[News updated 16:30]

By Alexis Oliva, from Córdoba

Photos: Working group for Human Rights, Municipality of Córdoba, video capture by Santi Merlot , Council of San Luis.

A nationalist group, led by members of the military, attempted to forcibly remove the rainbow flag, which Mayor Martín Llaryora and LGBTQ+ organizations had raised on Friday, on the eve of International LGBT Pride Day, in Sarmiento Park in Córdoba. The intolerance escalated into violence over the weekend. There was an attack with a chain, the brandishing of a firearm, and the destruction of an official plaque. An agreement was reached last night, and the rainbow flag will fly on a different flagpole. In response to reports that the perpetrators were Malvinas War veterans, the Malvinas Islands Ex-Combatants Center (CECIM – La Plata) issued a statement condemning the attack, asserting that the group was linked to a military lobby.

In San Luis, Mar del Plata and Rosario there were also attacks: LGBT+ flags were vandalized (see end of article).

The prosecutor's office will investigate damages and assaults.

“With the firm conviction of building an increasingly inclusive, egalitarian society that respects differences, today, together with representatives of the LGBTQ+ community, we raised the Pride flag on the main flagpole in Sarmiento Park. It will fly high permanently as a symbol of our commitment,” read the plaque installed by the Municipality of Córdoba. 

Hours later, two Falklands War veterans—Air Force Chief Warrant Officer Daniel Villena and former soldier Alejandro López—and a woman attempted to take down the rainbow flag, deeming it “disrespectful” to the national flag and “incompatible with any banner.” They didn't manage to remove it because they were confronted and filmed by two young people, until the police intervened and ordered them to leave. “I'm going to speak with the mayor,” López said.

The rainbow flag was raised again. But yesterday, Sunday, International Pride Day, about forty people, most dressed in camouflage military clothing, carrying Argentine flags and wearing face masks with nationalist and anti-rights slogans, returned to the Deodoro Roca Street roundabout with the intention of taking it down. There, they attacked members of LGBTQ+ groups and the police officers who thwarted the attempt.

One of the intruders, later publicly identified by the group Putos Peronistas as Gustavo Luis Garay, attacked a female activist with a chain. Another member of that organization was threatened with a firearm. They also destroyed the glass plaque installed on Friday and then sang the National Anthem and "Aurora." No arrests were made, but the prosecutor's office opened an investigation into the damage and assaults .

“If we raised the Vatican flag, this didn't happen.”

When asked by Presentes, the Secretary of Government of the Municipality of Córdoba, Miguel Siciliano, stated: “Discussion enriches the debate, but this wouldn't have happened if we had raised the yellow and white Vatican flag for the Pope's birthday, or the firefighters' flag, or the pink flag for breast cancer awareness. What happened was because we raised the rainbow flag. We have to say it clearly and dare to defend the rights of minorities. We must have the debate despite the costs.” 

“There is a process of society opening up to the rights of sexual diversity, which began in the 1960s, but it didn't happen by chance; it happened because many fought and gave their lives to make it happen. And others dared to make decisions that were not politically advisable. I am proud to belong to an administration that is bold and carries out a policy of inclusion, and I also want my children to live their sexuality freely, without anyone repressing, discriminating against, or abusing them,” the official Presentes

“There are not two rights in dispute.”

From the first incident, LGBTQ+ and human rights organizations expressed their condemnation. “A group of people vandalized the public space and attacked the LGBTQ+ flag in Sarmiento Park. In a historic act in favor of respect for identity and the recognition of diversity in the city, it was Mayor Martín Llaryora who raised the flag of the LGBTQ+ movement. Furthermore, the attack on the emblem was perpetrated by people who violated the regulations in force within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. These types of acts, on the eve of World LGBTQ+ Day, reaffirm and deepen our struggle and conviction for equal rights,” stated a press release signed by organizations and 201 officials. 

Among them were Cecilia Merchán, Secretary of Equality and Diversity Policies of the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity; Victoria Donda, from INADI (National Institute against Discrimination, Racism and Xenophobia), Ornella Infante, Director of Anti-Discrimination Policies at INADI, Martín Fresneda, Director of the Human Rights Observatory of the Senate of the Nation, Calixto Angulo, Secretary of Human Rights of the Province of Córdoba, National Deputies Brenda Austin and Gabriela Estevez, Vice President of the Gender and Diversity Commission; the legislators from Hacemos por Córdoba Nadia Fernández, Diego Hak and Leonardo Limia, the Human Rights Directorate of the Municipality of Córdoba; Soledad Ferraro, head of the Gender and Diversity Commission of the Deliberative Council, Putos Peronistas, the Trans Center Córdoba, the Gender Commission of the Provincial Working Group for Human Rights and the Civil Association of Former Political Prisoners of Córdoba, the Córdoba Branch of the Association of Transvestites, Transsexuals, and Transgender People of Argentina, the House of Trans Men and Families and the Inclusive Methodist Church Christ of All.

