Steve Herrick

Of course, the ends pursued by the new administration and the modes of organization and decision-making were far removed from those of the previous employers. This was not lost on the media, which systematically opined and wrote against the hotel workers (and against the working class in general): Through contacts with the delegate on line E, Roberto Pianelli, the picketers floated the idea of holding assemblies and press conferences in the hotel Bauen. Since a worker cooperative is in charge… Read More »BAUEN, day 54

Although it initially seemed “crazy” to Juan Carlos to install their little print shop in an occupied hotel, after several months, he was convinced. The fact that the copy center started working, almost exclusively for the cooperative, was an example of the things that began to function, and better all the time, relieving the fears of Tonarelli senior, who (…) created a list of prices for the cooperative that was unbeatable, with a very important bonus, which functioned as payment… Read More »BAUEN, day 53

A hotel underway At the beginning of 2006, a little more than a year after the visit of the Venezuelan orchestra, the BAUEN hotel was fully functioning. As an article in Lavaca documents, it had grown “from 35 to 140 members, who keep the hotel operating 24 hours a day: the auditorium, the coffeeshop, the bookstore, and the event rooms. Theater works, radio broadcasting with a large audience, musical performances, and art exhibitions were part of the programming in 2005.… Read More »BAUEN, day 52

María Eva remembers that moment: When the Venezuelans were looking for housing to bring a group, they spoke with us, but the hotel was still very ugly. The boards that had been up before had been taken down, but the rooms were not ready. We told them the story of the hotel, that we were a cooperative, but that at that time, we didn’t have things ready, they could help us if they advanced us payment for the lodging. In… Read More »BAUEN, day 51

The Great Homeland The dividing line between the prolonged period of “holding on” — the first activities — and the launch of the reactivated hotel could be drawn by the solidarity of the Bolivarian government of Venezuela. At this moment, at the beginning of 2004, the hotel had not managed to re-establish the ability to provide housing. To do so, it had to get a minimum amount of resources to be able to facilitate the use of at least one… Read More »BAUEN, day 50

Soon, other projects were also located in the BAUEN. On the Callao side, with the door to the new bar, a bookstore was installed, which was there for several years. During one semester, classes were given by the Language Laboratory of the School of Philosophy and Letters of the UBA. Training courses for workers and activists of the MNER were held, as were countless initiatives that were welcomed in their meeting rooms. Around that time, another large conflict was brewing… Read More »BAUEN, day 49

The mere existence of an occupied hotel in the very center of the city of Buenos Aires quickly turned the BAUEN into a center of political and union activities. The MNER itself started to use the rooms for meetings and assemblies. October 11, 2003, for example, a debate was held about legislation for recovered businesses, led by “the Basque” Murúa, José Abelli, and lawyer Diego Kravetz (already a Deputy-elect), to which various legal experts were invited, including some who were… Read More »BAUEN, day 48

Chapter 7 The recovered hotel While Rosalía Peñarrieta’s birthday was the key to rehabilitating the event rooms, the key to the guest rooms, which is to say, the hotel itself, was still missing. In spite of the efforts of the cooperative workers, a year after the occupation, they were still not in conditions to accommodate guests. Twenty stories of hotel rooms needed furniture, sheets, repairs, hot water, paint, etc. All that was being done, little by little, story by story.… Read More »BAUEN, day 47

The party was held at the beginning of October of 2003, and marked the return of food and hospitality activities to the building at Callao 360—this time, without the boss. As Plácido says: The bitterness of not being able to sufficiently satisfy the needs of my family for a year was mixed with the sweetness of being able to pay the debt to my daughter, thanks to the solidarity of all the compañeros. So, I went down in history as… Read More »BAUEN, day 46

Two plans were combined: on the one hand, Plácido wanted to organize his daughter’s birthday party, though he didn’t have the resources, and was trying get them through the solidarity of various sectors; and on the other hand, the workers at the BAUEN cooperative no longer only wanted to help out a compañero who had helped them to recover the hotel, but as reason to return to restore the rooms, kitchen, and other parts of the building, and give themselves… Read More »BAUEN, day 45