Hugo Moyano
Encyclopedia
Hugo Moyano is an Argentine labor leader and Secretary General of the CGT
, the nation's largest trade union.
, in 1944. His family settled in seaside Mar del Plata
early in his childhood, and he entered the labor force in his teens as an employee of Expresos y Mudanzas, a prominent local moving company. He was elected shop steward in 1962, and soon became a leader in the Mar del Plata local of the Truck Drivers' Union, a member of the CGT
labor federation. Moyano was elected head of the local, in 1972, married the former Liliana Zulet and had seven children.
Moyano reached an agreement with the right-wing National University Round Table (CNU) to jointly establish the Peronist Union Youth (JSP), in 1973. Moyano's entry into politics was made amid fast-growing tensions between the far left and far right fringes of Peronism
, shortly after the end of its political banning. A staunch opponent of the Peronist left, he joined the JPRA, a rightist counterpart to the influential, left-wing Peronist Youth (JP); both the JSP and JPRA maintained close links with José López Rega
(head of the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance).
The keystone of Peronist support, the CGT, became one of the targets of the Dirty War
following the March 1976 coup, however: union activity was banned and thousands of their members "disappeared." Restrictions were later eased, and the CGT was reconstituted under beer workers' leader Saúl Ubaldini
in 1980. Moyano was named head of the CGT's Mar del Plata delegation, and was arrested during numerous demonstrations against the regime's economic policies
. After these policies' collapse in 1981 and the loss of the Falklands (Malvinas) War
the following year, general elections
were called for 1983, ahead of which Moyano was named head of the Mar del Plata chapter of the late Juan Perón's Justicialist Party
.
Truck Drivers' Union in 1984 resulted in Moyano's promotion as Adjunct Secretary General and in 1987, he was elected full Secretary General of the union. A Peronist sweep in the September 1987 mid-term elections
sent Moyano to the Argentine Chamber of Deputies
(Lower House of Congress) for the Province of Buenos Aires.
He stepped down from Congress following his first term in 1991 to assume the Speakership of the National Truck Drivers' Union, and was elected their Adjunct Secretary General, in 1992. He assumed chairmanship of the union's health plan on that occasion and, in April, established the 15 de Diciembre Truck Driver's Mutual Association. Like many in the CGT, he became increasingly distanced from President Carlos Menem
, who was elected in 1989 as a Peronist and on a populist pltaform; but had adopted free-market economics since, and by 1995, presided over an unemployment rate of 18% and stagnant wages. The Truck Drivers' Union helped lead a series of general strike
s in 1996, though under the banner of the "Argentine Workers' Movement" (MTA) - a dissenting, intransigent faction within the CGT.
An August 1997 meeting of the Transport Workers' Confederation of the Mercosur
Common Market area resulted in Moyano's election as their Secretary General; this was followed by a November 1998 election as Vice President of the Transport Workers' Section for the Latin America Committee of the ITF
, in London
.
Aside from shows of force like the 1996 general strikes, however, the CGT's leaderchip remained generally conciliatory with the anti-labor Menem for the sake of the Justicialist Party, whose defeats in the October 1997 mid-term elections
bode poorly for their chances in 1999 (elections they went on to lose). Moyano's rapproachment with the CGT's pragmatic Secretary General during the late 1990s, Rodolfo Daer, was again strained in the year 2000, when President Fernando de la Rúa
's plans to make Argentina's labor laws more flexible led to a new schism within the CGT, and in March, Moyano led the MTA as one of two major breakaway unions.
The collapse of de la Rúa's government in late 2001 made way for the parliamentary selection of former Buenos Aires Province Governor Eduardo Duhalde
, whose alliance to Moyano helped lead to the gathering of most of the CGT under a trio of Moyano, Susana Rueda of the Janitorial Workers' Union and José Luis Lingieri of the Water Works Union; a reunited CGT elected Moyano Secretary General in July 2004. Benefiting from a close alliance with the administrations of Néstor
and Cristina Kirchner, Moyano leveraged his role as head of the Council on Salaries (an officially-sanctioned advisory board) to secure a stronger collective bargaining position and frequent increases in the minimum wage, while opposing restrictive economic policy
proposals.