The organization Devenir Diverse stated: “ There are not two rights in dispute . Nothing could be further from the truth. On one side, a minority group of people has decided to violate a legitimate resolution of local democratic institutions. A decision that symbolically redresses decades of invisibility for a social group made vulnerable by discrimination and social and state violence. These people are driven by nothing more than hatred toward those of us who live our lives outside the dictates of heterocispatriarchy. A dangerous and profoundly anti-democratic position, as it implies the suppression of the other. There are no rights there. There is only hatred, cowardice, and authoritarianism.”

As night fell in Sarmiento Park, dialogue prevailed over violence, and LGBTQ+ organizations reached an agreement with the military and the Municipality. Last night at midnight, the rainbow flag was lowered, and this morning at 8:00 AM, the Argentine flag was raised again. A commitment was made to install new flagpoles at the municipal site where the Center for Studies and Dissemination of Diversity Rights will be located, across from the roundabout, to permanently display the rainbow and trans flags.

For Siciliano, the presence of LGBTQ+ organizations and some military personnel at this morning's event is "a clear sign of democratic dialogue."

“Don’t feel like we’ve lost, because we’re going to have a space there with our flags, which we can all enjoy. Thank you so much!” said trans activist Ana Torres last night to those who stood by her so that her symbol could remain flying high.

“Ex-combatants repudiate violence and hatred”

The Malvinas Islands Ex-Combatants Center (CECIM – La Plata) clarified today in a statement that the “organized groups that acted as a gang,” also in other cities such as Mar del Plata, Mendoza, and Rosario, are part of the Confederation of War Veterans, an “organization that was created at the behest of the Macri administration in 2016.” They pointed out that in Córdoba, “the action was led by Claudio César García, the top leader of that group. García held the position of president of the National Commission of Malvinas Ex-Combatants in the Ministry of the Interior during the previous administration, forming part of the military lobby that still controls the National Commission of Ex-Combatants today.”

“We condemn the attacks on the symbol that represents the flag of diversity and the violence perpetrated out of hatred by minority groups. As Malvinas War veterans, as survivors of a war instigated by the last civic-military dictatorship, we condemn all forms of violence and expressions of hatred, and we defend coexistence in diversity, respect, and the guarantees afforded to us by the rule of law,” the CECIM statement reads. 

LGBT+ flags were vandalized in San Luis, Mar del Plata and Rosario 

Since Thursday, June 25, the rainbow flag had been flying in front of the San Luis . But over the weekend, while the world was virtually celebrating International LGBTQ+ Pride events, the flag was burned.

Today, the president of the Council, Carlos A. Ponce, shared a video on social media condemning the act and explaining that those responsible will be sought.

“This is not just an attack on one sector of society, but an attack on everyone, a fundamental institution of democracy. Therefore, these acts are simply UNACCEPTABLE in a community that must include everyone without distinction of creed, race, religion, sexual preference, ideological or political inclination, and so on,” says the statement published by the Deliberative Council of the City of San Luis .

In Mar del Plata, a group of people—several of whom identified themselves as Malvinas War veterans—took down the LGBTQ+ flag. It had been raised over the weekend, in accordance with ordinance 23.280 , which stipulates that on this date and other significant dates, the flag must fly at municipal buildings.

On Sunday, they lowered the flag while singing the national anthem and repeatedly stating that they would only respect the flag of Argentina. Afterward, they approached the municipal building to, in their words, return the flag. In videos shared on social media, a man can be heard saying: “No municipal ordinance can modify the National Constitution, so if they raise this flag again, we will lower it 20,000 more times. So tell those in charge who did this that we war veterans will come and do exactly the same thing every time.”

In Rosario, activists reported that people dressed in olive-green uniforms tried to prevent the raising of the Pride flag with insults and threats. This happened in Plaza San Martín. According to reports, four people attempted to disrupt the event. “There are intolerant sectors that still haven't come to terms with the rights we have won,” Esteban Paulón, director of the Institute of Public Policies for the LGBT community, told the newspaper La Capital in the city of Santa Fe.