The Minister of Public Space and Urban Hygiene of Buenos Aires, Ignacio Baistrocchi, stated that the evicted plot in the Parque Avellaneda area, where a cooperative of cardboard collectors operated, “had been illegally occupied for 10 years.” He confirmed that the operation was carried out after several notifications to its occupants. Baistrocchi explained in this way the eviction that took place on Wednesday at Ameghino 1035, under the Perito Moreno highway, where the cooperative ‘The Dawn of the Cardboard Collectors’ operated. According to the Argentine News Agency, it belongs to the Movement of Excluded Workers (MTE), led by deputy Juan Grabois. The eviction sparked a sharp exchange on social networks between the deputy and the head of government, Jorge Macri. Grabois called the mayor a “rat” and a “coward,” to which he replied: “In the city, the law is obeyed, and there is no room for squatters.” In an interview with Radio Rivadavia, Baistrocchi explained that the plot “had been illegally occupied for 10 years because at some point it was ceded and it stayed that way,” and expressed that the eviction “was great news for the neighborhood,” according to numerous neighbors after the operation. He added that with yesterday's eviction, “more than 553 properties have been returned to their owners” within the city, and stated: “Jorge (Macri) made the decision because our commitment is to the neighbor.” Furthermore, he highlighted that “the use for which the plot was originally ceded had been changed, as it was for a logistics yard and today they were processing textiles. That place is not prepared for that, and it is not what we are looking for in that neighborhood,” he added. “We have been talking about it for a year, it's not that we decided to remove them overnight, we had warned them that the plot's use had expired,” said the minister and pointed out that there were “very honest and hardworking people there, but others were not so much, and that was a problem in the neighborhood.”
