For workers, the change in boss was a wake-up call that marked the beginning of the end. In María Eva’s words: In ‘97, it was reported to us that this part was going to be sold, that the Bauen Tower was going to be divided from the Bauen Suite.1 They offered us severance money that was far less than what we were due. I said that I was going to think about it, and they answered me that I had… Read More »BAUEN, day 28
The sale to Solari Frequent changes to the registered name were a lead-up to the sale of the hotel to a Chilean businessman named Solari. It was the end of an ever-more obvious decline, and coincided with the collapse of Buenos Aires as hotel showcase, as another product of the economic policy that was sinking into recession and making the city very expensive in dollars for tourists. Competition from big international chains that were starting to show up in the… Read More »BAUEN, day 27
At the beginning of the ‘90s, the hotel started to see changes: the business “outfitted the fourth floor of the hotel with offices for rent, to attract Chilean executives coming to do business. And the auditoriums of the hotel were transformed into the site of political meetings of every stripe.”1 The Iurcoviches’ Bauen was, according to researcher Alberto Bonnet,2 one of the places where Menem materialized his frivilous and consumerist ideology: “The nocturnal scenes of meetings in the fashionable nightclubs… Read More »BAUEN, day 26
Chapter 4 The closure “We were very happy about the World Cup, without knowing what was happening around us. We only saw the personalities who paraded by the hotel, while outside, people were being killed,” remembers Arminda Palacios, one of the members of the cooperative who worked at the hotel since its founding, or more precisely, a month prior to its opening. Arminda’s memory and that of other hotel workers takes on another dimension in the present. Currently, the BAUEN… Read More »BAUEN, day 25
What really had happened was very different: Bauen SACIC had accepted a plan in fifteen payments, of which it only made the first. That is, Giordano was making his demand on the basis of an arrangement that had expired for lack of payment, and on top of then, tried to make the State pay the costs of the trial. As we see, it is a constant in the conduct of the Iurcoviches to finance themselves one way or another with… Read More »BAUEN, day 24
The debts to the Government of the City of Buenos Aires Between 1991 and 1993, when its registered name was still Bauen SACIC, the business fell into debt to the City of Buenos Aires for non-payment of taxes on gross income (II.BB.) and for fees for streetlights, street sweeping, and maintenance (ABL) for the sum of AR$794,640.54. To deal with this debt, the business accepted a payment plan, as recorded in the General Directorate of Rents of the Government of… Read More »BAUEN, day 23
The attempts to collect the remainder through the Banco Nación, the entity that managed the residual portfolio of the BANADE, included an agreement in 1994 with Bauen SACIC for six million dollars. At that time, parity of 1 peso = 1 dollar (Convertibility Law of 1991) was in effect, which established a more than favorable agreement for the Iurcoviches, since it notably reduced the original amount. Even so, the Iurcoviches would again fail to fulfill their agreements.1 According to calculations… Read More »BAUEN, day 22
The contract signed with Bauen SACIC stipulated a series of disbursements that the BANADE would make in return for the firm presenting certificates that gave an account of the progress of the work. Shortly after beginning, Iurcovich’s business introduced a series of modifications to the original plans approved by the bank, consisting of increased parking, an expansion of the conference hall, and the construction of a pool. The BANADE approved these modifications, but stated that the loan should be understood… Read More »BAUEN, day 21
These are the social reasons of the businesses that asked BANADE for loans they never finished paying, if they even started, or ever intended to. The liquidation of the National Bank of Development during the government of Carlos Menem facilitated things things for them. Gaglianone Establecimiento Gráfico SACI is currently the recovered business Chilavert Graphic Arts Worker Cooperative, Ltd., while Electrodomésticos Aurora SA was rebaptized by the workers as Renacer [Rebirth] Worker Cooperative, Ltd. With the exception of Sasetru, all… Read More »BAUEN, day 20
The maneuvers of chaining firms that are bought and sold as a way to hide the true owners and the source of their capital, getting loans from public banks and never paying them, using debt waivers or transfers to the State, and filing lawsuits against the State to obstruct investigations (something like a thief shouting “stop, thief”), are typical tricks used by which business groups of the so-called “contractor homeland” to grow at the expense of the public treasury, and… Read More »BAUEN, day 19