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BAUEN, day 40

One of issues with the trustee was the inventory of goods, because if it was done at the end of the occupation, they could be accused of having taken anything that was missing. Finally, an inventory was done of everything in the hotel at the time of the occupation, and the bankruptcy judge ended up giving the former workers provisional possession of the property. This resolution, despite its finite duration, served to give legal coverage to the first months of… Read More »BAUEN, day 40

BAUEN, day 39

In María Eva’s story, we also hear the emotion of that entry, something that hadn’t even been a dream months before. But we also hear the concern for the state the facilities were in. There was electricity, but the neglect was significant. “The only thing that made us happy was that we had lights. Otherwise, was everything a disaster—dirty, abandoned, no furniture, boarded up. We made a hole in the boards to be able go out to Callao street.” Marcelo… Read More »BAUEN, day 39

BAUEN, day 38

The takeover The former Bauen employees met on the morning of March 21st at the corner of the hotel. They were not alone. About a hundred people accompanied them, convened by the National Movement of Recovered Businesses. There, they were advised that the purpose of the call was not to be paid money by the trustee, but to occupy the hotel. It was not a surprise or anything unimagineable to those who were not aware of the true plans, since… Read More »BAUEN, day 38

BAUEN, day 37

So, Chilavert was an ideal place for the former Bauen workers to begin to join together with a view to an eventual recovery. This seemed absolutely unreal, initially. Arminda says that, “one day, my compañeros called me and told me that they were going to hold some assemblies to take over the hotel, because they had connected with a group of people, which is the (National) Movement of Recovered Businesses. I asked them if I was going to do them… Read More »BAUEN, day 37

BAUEN, day 36

The former employees of the Bauen connect with the MNER While close to a hundred factories and establishments of all kinds were working or in a struggle for recovery by different methods, the Bauen hotel remained closed and boarded up with a fence covering the whole front on Callao avenue. Most of its furniture and equipment for daily work as a hotel had been disappearing, even though supposedly the bankrupt business was under guard. The former employees, who still held… Read More »BAUEN, day 36

BAUEN, day 35

Chapter 5 The takeover The Bauen began its history as a recovered business March 21, 2003, a year and almost three months after its closure. Its workers had been left on the street in the middle of Argentina’s biggest economic crisis in decades, a crisis that was also social and political, and the end did not seem to be anywhere in sight. The year 2002 had been convulsive: mobilizations every day, exponential growth of the picket movement and neighborhood assemblies,… Read More »BAUEN, day 35

BAUEN, day 34

Iurchovich’s companies According to an investigation by journalist Guillermo Berasategui, the Iurcovich group is composed of almost 30 firms, several of which are simply name changes (changes to legal names) of existing firms, to facilitate certain evasive or fraudulent maneuvers. The flagship company is the Bauen hotel. Original group businesses: – Polytechnics (hospitality supplies)– Industrial Maintenance and Services Company (new name of Polytechnics) Hotel Bauen and derived or connected businesses: – Bauen SA– Bauen SACIC– Bauen SRL (which operated the… Read More »BAUEN, day 34

BAUEN, day 33

Solari Félix Santiago Solari Morello doesn’t have anything to do with the Solari family (except perhaps his anti-communism and his sympathy for the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet),1 prominent members of the bourgeoisie of Chile. Together with the Cúneo and Del Río families.2 they control the ownership of the chain of Falabella businesses, which arrived in Argentina in 1993. It is probable that this happy coincidence of last name and nationality did not awaken suspicions in anyone who learned that, four… Read More »BAUEN, day 33

BAUEN, day 32

In spite of all the indications of the general state of the country and of the accelerated decline of the business, the workers were left in a state of profound helplessness and a certain bewilderment by the loss of their jobs. “They were taking out comforters, curtains, beds, etc., lots of things, and we were saying,”what are we going to do?” We can’t do anything. We can only go to the Trustee and tell him not to let them take… Read More »BAUEN, day 32

BAUEN, day 31

Rodríguez Saá (the Peronista governor of the province of San Luis, who also learned how to weave alliances in the BAUEN around the year 2000), momentarily in charge of the presidency, declared that the country had entered into default with international credit organizations the 23rd of December. A short time later, he, in turn, left the government, in the rapid and chaotic succession of five presidents, culminating in the inauguration of Eduardo Duhalde, who had lost the elections of 1999… Read More »BAUEN, day 31