Argentina captures a Spanish vessel for presumed illegal fishing in the Argentine Sea.

The Argentine Coast Guard (the Prefectura) has captured a Spanish flagged vessel in waters of the Argentine Sea that was carrying out fishing activities presumed to be without authorisation, Coast Guard sources confirmed to EFE today.

The security service said in a communiqué that the fishing vessel was found inside the Exclusive Argentine Economic Zone and was intercepted by coast guard ship GC 27 Fique, of the Argentine Coast Guard.

Sources of the Coast Guard consulted by EFE said that the Spanish flagged vessel, named as the “Piscator”, belonged to the fishing company De Bon, based in Galicia, and its last port of call was Montevideo.

According to the Coast Guard, the vessel was operating in Argentine waters, at the latitude of Comodoro Rivadavia (1,840 kilometres south of Buenos Aires) when it was detected by a coast guard patrol.

Spanish diplomatic sources consulted by EFE confirmed the arrest of the fishing vessel and stated that the circumstances of when the detection and arrest of the vessel took place must now be resolved, and whether the vessel was carrying out illegal fishing activities at that moment.

After detecting the vessel, the crew of the coast guard ship first established communication with the fishing vessel by radio and audible signals “with the objective of getting the vessel to stop, according to international regulations”, said the Coast Guard in its communiqué.

“The Spanish vessel did not comply with the order and tried to change course seeking international waters, which led to a pursuit. The captain of the coast guard vessel continued its calls over the radio without any interruption, in both Spanish and English, until the vessel stopped”, stated the communiqué.

According the Coast Guard, “an attempt was immediately made to arrange with the captain of the fishing vessel for it to be boarded by an inspection crew, but this was refused and the vessel then resumed it voyage”.

The Coast Guard vessel then began pursuing it again until the “Piscator” again stopped, and was boarded by officers of the Coast Guard.

According to the communiqué the coast guard officers stated that wet fishing equipment was on deck, two tonnes of fresh fish were being processed and there were 250 tonnes of frozen fish in the holds.

According to what Coast Guard sources have told EFE, the vessel, which is 72 metres long and 11.2 metres wide and has a crew of thirty, was being escorted today by the coast guard vessel towards the City of Puerto Madryn (1,470 kilometres to the south of Buenos Aires), where it would arrive on the afternoon of this Wednesday.

According to diplomatic sources consulted by EFE, the Spanish consul of the City of Bahia Blanca travelled to Puerto Madryn to meet the vessel and collaborate over the formalities.

Borders and Coast Guards in conflict won’t yield; government looks for scapegoats

Argentina’s Security Ministry decided the intervention of the Border Guards’ Department of Judicial Affairs due to “severe deficiencies” found in the application of the officers' “wage demands”, which led to the current situation that on Friday night was beginning its fifth consecutive day of conflict.

Cristina Fernandez television appearances overshadowed by the conflict

Protestors in front of their headquarter buildings waiting for Tuesday Protestors in front of their headquarter buildings waiting for Tuesday

Likewise, Security Minister Nilda Garré ordered the sanction and suspension of those officers responsible for the deficiencies, stated a communiqué.

In order to achieve the intervention, an administrative task force marched to the Centinela building, the Border Guards headquarters and sealed the judicial area to preserve documents.

According to the ministerial resolution the audit showed “irregularities in the process of judicial measures regarding wage claims”. It also stated that the Security Ministry will now be in charge of this area.

Meanwhile the protesting members from the Borders and Coast Guards announced that they will continue with their demonstrations waiting for the official reply to their list of petitions presented to the authorities who promised a reply before next Tuesday.

The Gendarmerie in Argentina is not only responsible for border patrolling but also accomplishes other security tasks in government buildings and some conflicting areas. Likewise the Coast Guard is not limited to sea patrolling but also must comply with some law and order duties in certain areas.

While the three traditional branches of the Argentine armed forces have been downgraded in resources and numbers, the Borders and Coast Guards, under the Kirchner couple administrations, have seen their numbers increase to over 50.000 and have also been assigned most of the intelligence gathering.

Last week a decree which was intended to mend long standing distortions in salaries, categories and contributions to pension funds, following on a court ruling, ended up implementing cut reductions in pay checks between 30% and 60%, which finally triggered the conflict.

