BUENOS AIRES: A strike by pilots and crew demanding salary increases in inflation-hit Argentina affected more than 30,000 passengers on Friday, according to the Aerolineas Argentinas airline and unions.
As workers walked off the job for the second time this month, President Javier Milei was preparing to sign a decree declaring the aviation sector an “essential service” to guarantee a minimum level of service during such strikes, his spokesman said.
The 24-hour strike led to the cancelation of 319 flights, mainly impacting domestic and regional travelers, but also hundreds of passengers heading to the United States and Europe.
Costa Rican engineer Alex Rodriguez, 53, was stranded while on his way to visit one of South America’s top tourist attractions, the breathtaking Iguazu Falls on the border between Argentina and Brazil.
“We had planned the holiday a long time ago, about three months ago. We came from very far away, it was expensive and then everything fell through,” he told AFP.
The general secretary of the Association of Aeronautical Personnel (APA), Juan Pablo Brey, said the purchasing power of aviation staff had fallen 40 percent since Milei took office in December.
Since taking office in December, Milei has applied a drastic austerity program in a bid to rein in chronic inflation and decades of government overspending.
However, annual inflation still stands at 236.7 percent and the economic slowdown sparked by the budget cuts has hit Argentines’ pockets hard.
Brey told a local radio station that cabin crew earned 729,000 pesos ($730 at the official exchange rate) and ground crew members 500,000 pesos — half what they could make at some low-cost companies.
Aerolineas Argentinas said the strike was “untimely, abusive and out of context, promoted by union leaders in an irresponsible manner.”
Milei’s spokesman Manuel Adorni said that those striking would be “fined and sanctioned.”
Milei had tried to privatize Aerolineas Argentinas as part of his sweeping economic reforms, but was forced to remove the company from the list of those to be privatized to get his measures through parliament earlier this year.
Strike at Argentina’s flagship airline hits 30,000 passengers
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Strike at Argentina’s flagship airline hits 30,000 passengers
- The 24-hour strike led to the cancelation of 319 flights, mainly impacting domestic and regional travelers, but also hundreds of passengers heading to the United States and Europe
- Since taking office in December, Milei has applied a drastic austerity program in a bid to rein in chronic inflation and decades of government overspending
Colorado funeral home owner who abused nearly 200 corpses gets 40 years
- Hallford’s attorney unsuccessfully sought a 30 year sentence, arguing that it was not a crime of violence
COLORADO SPRINGS: A Colorado funeral home owner who stashed 189 decomposing bodies in a building over four years and gave grieving families fake ashes was sentenced to 40 years in state prison on Friday.
During the sentencing hearing, family members told Judge Eric Bentley they have had recurring nightmares about decomposing flesh and maggots since learning what happened to their loved ones.
They called defendant Jon Hallford a “monster” and urged the judge to give him the maximum sentence of 50 years.
Bentley told Hallford he caused “unspeakable and incomprehensible” harm. “It is my personal belief that every one of us, every human being, is basically good at the core, but we live in a world that tests that belief every day, and Mr. Hallford your crimes are testing that belief,” Bentley said.
Hallford apologized before his sentencing and said he would regret his actions for the rest of his life. “I had so many chances to put a stop to everything and walk away, but I did not,” he said. “My mistakes will echo for a generation. Everything I did was wrong.”
Hallford’s attorney unsuccessfully sought a 30 year sentence, arguing that it was not a crime of violence and he had no prior criminal record.
His former wife, Carie Hallford, who co-owned the Return to Nature Funeral Home, is due to be sentenced April 24. She faces 25 to 35 years in prison.
Both pleaded guilty in December to nearly 200 counts of corpse abuse under an agreement with prosecutors.
During the years they were stashing bodies, the Hallfords spent lavishly. That included purchasing a GMC Yukon and an Infiniti worth over $120,000 combined, along with $31,000 in cryptocurrency, pricey goods from stores like Gucci and Tiffany & Co. and laser body sculpting.
