Mayor paid looters on ‘CFK orders’

Bariloche Mayor Omar Goye responded yesterday to accusations by Río Negro Governor Alberto Weretilneck who claimed the mayor had paid off members of the 1 de Mayo Co-operative, accused of looting the city’s supermarkets on December 20.

Goye said yesterday that President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner had ordered him to administer funds and provide work to the co-operatives, adding that he refused to be “a scapegoat” for the lootings.

According to the mayor, the President had told him the previous year: “Omar, we need to solve this social problem and provide money and work to the co-operatives. That is the responsibility of a good administrator.” It was on this basis that he had doled out funds and jobs to the co-operatives.

At the beginning of the week, Weretilneck claimed that Goye was an accomplice in the lootings because he had given 100,000 pesos to the Popular Organizations Work Co-operative, which has been linked to the supermarket raids.

“This sum was supposedly for completing work that the municipality claims was for constructing sidewalks,” said the governor.

But Goye — who was elected as the Victory Front (FpV) candidate in 2011 — denied the accusations and said that the 92,000-peso payment was for construction work earlier in 2012.

The mayor also referred to late governor Carlos Soria, saying: “This would not have happened if (Soria) were still here. But if the Governor thinks I will be their fall guy, he is mistaken.”

Goye also expressed concern that Upper House Majority Leader Miguel Angel Pichetto had failed to respond to the mayor’s efforts to reach him.

The mayor accused Weretilneck and Pichetto of trying to stage “an institutional coup” and declared that he would not leave a post he had been awarded by popular vote.

Herald with Telam