The labor leader was shaken by the November 2007 murder of Abel Beroiz, the longtime treasurer for the Transport Workers' Union and a close adviser of Moyano's. The arrest of his presumptive assassin the following March yielded information on a possible plot against Moyano, and the case remains pending in court. Amid the 2008 Argentine government conflict with the agricultural sector
over a planned hike in export taxes, Moyano proposed the creation of a "CGT-TV" and a related radio station. Long-standing differences with Restaurant Workers' leader Luis Barrionuevo led to a new, July 2008 schism within the CGT, whereby Barrionuevo led 40 unions into a "Blue-and-White CGT." Moyano secured his reelection as CGT head, however, and retained the support of 134 unions, including most of the larger ones.
The Truckers' Union, headed by the CGT leader's son, Pablo Moyano, staged a blockade of Buenos Aires distribution plants operated by Clarín
and La Nación, the nation's two leading newspapers, on November 6, 2009. Relations between the government (allied to Moyano) and the news media had become strained in the preceding months.
The labor leader's numerous business interests, as well as those of his wife, Liliana Zulet de Moyano, and other family members, later came under growing media and judicial scrutiny. The Prosecutor General of Switzerland
, Erwin Beyeler, reportedly requested copies of court files in March 10, 2011, related to money laundering
investigations of the Moyanos, and in response, the labor leader threatened to call a general strike
. The Ambassador of Switzerland to Argentina, Johannes Matyassy, clarified on March 19 that the Swiss investigation was limited to Ricardo Depresbiteris, proprietor of the Covelia waste transport company, and that no files pertaining to the Moyanos had been requested.
General Confederation of Labour (Argentina)
The General Confederation of Labour of the Argentine Republic is a national trade union centre of Argentina founded on September 27, 1930, as the result of the merge of the USA and the COA trade union centres...
, the nation's largest trade union.
Early life and career
Moyano was born in La PlataLa Plata
La Plata is the capital city of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and of La Plata partido. According to the , the city proper has a population of 574,369 and its metropolitan area has 694,253 inhabitants....
, in 1944. His family settled in seaside Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata is an Argentine city located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, south of Buenos Aires. Mar del Plata is the second largest city of Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" had apparently the sense of "sea of the Río de la Plata region" or "adjoining sea to the Río de la Plata"...
early in his childhood, and he entered the labor force in his teens as an employee of Expresos y Mudanzas, a prominent local moving company. He was elected shop steward in 1962, and soon became a leader in the Mar del Plata local of the Truck Drivers' Union, a member of the CGT
General Confederation of Labour (Argentina)
The General Confederation of Labour of the Argentine Republic is a national trade union centre of Argentina founded on September 27, 1930, as the result of the merge of the USA and the COA trade union centres...
labor federation. Moyano was elected head of the local, in 1972, married the former Liliana Zulet and had seven children.
Moyano reached an agreement with the right-wing National University Round Table (CNU) to jointly establish the Peronist Union Youth (JSP), in 1973. Moyano's entry into politics was made amid fast-growing tensions between the far left and far right fringes of Peronism
Peronism
Peronism , or Justicialism , is an Argentine political movement based on the programmes associated with former President Juan Perón and his second wife, Eva Perón...
, shortly after the end of its political banning. A staunch opponent of the Peronist left, he joined the JPRA, a rightist counterpart to the influential, left-wing Peronist Youth (JP); both the JSP and JPRA maintained close links with José López Rega
José López Rega
José López Rega was Argentina's Minister of Social Welfare during the Peronist government started in 1973 by Juan Perón and continued after Perón's death in 1974 by his third wife and vice-president, Isabel Martínez de Perón , until the coup d'etat of 1976 that initiated the so-called National...
(head of the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance).
