New Law Allows Cafés to be Set Up in Parks: The Buenos Aires City legislature passed a bill yesterday which allows bars to be set up in public parks. The law will permit private “service areas” to be set up in parks of more than 50,000m2, such as Parque Centenario, Parque Saavedra, Parque Sarmiento, and others. These areas will “serve food and/or bottled beverages” but will not be allowed to sell alcoholic drinks or cigarettes, and should not affect the park’s “common use or their public space nature”. Permanent permits will be conditional to the cafés providing services such as restrooms, free wi-fi connection, bicycle parking, and book loans. The bill was passed by 36 votes from PRO and UNEN against 19 votes from Kirchnerist and left-wing legislators. Social organisations and neighbourhood assemblies, joined under the common name of Red Interparques y Bares, protested the vote and denounced being intimidated and attacked upon exiting the legislature. Protesters claimed the bill will result in “a reduction in green spaces” in the city, and that because of this, it is unconstitutional.
In the same session, the legislature passed a bill transferring ownership of properties that functioned as clandestine detention centres during the last military dictatorship —such as the ex-ESMA, amongst others— from the city of Buenos Aires to the national state, and dissolving the Space for Memory Institute (IEM), a self-governed and autonomous institution which brings together human rights organisations. The bill, supported by PRO and Frente para la Victoria (FPV), was criticised by some human rights organisations, such as Madres de Plaza de Mayo Línea Fundadora, whose president Nora Cortiñas stated: “[The IEM] was the only autonomous and independent space left. It’s a shame that this turned into a big business.” The transfer is yet to be ratified by the national Chamber of Deputies.
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