Mayra Mendoza It balances its militant side and the role it occupies at the head of the mayor of Quilmes, one of the Buenos Aires parties most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Defends the intervention of the group Vicentin, states that we must “beef up” the quarantine and criticism the decision of the City Government to enable the exits to to run. “In the exercise of power and taking charge of caring for the population, one has to bank off the pressures,” he says during the interview with BAE Business, in allusion to the Buenos Aires president, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta.
– Quilmes is the second municipality with the highest number of infections in the province of Buenos Aires, to what do you attribute this situation?
“The focus on Azul made us raise the number of cases considerably. At one point, we had the same amount in Blue as in the rest of Quilmes. For every 100 thousand inhabitants we have 187 and an average of duplication of 15 days. We are a district of 700 thousand inhabitants, so the number is greater than in other districts. But the overcrowding situation in some neighborhoods and the conditions in which half the population lives is an influencing factor. The pandemic is an opportunity to make visible and highlight inequalities. To all this it is added that there was a certain relaxation with the quarantine.
—With the current numbers of infections in the municipality, do you think that the operation carried out in Barrio Azul was successful?
—Yes, it was a successful measure. If we hadn’t taken that step in blueInstead of 344 infections between Quilmes and Avellaneda, we would have had thousands. Many things were said, but it is not possible to make a sanitary isolation of that community without the accompaniment of the neighbors. We are talking about more than 5,000 people. Unlike other places, where close contacts are only those in the house, in a popular neighborhood the house is the neighborhood, so in Azul they were all close contacts of several confirmed cases. Today is minimum The number of infections, although sadly three people died.
—Are you evaluating the possibility of applying community isolation in Itatí?
—When we detected cases in Azul, we were already working on Itatí. We were concerned about its demographic density and its territorial extension. Currently, we have a permanent Detect operation there. There are 300 confirmed cases in that neighborhood, but in relation to what we experienced in Azul, the positivity index is much lower. Equally, It would not be possible make a community isolation as in Azul because it is five times bigger.
—One of the fears that appears in the citizens who live in popular neighborhoods is that if they detect Covid-19, they are interned and they steal the things from their homes, how do they guarantee that this does not happen?
—In Azul, in cases where the house was left alone, we had a strong accompaniment from the province. Had police presence within the neighborhood to take care of those houses because it is a fear that exists. In Itatí there are always family members who are close contacts, something similar to what happens with climate emergency situations. But if I say that we make sure that nobody touches their things, I am failing the truth because no it’s something we have absolute control.
-During the pandemic some situations of police violence have been seen in the province, in general, against the most vulnerable, how do they avoid that?
—We resolved that there be a police presence and different ministries. Many neighbors they joined participate cast guaranteed than no beech institutional violence or abuses by neighborhood residents who were referrals and had access to some resources.
– Ten days ago, on your Twitter account, you released a video showing the pedestrian Rivadavia full of people. What are the chances of going back to phase 1?
—Never must hide what’s happening. That video was a way to raise awareness. This moment requires a lot of responsibility on the part of those of us who assume the State, but also of the citizens. At the same time that the State must control for isolation to be met there must be the self control. State resources are finite. I know isolation is difficult. I have not seen my daughter for a month and when I see her it is with a chinstrap because she has been in quarantine for a hundred days and I, due to my work and exposure, live permanently with people and health workers and I cannot put her at risk.
The most difficult moment has not yet come and we see that many neighborhoods circulate through the streets with total normality. Let’s not be irresponsible, let’s not go out looking for the virus. pic.twitter.com/qK7APHzBGO
— Mayra Mendoza ☀️ (@mayrasmendoza)
June 13, 2020
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“Why do you think that at this point many people do not respect quarantine?”
-The first painful image was that of the banks. Then the qualification going out to to run in the City from Buenos Aires. When I saw that, I felt that respect for the health authority had been lost. The next day, a group of young people asked me through networks that they wanted to do something in the Plaza de Quilmes. I said no, we were in quarantine. And what they asked me was why in the city you could go out and not in the province. Then in some shopping malls there were a lot of people. It is not to blame anyone, but there are things that end up replicating because they are seen as ratings in fact.
—The City of Buenos Aires has the highest number of infections in the country for every 100,000 inhabitants, however, as you point out, the State has made the quarantine more flexible, what is it responding to?
