The opposition is calling on the appeals court to nullify all actions taken by the electoral board and has initiated criminal proceedings, said the sector led by Gutiérrez. The hottest moment was at the end of November, when the electoral board removed the Blue and Brown list, citing formal reasons. The opposition list was headed by Gutiérrez, a supervisor at Toyota, general secretary of the Zárate Campana region of ASIMRA and head of that same region of the CGT, who quickly took the matter to court, requesting the nullification of the board's actions. Now, in the middle of the summer break, after requests were sent to ANSES and ARCA, it has become clear that the ruling party's list, Gray, Sky Blue, and White, actually committed the irregularities it accused the Blue and Brown list of: anti-statutory candidacies, candidacies of associate members who are not workers in the sector but employees of the union or social security, and candidacies of retirees without sufficient contributions to metallurgical or mechanical companies, the opposition union denounced. Gutiérrez committed to making an official announcement soon with his lawyers (he is represented by the Recalde firm), in which he would present the evidence gathered. "Now the justice system must decide. The good thing is that their days are numbered." The reference is to Luis García Ortiz, who has led ASIMRA since 1983 and in these four decades has never faced a union election, and to the small group of leaders who have accompanied him all this time. In turn, the advisors to the Blue and Brown list have initiated criminal proceedings, as they believe that the actions of the ruling party could constitute forgery of public documents, fraud, and illicit association, among other charges. Faced with what they consider a "tilted playing field," fearing some trick that would prevent them from competing, the leaders of the Blue and Brown list certified the signatures of six hundred guarantors before a notary. In a key union for the Zárate-Campana port terminals, the dispute has escalated and moved into the criminal realm, which is also causing concern in the business sector. It all started with an opposition leader whose list was removed, Carlos Gutiérrez — general secretary of the CGT's Zárate-Campana region — who filed a criminal complaint against the ruling party nationally, led by Luis García Ortiz, who has governed the union since the return of democracy in 1983. The charges are forgery of public documents, fraud, and illicit association and are being processed in Criminal and Correctional Court No. 36 under file number 65342/2025, according to Noticias Argentinas agency. Gutiérrez maintains that the current leadership of the Argentine Association of Metallurgical Industry Supervisors (ASIMRA) are "squatters." The future of ASIMRA could take a turn after the latest evidence was added to the file, which, through public agency reports, corroborates a large number of irregularities in the ruling party's list, both among its candidates and its guarantors. "For me, it is clear that they cannot compete with that list, but at the same time, workers deserve to vote and have a legitimate leadership, as it should be," he said. And he pointed out: "There is a question I can't get out of my head, and that is how many times they must have done the same, because I don't believe it was the first time. The bad news is that there are squatters in the headquarters on Azcuénaga Street."