On Thursday the Ministry of Security announced that all the deductions which caused the misunderstanding had been eliminated and pay checks were back to normal. However the conflict did not cease and on the contrary the protest continued this time with a long list of petitions including a starting wage or 7.000 Pesos equivalent to 1.400 dollars.

Protestors however have continued to comply with their forces’ responsibilities and those camped outside their headquarter buildings in downtown Buenos Aires and demonstrating are unarmed.

Meanwhile a branch of Argentina’s organized labour, which responds to the government, called for an end to the conflict and stated in full page ads in Friday newspapers that the “current protests leave citizens exposed and fearful” and insisted “security can’t be conditioned to any petitions, no matter how fair and honest, because it can become extortion and an open challenge to the constitutional authorities of a democratic States”.

But the secretary-general of the powerful CGT umbrella union Hugo Moyano, assured that “it is ridiculous” to label the protest over Border and Coast Guard wages a coup or an attack on democratic institutions.

“The greatest creator of this situation is the government itself,” the union boss said, furthering that “people want to live in a democracy, but in a real democracy, not in the kind of democracy that only gives authority to those who have responsibility to govern.”

Meanwhile President Cristina Fernández held her Friday agenda at the Olivos presidential residence, where she met several officials, in a week which only counted with one public rally.

Along the day, Cristina Fernández received Cabinet Chief Juan Manuel Abal Medina, Economy Deputy Minister Axel Kicillof and the head of the Anses, Diego Bossio.

It was the third consecutive day with little public activity. The Head of State continued with low profile, and still has not given any statement over the Border and Coast Guard officers protest.

This week, the Argentine leader headed a rally at the Government House and met with her Lebanese counterpart, with whom she held a shared conference about bilateral relations and international politics.

Argentine Coast and Border Guards conflict unchanged in its fourth day

Argentine Border and Coast Guards members were moving into their fourth day of conflict despite the fact the government of President Cristina Fernandez had deposited their full pay-checks that had been ‘mistakenly’ severely cut, based on Decree 1307. Prospects are that the conflict could extend until Tuesday.

Security Secretary Sergio Berni promised a reply to the petition before next Tuesday

Protesting outside their main headquarters in Buenos Aires, the “Centinela” and “Guardacostas” buildings representatives said they were waiting a reply to their petition on salaries, working conditions and pension contributions, while there were intense versions of ongoing discussions with the top brass of the two forces to unlock the conflict.

Security secretary Sergio Berni said he had received the petition from the protesting border and coast guards, and promised “a reply before next Tuesday”.

Some officers from the Navy and Air Force joined their comrade in arms camped outside the two headquarters while it was revealed that members from the Buenos Aires province police were also beginning to plan actions in demand of higher salaries.

Earlier on Thursday the new head of the Gendarmerie, Enrique Zach, pledged before a group of officers that “no disciplinary measures” will be applied against those who are protesting.

“In line with what was announced yesterday (Wednesday) by Cabinet Chief Juan Manuel Abal Medina, the money owed for the month of September has been deposited in the bank accounts of the Border Guard officer,” the Security Ministry announced in a statement.

The Argentine government responded on Wednesday to the protest by firing the top brass in both security forces and promising to remedy salary “injustices” caused by controversial Decree 1307/12.

Under the new system established by the decree most of the troops would either earn the same or less than they previously had. However, despite widespread sympathy for the cause, politicians of all political stripes condemned the protest, describing it as aggressive and even unconstitutional.

The new head of the Coast Guard Luis Alberto Heiler also held meetings with officers to discuss the situation but there was no immediate solution to the conflict.

The meetings were held at the Guardacosts building with the purpose of “recomposing authority links which deteriorated in recent hours expressed in aggression situations to some higher ranking officers of the force”, said a spokesperson for Heiler.

On Thursday morning members from the two forces said that they would continue with the protests until next Tuesday, when an official reply to the petition was promised and “guaranteed that all duties of the forces are being addressed with normality”. They insisted it was no coup or attack on the democratic system which they support.

“We’re not aggravating the situation: it was all the making of the Ministry of Security, she’s incompetent. We want a basic salary of 7.000 Pesos and full contribution to pension funds. Once they confirm this, in five minutes all is back to normal” one of the protestors was quoted.