—I can understand the situation of the merchants and the fatigue of many neighbors, but in the exercise of power and taking charge of caring for the population, one has to bankrupt the pressures. There are pressures permanently. Who we are in the government places we have to make the decisions that we need beyond the pressures of the different sectors.
– Are the pressures on Rodríguez Larreta coming from Together for Change, the space to which he belongs, or from business sectors?
—Both. There is a Pressure of the Economic sectors and of some groups media, who seem to be working against isolation. There is nothing more to compare with what happens in Brazil or the United States. In Argentina we are making a very big effort, but with the support of the State through the IFE, the double Universal and Pregnancy Allowance and the reinforcement of food assistance. I think that the head of the Buenos Aires Government is interested in all citizens equally and not least those who live in a town.
– What margin is there to continue with the current health strategy before the hospital system collapses in the province?
—You have to follow the current strategy. You even have to beef up the quarantine so you don’t collapse and you don’t have to choose who to put a respirator on. Today we are at 60 percent of our UTI capacity. We have to think about the health system as a whole. There are no differences between private and public health. People’s lives are all the same. We will attend where we have to attend.
– Even with certain differences, until now the Nation and the province have been working in coordination with the City, what level of support is there from the opposition in the municipality?
—We have a community prevention scheme called Cuidarnos and the councilors of the opposition at launch. In Itatí, last week they said they wanted add to work. The truth is that there is accompaniment.
—In the beginning, from Together for Change they supported compulsory isolation, however now they maintain that the Government “fell in love” with the quarantine, to what do you attribute this change of position?
“I can’t find any other adjective for you than to say it’s a miserable position.” Of Together for Change I cannot expect anything else because as a government they did not care about the lives of the most humble and of many people who needed the public health system. They do not believe in the State. They are not all, in Quilmes some have joined to participate in the community participation scheme. But there are national references that exacerbate hatred. In this context, it is misplaced, irresponsible and miserable.
—Another issue that the opposition has been questioning is Vicentin’s intervention. Beyond the political-ideological differences, do you think the President hastened to announce the expropriation?
-Is a smart decision. What the State wants to do is a company rescue, which is in call for creditors and puts 5,000 workers and 2,600 producers at risk. And it is strategic to achieve food sovereignty and guarantee food to a large part of our population; and also to set prices. Some sectors play at confusion and many people go out to defend Vicentin without knowing that this company is part of a scam to the national state and to many people. Furthermore, when they defend private property they should think about the private property of the 2,600 producers.
– Through the intervention, could the State regulate the grain market?
“And … yes, not entirely.” Is a tool more to be able do what.
—If, as you say, the expropriation announcement was not rushed, why did the president back down and now analyze Omar Perotti’s proposal?
“It doesn’t change Alberto’s goal.” The forms are being checked. But the of Vicentin is a fact Because there is a specific need and there is an ongoing investigation regarding the 18 billion that it owes to the State.
—What is your reading of the “Banderazo” last Saturday?
—The irresponsibility of some sectors of Together for Change they lead a very small part of the citizenry to defend interests that have nothing to do with what they live every day. Nothing changed here, when they were a government and today they made a lie of their political practice. You they lie to people when they say that Alberto Fernández I know falls in love from quarantine and they lie when they say that we are in against private property.
The situation of Milagro Salas
In December 2016, in the midst of the Mauricio Macri government, Mayra Mendoza was beaten in Jujuy by the provincial police while trying to enter the first public hearing in the trial against Tupac leader Amaru Milagro Sala. “I keep asking that your freedom be a fact,” says the community chief. And she adds: “Milagro is a victim of political persecution and she is also a woman who represents what many do not want. She always opposed any form of oppression and that bothers many. The fact of being a woman, of representing the collas Giving voice to those who had no voice puts it in a place of threat to those sectors that feel comfortable in those situations of injustice and inequality that live in Jujuy and many other parts. “
Legalization of abortion
When she was a national deputy, in 2018, she was one of the main defenders of the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy (IVE) project during the debate in Congress. “Feminisms build an agenda that will not change until abortion is legalized,” she says. He states that unlike at that time, “today in addition to having a president of the majority bloc who has spoken out in favor of this right, to the health of all women and pregnant people, there is the political will of the president to do so.” And he concludes: “It is always a good time to discuss this. I do not know if this year or next. Abortion sooner rather than later is going to be law.”
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