"We're going to die on the roads": The Road Workers' Union's stern warning after the closure of the Highway Department

The General Secretary of the Road Workers and Related Workers Union (STVyARA), Graciela Aleñá , criticized President Javier Milei and his government after the announcement of the dismantling of theNational Highway Administration (DNV). Aleña questioned the national government for dissolving the agency and criticized the conception of the Agency for the Control of Public Transportation Concessions and Services, the department that will replace it.

" We're all going to die on Argentina's roads; it's a disgrace, " the union leader emphasized after the press conference given by presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni and the Minister of Deregulation and State Transformation, Federico Struzenegger. " They're lying about our responsibilities and they crafted this decree to do business, just like they did with the Fuel Tax, which they scandalously diverted for purposes other than roads ," she denounced.

The union leader took aim at the National Government's decision, calling it "deeply ideological," and asserting that it "is part of a plan to downsize the State to the maximum extent possible, invading structures fundamental to its development with the argument of a lack of efficiency." Aleña also questioned the distribution of State funds and stated that the dissolution of the Highway Department "points to a greater role for the armed forces in the sector." " It is a clear message of repression and new business structures within the forces ," she stated.

According to the STVyARA leader, the decree soon to be published by the government will mean the dismissal of 5,500 workers and the abandonment of 118 national highways and more than 40,000 kilometers of unmaintained roads. Along these lines, Aleña called on the governors to oppose the decree.

During another part of her statement, the union leader attacked the Minister of Deregulation, calling him "Milei's henchman," and added: "There are evil, unscrupulous people in the government with a huge lack of technical knowledge." Aleña also warned that the infrastructure assets "will be liquidated by the property agency AABE." "That's what they're good for, to do business with the assets of all Argentinians," she emphasized.

Finally, regarding the announcement of the creation of the new regulatory body, the Agency for the Control of Public Transportation Concessions and Services , he said: "The new agency will be tied to a political-fiscal logic, not a technical or federal one. It will be a new way of circumventing parliamentary oversight and suppressing labor rights by blurring the current institutional framework."