With forty years as a labor lawyer and adviser to most of the unions in Bariloche, eleven years as a judge and a strong militancy in the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights (APDH), Rubén Marigo took retirement.
Barilochense appreciated and admired by many; rejected by others. “You can’t be right with God and the devil”, acknowledges this 73-year-old man, with a smile, aware of having aroused love and hatred.
He was born in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Pompeya and arrived in Bariloche on April 7, 1973, more than 50 years ago, to replace the lawyer Ariel Asuad in the gastronomic union that he assumed as deputy. At that time, he began his political and social militancy.
“They were very difficult years. I lived here during the last dictatorship and I had to go to Esquel for regarding four months because the national deputy Álvarez Guerrero told me that he was in the black folders. When I returned, I was summoned by Burgoa (former director of the military training school and auditor of the municipality in 1976). He forbade me to do work law and I mightn’t leave the city“, he pointed.
Bariloche, she recalled, was no stranger to the persecution, disappearance and death of those years. “The example of the Mothers and Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo in the fight once morest impunity led us to hold our flags high in defense of Human Rights and achieve the condemnation of the genocides,” he said, although he acknowledged that even today, “the country have a significant debt with many pending sentences and home release. Many have been unimpeachable due to age or mental deterioration”.
He considers himself from Río Negro and when referring to Bariloche, he speaks of a “quite unequal society, with its pros and cons”. “The largest industry generates poverty more than wealth, but it seems to me that people are organizing. We must transform this reality of social injustice, this fictitious equality. There is outstanding debt and a lot of militancy to do. It is the one I want to continue ”, he acknowledged.
Q:- You took office as a labor judge in August 2012: did this position alter your militancy, especially in the APDH?
R:- When I was sworn in, I said that I was going to assume my position with the same convictions that I did on both sides of the counter. That I was going to practice the profession with the Labor Contract Law and with my militancy and training in Human Rights and I have done it. Perhaps some confused the defense of Human Rights with party activity, which is a mistake. This is how the Judicial Council considered it when I was accused by (Alberto) Weretilneck. I always tried to apply labor law as it should be. Being impartial but not neutral because my work is precisely intended to equate the differences that the worker has with the employer. I have faced what I had to face, I have not lowered any flag and here I am, finishing my last day of work.
Q:- And where is justice headed?
R:– I know that justice is discredited, but you have to differentiate the justice of certain sectors with the provincial one. Not only are the judges of the province trying to change this reality of social injustice, but I am surrounded by co-workers, by personnel who understand that we are here for that. That we are a community service at the service of the population. I would like more training for those of us in this career. I would also like a popular election of the judges. That someone technically trained can compete with others on equal terms and then be held accountable.
Q:- In so many years of labor law, has progress been made or have we regressed?
R:- We are in a regressive stage of labor law and we must be prepared. There is a regressive attitude of the Court in rulings related to work accidents and there is a whole political project to return to privatize retirement. You have to fight once morest it. Now the social movements that I respect a lot have joined and that, together with organized workers, can achieve an important social transformation. Although a lot has evolved since 1983, it is an outstanding social debt. As long as we normalize poverty and social exclusion, there is a weak system. For this reason, I will continue fighting and supporting political projects for this social transformation.
With retirement behind him, Marigo acknowledges that offers to hold political office have arisen.
“I will support those projects that tend to social transformation and Human Rights. I am going to more actively exercise Human Rights, accompanying my colleagues who have given a lot during this time, such as Ezequiel (Palavacino), (Leticia) Campodónico and Mara Bou”, he expressed.
Weretilneck’s Complaint
When asked regarding the toughest moments of his career, he lists several threats, cases of pressure and easy triggers, such as May 3 and the crimes of three young men (Diego Bonefoi, Sergio Cárdenas and Nicolás Carrasco) in June 2010.
The complaint by then-Governor Weretilneck does not go unnoticed either.
It all started when, at the end of 2017, Marigo participated in a press conference in Bariloche following the murder of the young Mapuche Rafael Nahuel, in Villa Mascardi. On that occasion, he criticized Weretilneck for his expressions on the Mapuche issue and for supporting the pension reform promoted by former President Mauricio Macri.
The members of the Judicial Council They dismissed promoting a political trial once morest him.
“It was a difficult stage, but it taught me not to lower my flag, to redouble my efforts. I try to be impartial, but not neutral”, he insisted and recalled that “even the Bishop pointed out that my participation in the Rafael Nahuel case was not partisan but that I had managed to stop the violence through dialogue”.
He was also criticized for his opinions related to the extension of the Cerro Catedral concession.
“The former governor said that we were doing politics, when what we were defending was the need for the hill to return to the town to generate more income. Sometimes, the defense of Human Rights or of workers is confused with a political position. It’s political, but not partisan“, considered.
landfill inspection
Marigo’s last hearing was linked to a collective amparo appeal filed by the Soyem in relation to municipal workers who work in the Bariloche garbage dump.
“The visual inspection showed that the landfill is worse than before and these things should not be normalized. You cannot work in those unworthy conditions, ”she considered.
Although the next hearing will be on February 13 and Marigo will no longer be in charge, he considered that “surely, there will be an exemplary sentence. It cannot be that the workers do not have water, they have to walk eight blocks to go to the bathroom, they handle polluting waste, they have squats to rest and there is no sanitary post.”
On his last day as a labor judge, Marigo was surprised with a tribute from his colleagues and staff from the Bariloche Judiciary.
“I have always exercised my position independently. I have been able to express my sentences as I have felt. I would have liked to do more, but I am satisfied with what I did”, he reiterated excitedly.
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