Goye launches counter-attack against councillors

Bariloche Mayor Omar Goye yesterday launched a counter-attack against seven of the 11 members of the City Council who presented a bill for the mayor’s suspension and began the process for the recall of his mandate. Goye employed the same strategy as the councillors by formally requesting the revocation of their mandates.

The mayor, who has affirmed that he “will not be a scapegoat” for the incidents of looting on December 20, rejected the pressure from Río Negro Governor Alberto Weretilneck and Senate Majority Leader Miguel Angel Pichetto (who also chairs the provincial branch of the Justicialist Party) for him to resign, which led Bariloche councillors to attempt to force him out.

Goye stands accused of having been an accomplice to the looting by making a 92,000-peso payment to the People’s Organizations Work Co-Operative, which has been heavily linked to the looting. Consequently, the mayor was accused of “ineptitude.”

Goye defended the payment by claiming he had followed Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s orders by making welfare contributions and engaging in job creation for socially marginalized groups.

—Herald with Telam