He Pope Francisco had a strong gesture support for union demands in favor of Aerolíneas Argentinas: received at the Vatican the head of the Argentine Association of Aeronauts, Juan Pablo Brey, one of the main leaders of the sector, and agreed to take a photo together with a flag with the name of the state company which, until today, Javier Milei sought to privatize, but would ultimately be left out of the list of companies that the Bases Law proposed to sell.
The meeting, which took place this morning, took place after the Supreme Pontiff was with Brey and a delegation of 26 union members, businessmen and members of the Colsal Foundation, from the University of Salvador, who spoke in detail about a project to solve the problem of food and its consequences on children, which is implemented through the Archbishopric of Buenos Aires in villa homes and soup kitchens in the city of Buenos Aires and in Greater Buenos Aires.
Brey integrated that delegation with colleagues such as Jose Voytenco (UATRE), Cristian Jerónimo (glass employees), William Moser (Light and force), Pablo Flores (AFIP) and Juan José Moreyra (ceramists), among others; the president of the Colsal Foundation, Fernando Lucero Schmidtand the head of the Association of Automotive Dealers of Argentina (ACARA), Ruben Beato.
The leader of Aeronavegantes took advantage of the visit to the Pope to raise not only his concern about the socioeconomic crisis in Argentina, but also to talk about the situation of Argentinian airlines: expressed at the meeting a strong defense of the company’s function and the importance of its preservation. “We are deeply concerned about the intention to privatize Aerolíneas Argentinas. We believe that this measure could have negative consequences for the country, especially for the most remote and less developed regions,” states a letter he gave to Jorge Bergoglio.
The text says that Aerolíneas “not only represents a symbol of national pridebut plays a crucial role in the connectivity and economic development of the country”, although he maintains that the problem with that company “is one of the many that Argentines face” and that also “the intentions of dismantle other critical areas of the Statesince, far from reversing the delicate situation of citizens, it will generate more people discarded of the society”.
In any case, in Argentina, at the beginning of the debate in the Senate of the Base Law, the ruling party announced that it was willing to modify article 7 of the initiative to remove from the companies “subject to privatization” Airlines, the Argentine Mail and Radio and Television Argentina (RTA), that controls the Public TV and National Radio and its 40 repeaters in the country.
Without knowing it yet, the Pope established his position on the Aerolíneas situation by accepting pose with leaders who oppose its privatization and accompanied by company and union banners. Brey, who participated in the meeting with other Aeronavegantes leaders, Verónica Espósito and Horacio Calculli, told Bergoglio that the “essential function” that the company develops so that “there are no citizens discarded just to live in remote areas or help integrate regional economies” that, otherwise, would remain neglected by an exclusively commercial airline system. “Aerolíneas Argentinas guarantees that all regions of the country have access to air transport, which is vital for the economic and social development of remote areas and regional economies,” he said.
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