The conflict crippling the subway for most of Thursday and the continuing pressure mounted against the publication of press publications have at least one common denominator — the rampant expansionism of CGT secretary-general Hugo Moyano from his teamster power base. The subway unrest which has caused nearly 50 major or minor stoppages so far this year has far less to do with pay or working conditions than union politics — underground workers do not identify with a UTA transport workers union entirely headed by bus-drivers, voting by over 98 percent in February to form their own union, and their demand would surely be irresistible (especially with the Supreme Court ruling in favour of union pluralism 18 months ago) were it not for the fact that the UTA leaders are Moyano’s oldest allies, coming from the same transport sector. As for the onslaught against media distribution, this stems from Moyano’s obsession with having everything on wheels within the teamster orbit although it would be naïve to imagine this to be the only factor where the media are concerned.

Moyano’s ambitions would have little importance if they were not intertwined with government strategy. As if it were not already obvious enough that Moyano’s lunge for media distribution adds another prong to a multiple attack aimed at controlling the press, the government decreed that all issues concerning the distribution of newspapers and magazines should be resolved by the Labour Ministry — an audacious move on the eve of the beginning of the 65th Inter-American Press Association annual assembly in this city, which places the eyes of the hemisphere on media freedom in Argentina. The government equally sides with UTA, taking full advantage of commuter frustration, to seal the alliance between Moyano and the Kirchners.

Nevertheless, the government is riding a tiger with all the protests crippling traffic in this city. Total indulgence of trade union and picket allies has distinct electoral dangers — five weeks ago President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner verbally admitted that the right to protest should not obstruct other rights and amidst all the chaos of Thursday these words were put into practice on the Pan-American Highway when riot squad units used water cannon to disperse protesting Atucha II nuclear power plant workers blocking the road.Paradoxically enough, the moves to control the social situation in the same way as the media or election campaigning (such as creating 100,000 “co-operative” jobs and a universal child benefit while placing their distribution in friendly hands) could lead to the social situation slipping entirely out of control.