The keystone of Peronist support, the CGT, became one of the targets of the Dirty War
Dirty War
The Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...
following the March 1976 coup, however: union activity was banned and thousands of their members "disappeared." Restrictions were later eased, and the CGT was reconstituted under beer workers' leader Saúl Ubaldini
Saúl Ubaldini
Saúl Edólver Ubaldini was an Argentine labor leader and parliamentarian for the Peronist Justicialist Party....
in 1980. Moyano was named head of the CGT's Mar del Plata delegation, and was arrested during numerous demonstrations against the regime's economic policies
José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz
José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz was an Argentine executive and policy maker. He served as Minister of the Economy under de facto President Jorge Rafael Videla between 1976 and 1981, and shaped economic policy during the self-styled National Reorganization Process military dictatorship.-Early...
. After these policies' collapse in 1981 and the loss of the Falklands (Malvinas) War
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
the following year, general elections
Argentine general election, 1983
The Argentine general election of 1983 was held on 30 October and marked the return of Democracy after the 1976's dictatorship self-known as National Reorganization Process...
were called for 1983, ahead of which Moyano was named head of the Mar del Plata chapter of the late Juan Perón's Justicialist Party
Justicialist Party
The Justicialist Party , or PJ, is a Peronist political party in Argentina, and the largest component of the Peronist movement.The party was led by Néstor Kirchner, President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, until his death on October 27, 2010. The current Argentine president, Cristina Fernández de...
.
Trade union leadership
Elections at the Buenos Aires ProvinceBuenos Aires Province
The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...
Truck Drivers' Union in 1984 resulted in Moyano's promotion as Adjunct Secretary General and in 1987, he was elected full Secretary General of the union. A Peronist sweep in the September 1987 mid-term elections
Argentine legislative election, 1987
The Argentine legislative elections of 1987 were held on 6 September. Voters chose their legislators and governors and, with a turnout of 83.6%, it produced the following results:-Argentine Congress:-Background:...
sent Moyano to the Argentine Chamber of Deputies
Argentine Chamber of Deputies
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress. This Chamber holds exclusive rights to create taxes, to draft troops, and to accuse the President, the ministers and the members of the Supreme Court before the Senate....
(Lower House of Congress) for the Province of Buenos Aires.
He stepped down from Congress following his first term in 1991 to assume the Speakership of the National Truck Drivers' Union, and was elected their Adjunct Secretary General, in 1992. He assumed chairmanship of the union's health plan on that occasion and, in April, established the 15 de Diciembre Truck Driver's Mutual Association. Like many in the CGT, he became increasingly distanced from President Carlos Menem
Carlos Menem
Carlos Saúl Menem is an Argentine politician who was President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. He is currently an Argentine National Senator for La Rioja Province.-Early life:...
, who was elected in 1989 as a Peronist and on a populist pltaform; but had adopted free-market economics since, and by 1995, presided over an unemployment rate of 18% and stagnant wages. The Truck Drivers' Union helped lead a series of general strike
General strike
A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
s in 1996, though under the banner of the "Argentine Workers' Movement" (MTA) - a dissenting, intransigent faction within the CGT.
An August 1997 meeting of the Transport Workers' Confederation of the Mercosur
Mercosur
Mercosur or Mercosul is an economic and political agreement among Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Founded in 1991 by the Treaty of Asunción, which was later amended and updated by the 1994 Treaty of Ouro Preto. Its purpose is to promote free trade and the fluid movement of goods, people,...
Common Market area resulted in Moyano's election as their Secretary General; this was followed by a November 1998 election as Vice President of the Transport Workers' Section for the Latin America Committee of the ITF
International Transport Workers' Federation
The International Transport Workers' Federation is a global union federation of transport workers' trade unions, founded in 1896. In 2009 the ITF had 654 member organizations in 148 countries, representing a combined membership of 4.5 million workers....
