In the days leading up to the arrival of Javier Milei to San Miguel de Tucumán to participate in the event for July 9 and the signing of the Pact of May, they evicted the vendors from the traditional used book fair that has been operating for 33 years on a property adjacent to the Historic House. A note from the journalist Gabriela Figueroa In the diary Argentinian time It reflected the drama experienced by the fair workers who were forced to recover the books from the trash. Below is the note:
“They broke the locks on two kiosks, took the books and threw them into a truck,” he says. Alberto Aguirreone of the historic fairground workers. The eviction was stopped by the intervention of the fairground workers themselves, who had not been previously warned. When the private garbage collection company 9 de Julio, on orders from the Municipality, began to throw the books into the trash, the workers contacted a lawyer and filed a police report.
“The lawyer told us that what they were doing was damage and theft, having violated kiosks and breaking locks since it is private property.” and furthermore, the company doing it was a third party,” he says.
A few hours later, the events became known, and the municipal authorities contacted the vendors, who were received this Friday by the president of the Deliberative Council, through efforts made by the councilor Gaston Gomez (Free South).
The photographs that circulated of the event form a sad picture of the political moment that the country is experiencing: dozens of books carelessly thrown into the back of a truck by the 9 de Julio company that collects urban waste in the city. A discarding of books in the name of Independence.
Aguirre says that the used book fair has existed for more than 40 years, “It was created in 1976, the hard times” and that it was moved several times until in 1991, when Tucumán was under federal intervention, they were granted authorization to operate on the property adjacent to the Historical House that belongs to the nation.
“The intervenor Chiche Araoz and the Minister of Government Troncoso They told us ‘find a piece of land and we’ll see how we can fix it’ and it was all bush. When we took possession, we removed 15 containers with garbage, we cleaned the property and we have been operating here for 33 years“, remember.
Subsequently, the mayor asked them to accept that the fair be expanded to other types of ventures. “The then mayor Amaya He told us that he knew that we had possession and told us that these people wanted to work on the property, we are also workers, humble, booksellers and we accepted that the entrepreneurs’ fair would come in the south plaza, there the property was divided in two,” expresses.
There are 14 booksellers in the Historic House and, says Alberto, not only can you find any type of book there, but they also act as tour guides around the place where they are located. But also, they have to scavenge to live because it is not enough.
“We sell something like ten books a day, so if I sell some, other colleagues don’t sell anything and they have to go out and find something because we are sellers.. This fair was born among those of us who work selling on the street, none of us were lucky enough to work for the State or in a company, we are workers who live day by day,” he says. In addition to books, Alberto sells hats and ponchos at folkloric festivals in the north.
Working aesthetics is not enough
The influx of tourists, especially retirees, in the area of the Historic House, makes the fair one of the most visited destinations for them, especially when the Tourism offices close. For this reason, Alberto explains, they have arranged tables and chairs to display the books, lend them and sell them.
“They always come, a month or 20 days before July 9, and we have not received any help or improvement from any government. We are willing to pay for the improvements, we do not want them to give us anything for free, we want dialogue,” he says. Aguirre clarifies that the fairgoers are hard-working, humble people, “but we also have culture.”
“They told us that they had to change the aesthetic part, that we couldn’t have tables and chairs, but tourists and older people come here, and we put the books out for them and let them sit down.tourists must be treated well, also retirees who come to visit Tucumán and sometimes do not have enough money to buy a book,” he says.
From the Municipality, Carolina OliverUndersecretary of Institutional Relations, declared to The Gazette that it was not an attempted eviction: “What was done is part of a work that began two months ago, whose objective is to enhance the square next to the Historic House and the Plaza de los Congresales.” Likewise, he stated that the operation included a registration process for merchants and artisans who operate in the area.
“We started registration two months ago, and to date we have registered three booksellers, who were the only ones in a position to operate legally. The rest were abandoned and in poor condition, with accumulated material, wet and broken books, and garbage scattered everywhere,” he stated.
Regarding the books, he said that “they were wet, torn and exposed to the elements. Anyone who believes they are their property and have some value can claim them without any problem.”
Asked about these statements, Aguirre emphasized “It is not like the undersecretary says, there are images of how they threw the books onto a truck. “Books cannot be trash, they are culture and they were not wet or exposed to the elements. How is it that the Municipality hires a private company to do this?”
He adds that the vendors do not want to confront each other. He says that they have presented successive ordinance projects to improve the premises in previous administrations, and that they do not want anything given to them. All they want is to work.
