A fairly big weekend here. It is Labour Day on Tuesday, and so there is also the Monday off. The press say that about a million are travelling over the weekend, and hotels here in BA are 90% full.
Being a leftist kind of day, and the left being what it is here, Labour Day feels like it will be highly politicized. I think it started with yesterday's anniversary of the election of Nestor Kirchner (he and Cristina are part of the Socialist party) to power 9 years ago. The paper says that 100,000 packed the stadium to hear CFK. She is really one very good and passionate speaker. Her voice is very raspy, as if she has smoked 2 packs since she was two. But full of energy. Even though at times her voice seemed like it was about to give up at the event yesterday, she spoke so powerfully without a pause, as if the words would be the last ones she would ever say. The fervour is quite spectacular - it almost looked like one of the clips I've seen of pro-Assad rallies in Syria.
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1468943-cristina-pidio-no-dar-ni-un-paso-atras
Security is one thing that is good and present here. When I was first at the Plaza de Mayo, there were no less than 50 security people around, and this was a fairly normal day. A number of public places will be closed, and already the Botanical Garden is closed in Palermo until after May 1st. As I walked along the edge of the garden this afternoon - almost all parks are fenced and have only one or two main entrances - I see a policeman with a vest that looks like it is bullet-proof. Down the north-south boulevard from Plaza Italia there, there is a blockade. I can't tell you much more - I just went another way. Posters around say that there will be something happening at the Plaza de Mayo on May 1st at 3pm.
Now off to a concert at the British Arts Centre.
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