Excerpt: Interview from the Commission of Condemned Workers, Family and Friends of Las Heras to Arteaga,  worker of ATE-Río Gallegos recently released after a year and two moths of jail for fighting to gain a salary increase.

Alberto Arteaga: (…) this was everything fabricated by the government, fabricated by the judges, by the police so that we end up in jail and be able to attack Rio Gallegos people for them not to go out anymore to fight for an increase in salary. Because we went from demonstration to demonstration and every time it was more difficult to control people. (…)

They could not break us and we will continue fighting for the increase in wages we deserve. Because it is not fair we have to live with $3800 in a place where to eat at mid-day you need from $300 to $400, where to rent a house with a bathroom costs over $3800. So, we either eat or pay the rent, it is the true. We went out to fight for that reason, because we have hungry, not because we want to cause trouble, or want to have more money than what we had.
(…)

They tortured us. They tortured me, I lost weight-16 kilo- , they did not allow my family to see me. It was terrible.
(…)

It can´t be possible that the police go on strike one day, and at the next day they receive a 30% salary increase. And when we went on strike they gave us “5% increase”. That is $180.