Whilst they wait for the Security Ministry's answer over the signed petition presented earlier on Thursday, Border and Coast Guard officers anticipated they might deepen measures if they do not reach an agreement before Tuesday as was promised by the administration of President Cristina Fernandez.

Massive protests from Argentine Coast and Border Guards demanding higher salaries

The administration of president Cristina Fernandez was facing on Wednesday the major challenge of her second mandate as thousands of troops and petty officers from the border patrol and coast guard, plus some naval and police sectors went on strike over wage cuts and working conditions.

For second day running protests have continued despite firing chiefs.

The magnitude of the protest took the Argentine government by surprise, which reacted by firing the Coast Guard and Gendarmerie chiefs and forcibly retiring their ten commanders while promising to maintain the same level of pay checks as the previous month.

National Security Minister Nilda Garre announced the moves Wednesday evening, naming replacements and declaring that “the situation with the two security forces is therefore normalized”.

However late Wednesday night the new chiefs were holding talks with the striking members of the Coast Guard and the Border Guards plus retired personnel, whom turned the initial protest into a long list of demands.

The trigger was decree 1307 which eliminated all extra compensations and benefits, which meant cuts of 30% to 70% in pay checks. The government blames the administration of both forces for the ill-implementation of the decree which was meant only to be applied “to officers and not at troop level”.

However, protestors are now demanding not only the elimination of decree 1307, but a basic salary of 7.000 Pesos (approx 1.200 dollars) for a starting coast guard and border guard (compared to 3.400 Pesos currently); that the whole sum be taken for pension contributions and that the many court sentences favouring rank and file and retirees demands be complied by the Argentine government.

Under the current system only the basic salary contributes to the pension fund with all other payments and compensations not included. This was part of a policy implemented by the Kirchner couple when taking office in 2003 to lower the military budget, weaken pension funds and at the same time pay out lower pensions to the retiring officers.

However all along protestors have been very careful to point out that the issue is salaries, work conditions and pensions; it is no military mutiny or coup or any attempt to bring down a democratically elected government.

Nevertheless the irony of the situation is that back in 2003, then President Nestor Kirchner, who distrusted the Army, Navy and Air Force and drastically pruned their budgets, on the other hand boosted the Coast Guard and the militarized Gendarmerie, doubling their numbers and relying on them for intelligence gathering, plus custody of government buildings and other properties.

“Our idea is to stay until they find a solution” Gendarmerie officers gathered at the Centinela building told the press. “We support democracy. This is not a political uprising. It's nothing strange” officer Fernando Parodi shouted into a bullhorn at the rally in Buenos Aires, where hundreds of olive-green clad officers chanted slogans in solidarity.

“We are workers, like any others, who need to support our families; we are demanding wage conciliation talks” said the protestors at the Centinela building in downtown Buenos Aires.

In addition to the downtown area of Buenos Aires, officers across different parts of Argentina were also taking part, including in Rosario, Mar del Plata, Quequén, Zárate, Jesús María, Posadas, Paso de los Libres, La Plata, Dock Sud, Ensenada, Barranqueras, Comodoro Rivadavia and Río Gallegos.

The situation actually took off Tuesday night when Coast guard officials began protesting the passing of decree 1307 that had decreased their salaries by “between 30 to 60%”.

 President Cristina Fernandez called an emergency meeting Tuesday night on her return from Peru and met with Secretary of Security Sergio Berni, Minister of Security Nilda Garré and Economy Minister Hernán Lorenzino. Berni and Lorenzino had held negotiations that failed.

Political analyst Rosendo Fraga stated in a column that this is the most serious situation presented by the Argentine Coast Guard in its 200 year of existence and similarly with the 70-year Gendarmerie and blames the “anarchic income policy” implemented by government in the different forces.

Fraga points out that active officers under the current system are paid two and three times what a retired officer makes, but sooner or later he will also retire and this has triggered thousands of court demands most of them with favourable sentences further disrupting the wage scale.

“From a historic perspective it is an important crisis and its consequences currently hard to anticipate. Government mistakes can worsen the situation and getting it right can help to channel it” says Fraga.

He adds that many times wrong calculations can escalate situations and this evidently has played its part in this case but also “the attitude from members of the Argentine government who underestimate or are simply ignorant about security forces”.