted by the National Executive, he stressed that “they are not enough.” “We have to supply ourselves from another place, with many companies, organizations and onegés that compensate for what the government does not give us,” he asserted. “The central government is little, it is not varied and it is not of good quality. We could never get them to give us that opportunity to improve what they give us, neither in quantity nor in quality”, he added.
On the other hand, he emphasized and thanked the support of the Municipality of Montevideo, and social organizations. “With the Municipality of Montevideo it is different, they approached us and asked how to compensate and improve what we received. Based on that, we receive from them the inputs that do not reach us from the National Executive”, he said.
“The PIT-CNT did a great collection of supplies. We also received the great affection and the great hug of the Uruguayan people who in these days increased the donations in our account, which is very important for us because it allows us to have a significant level, it is not the one of a year and a half, but it is important because monetary donations fell a lot these five months and now they increased again. That money goes mostly to the networks so that they solve themselves and complete their activities, ”he added.
Less work
Regarding the logistical repercussions of the Mides decision, the spokesperson reviewed the evolution of the work of collecting and distributing food from the beginning until now.
“In 2020 we started alone, no one from the government gave us a hand, only the people, the neighbor, the union, the small merchants, but without logistics,” he acknowledged. Back then, the CPS rented the trucks to pick up the supplies at the Uruguay Adelante headquarters and then “first take them to the Corrales shed social center because of its proximity, there we each unloaded it by hand to be able to distribute it by each portion. which gave the sum of each network”.
“Later, when the administration fixed the internal problems and bought the trucks, we were able to go to the Prado, where we built a storage area. When the Rural del Prado came, we moved to the Mercado Modelo, where we have been since August 2021, ”he continued.
“Until now, from the Model Market we comfortably unloaded the supplies, distributed them through each network and the Municipality distributes them with the trucks of the ABC Plan,” he explained.
With the decision of the Mides they avoid this work. “We don’t have that weight on us. It’s been two weeks in a row that we don’t have to do that work, it’s a break for those who work in the pots, ”he assured.
“Attacking the pots is attacking the worker”
When asked about what he believed the intention of the Executive was with the resolution he took, he indicated that all that could be done was to speculate.
However, he warned that “when the Popular and Solidarity Coordinator is attacked, an organization that has a lot of leaders is not attacked. No, here there are workers, volunteers and honorary people who lend a hand and help and the same thing happens in the pots”.
“The organization is one, we all have opinions, we all have the right to decide and we do it together. I think that is what bothers the government: the collective formation, the intention of thinking why people have to go to a pot. I think that this is an important motivation for the government to curtail what we want to continue in this work, but we are very strong, “he said.
do not refuse to approach
Despite the existing differences with the government, Rodríguez assured that the CPS does not refuse to approach it. “We continue with the same conviction and strength regarding asking the government to receive us, the Mides to talk with us. We have projects and things to get ahead, ”he explained.
“We know that this has an expiration date. It was defined by the government that from February 28, 2023 there will be no more supplies for the pots. From March 1, the government will supposedly take over the work that we do and we hope that they will do it well, ”he added.
“We want to insert ourselves into this new system that they call the New Territory Relationship System. We also want people to work and be able to eat what they want and not what they can, as is done with us”, he concluded in this regard.
