Argentina to Bolsonaro: 'Your Hatred Is Not Welcome Here'

Argentina's human rights organizations, social movements and progressive parties are demonstrating Thursday evening against the visit of Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro to Buenos Aires the same day. "Your hatred is not welcome here" is the motto that thousands are ready to shout to reject fascism in Latin America.

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"The Brazilian president is despicable. In Argentina the military kidnapped and disappeared not only guerrilla fighters but also students, professors and workers (during the last military dicatorship). In our country only the elites support hate speech," said Agustin Cetrangolo, a member of HIJOS, an organization created by the family members of the disappeared by the Argentinian military regimes during the 1970s and 1980s.

The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, Workers' Left Front (FIT), "Not One Woman Less" (NUM), Confederation of Argentine Workers (CTA) labor union and over 60 other grassroots organizations are planning to march from the capital's main 9 de Julio Ave. to Plaza de Mayo at 6:00 p.m. local time against the right-wing, repressive policies Bolsonaro has already implemented during his short time in office that he is trying to spread across South America.

Bolsonaro said he did not want Argentina to reelect former president Cristina Fernandez Kirchner who maintains supportive relationships with the former Brazilian governments of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff.

"We want the Argentine people to choose a center-right candidate like Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Peru and Colombia did," Bolsonaro confessed recently and added, "I hope the Argentine people reflect a lot on this for the elections."

"Join us at the Plaze Mayo to tell Bolsonaro: 'Your visit is not welcome. Get out of here'," said Taty Almeida to local media. Almeida is an 89-year-old woman whose son was kidnapped and murdered by 'Triple-A', a paramilitary group that worked on behalf of of the dictatorships.

Academics and politicians also consider Bolsonaro's visit a way of showing some international support for Argentine President Mauricio Macri and his macroeconomic adjustment programs as conditioned by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to approve a US$53.6 billion loan for the nation in 2018.

In an open letter, Amnesty International asked Macri to take into account that "toxic words and anti-human rights rhetoric are already becoming concrete actions" in Brazil.

The international NGO stressed that Bolsonaro's loosening regulations last month regarding public use of firearms in Brazil, "may generate rights violations to life and freedom" of the Brazilian people.

The feminist organization NUM says the IMF and Bolsonaro "represent hate. We will keep resisting. See you in the Plaza!" 

According to the official agenda, Bolsonaro will have a private meeting with Macri and then both leaders will offer a joint statement to the press.

"The president of Brazil will review with Macri details of the latests negotiations of the Mercosur-European Union Free Trade Agreement," local media El Perfil reported and added that the political impassein Venezuela will also be discussed by the two leaders who support the self-declared interim president Juan Guaido.

The FIT party denounced Bolsonaro who they say "will meet with Macri to reinforce policies of repression, adjustment and surrender to the IMF".