, in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Aside from shows of force like the 1996 general strikes, however, the CGT's leaderchip remained generally conciliatory with the anti-labor Menem for the sake of the Justicialist Party, whose defeats in the October 1997 mid-term elections
Argentine legislative election, 1997
Argentina held national parliamentary elections on 26 October 1997 and the results were as follows:-Background:President Carlos Menem, who successfully campaigned to have the Argentine Constitution amended in 1994 largely for the sake of being eligible for a second term in office, won the 1995...
bode poorly for their chances in 1999 (elections they went on to lose). Moyano's rapproachment with the CGT's pragmatic Secretary General during the late 1990s, Rodolfo Daer, was again strained in the year 2000, when President Fernando de la Rúa
Fernando de la Rúa
Fernando de la Rúa is an Argentine politician. He was president of the country from December 10, 1999 to December 21, 2001 for the Alliance for Work, Justice and Education ....
's plans to make Argentina's labor laws more flexible led to a new schism within the CGT, and in March, Moyano led the MTA as one of two major breakaway unions.
The collapse of de la Rúa's government in late 2001 made way for the parliamentary selection of former Buenos Aires Province Governor Eduardo Duhalde
Eduardo Duhalde
-External links:...
, whose alliance to Moyano helped lead to the gathering of most of the CGT under a trio of Moyano, Susana Rueda of the Janitorial Workers' Union and José Luis Lingieri of the Water Works Union; a reunited CGT elected Moyano Secretary General in July 2004. Benefiting from a close alliance with the administrations of Néstor
Néstor Kirchner
Néstor Carlos Kirchner was an Argentine politician who served as the 54th President of Argentina from 25 May 2003 until 10 December 2007. Previously, he was Governor of Santa Cruz Province since 10 December 1991. He briefly served as Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations ...
and Cristina Kirchner, Moyano leveraged his role as head of the Council on Salaries (an officially-sanctioned advisory board) to secure a stronger collective bargaining position and frequent increases in the minimum wage, while opposing restrictive economic policy
Shock therapy (economics)
In economics, shock therapy refers to the sudden release of price and currency controls, withdrawal of state subsidies, and immediate trade liberalization within a country, usually also including large scale privatization of previously public owned assets....
proposals.
The labor leader was shaken by the November 2007 murder of Abel Beroiz, the longtime treasurer for the Transport Workers' Union and a close adviser of Moyano's. The arrest of his presumptive assassin the following March yielded information on a possible plot against Moyano, and the case remains pending in court. Amid the 2008 Argentine government conflict with the agricultural sector
2008 Argentine government conflict with the agricultural sector
The 2008 Argentine government conflict with the agricultural sector started in March 2008, which then extended into a prolonged period of turbulent politics...
over a planned hike in export taxes, Moyano proposed the creation of a "CGT-TV" and a related radio station. Long-standing differences with Restaurant Workers' leader Luis Barrionuevo led to a new, July 2008 schism within the CGT, whereby Barrionuevo led 40 unions into a "Blue-and-White CGT." Moyano secured his reelection as CGT head, however, and retained the support of 134 unions, including most of the larger ones.
The Truckers' Union, headed by the CGT leader's son, Pablo Moyano, staged a blockade of Buenos Aires distribution plants operated by Clarín
Clarín (newspaper)
Clarín is the largest newspaper in Argentina, published by the Grupo Clarín media group. It was founded by Roberto Noble on 28 August 1945. It is politically centrist but popularly understood to oppose the Kirchner government...
and La Nación, the nation's two leading newspapers, on November 6, 2009. Relations between the government (allied to Moyano) and the news media had become strained in the preceding months.
The labor leader's numerous business interests, as well as those of his wife, Liliana Zulet de Moyano, and other family members, later came under growing media and judicial scrutiny. The Prosecutor General of Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Erwin Beyeler, reportedly requested copies of court files in March 10, 2011, related to money laundering
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
investigations of the Moyanos, and in response, the labor leader threatened to call a general strike
General strike
A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
. The Ambassador of Switzerland to Argentina, Johannes Matyassy, clarified on March 19 that the Swiss investigation was limited to Ricardo Depresbiteris, proprietor of the Covelia waste transport company, and that no files pertaining to the Moyanos had been requested.